Quintessentially West Coast, Polyester the Saint’s Latest Project is the Model Summer Mixtape
Evan Dale | Aug 5, 2026
Polyester the Saint
Summer can mean a lot of things. It tastes like watermelon and ice cream; it’s reminiscent of vacation and baseball; it smells like sunscreen and fresh-cut grass; it feels like the beach. But more than almost anything else, the year’s warmest stretch sounds like the trance of proper West Coast hip-hop. That doesn’t mean just any geographically positioned rapper can deliver. There’s something deeper in the production, the flow, and the subject matter that tethers the texture at hand to its roots and origins. When executed properly at any point throughout its history, the summarily summery kind of West Coast hip-hop could slide easily into another mark on the same timeline. You know it when you hear it – when you feel it – and these days you still get the real thing from a number of authentic sources. Think of the sounds of Larry June, of Dom Kennedy, of Nappyhigh, and the sonic throughlines of their respective aesthetics. And then listen to anything by Polyester the Saint.
There’s nothing new about the living West Coast legend. He’s been a figure of the LA scene for well over a decade, and has been surrounded by funk-loving, groove-stricken, bass-rattling music his entire life. His grandfather was Reverend James Cleveland – often referred to as one of the fathers of modern gospel music. His uncle is Jeffrey Daniels of Soul Train fame. His own father, Andre Cleveland, was a producer and promoter whose parties in the 1990’s provided young Polyester with the opportunity to rub elbows with everyone from Snoop to Usher while still in his teens. And at age 13, he was gifted a Yamaha keyboard from none other than Stevie Wonder.
With all the seeds planted for him to become exactly what he ultimately would, he’s now a successful multi-instrumentalist, producer, rapper, and vocalist. His is the rangy kind of skillset one would expect from someone with such a star-studded musical background. And yet, since the very onset down the path of releasing his own music, his sound’s direction has always been defined. There was never any doubt that he would go on to represent that quintessential West Coast aesthetic. With each passing release, that definition only becomes more refined.
Polyester the Saint
Most recently – and most importantly, just in time for the hottest stretch of Summer, and dropping on the heels of his aptly named June release, Summer’s Here – STOP TRYING TO BE RIGHT ALL THE TIME is a true, model West Coast mixtape. Ever prolific, the project is his third collection of 2026, but it’s also his most well-rounded. Track-to-track, it encapsulates his multitudes. At times spoon-feeding listeners his signature slowly meandering but deeply thought-out poetics, at others crooning silky hooks to tie his storytelling, his sonic vision, and his epochal defiance akin, STOP TRYING TO BE RIGHT ALL THE TIME is an exhibition of Polyester’s remarkable breadth and simultaneous self-coalescence. Take a listen to Better days where he’s essentially the featuring vocalist of his own rapped track. Effortlessly sliding between the two deliveries, and only ever using the transition between both ends of his sound to build the other up, the track is a microcosm of the project at large.
Other tracks play different roles. The project’s opener, Look at me – with Jay Worthy – just might be the perfect song defining a fitting end to the dog days of Summer, while also defining a mature glimpse into a life changed. It’s the story of a lifelong artist that – like Larry June and Dom Kennedy – now raps about taking in the joys of day-to-day life and focusing on emotional, physical, fiscal, and familial health. It’s a beautiful moment to hear his approach to lyricism thematically growing in parallel to his life. Others still – Go left and Must be the WEST in me – are addicting glimpses into how Polyester constructs a track from the hook’s angle, and works outward with the rest of his musicality.
All of STOP TRYING TO BE RIGHT ALL THE TIME gleams with explosive synth chords and booming bass. And all bleed of that unapologetic West Coast timelessness that evokes a sense of Summers past.