A Rapper For Us All — Producers finally catch up with Sarah Violette on essential hip-hop EP 'AnxiousLove'

Sarah Violette is having what the Internet Youth™ might call “a moment.” Last summer’s UltraViolette, the genuinely gifted native Maine rapper’s second album under the moniker of her given name, saw her song “Goldmine” and its accompanying video make some waves across the music-listening community, eventually winning the “Best Rap Video” category at this music reviewer’s Music Video Portland Awards in January. I counted the votes. Almost every single one was for “Goldmine.” 

Her new album AnxiousLove leaves little to no breathing room between itself and UltraViolette and is pretty clearly a companion piece, the flip side of this artist’s persona. AnxiousLove’s cover itself is the upside-down, negative-processed, melted-down image of UltraViolette, and while her usual stable of collaborators is present and accounted for (Shane Reis, Renee Coolbrith, Ben Thompson), she brings in some new producers, new voices and what feels like a new take on her place in Portland hip hop.