Buffalo, New York emcee 7xvethegenius making her debut under her Broadband Sound imprint’s new distribution deal with Roc Nation Records for her 3rd album. Emerging off her first 2 EPs The Calm Before & Self 7xve as well as the full-length debut 7xve is Love, it wasn’t until she & Jae Skeese both became the first artists to sign with Conway the Machine’s very own Drumwork Music Group where 7xve got her biggest break yet. She has since preluded Death of Deuce with Thy Will Be Done alongside Self 7xve 2 & most importantly the DJ Green Lantern-produced The Genius Tape, celebrating the 1-year anniversary of her final Drumwork opus this past weekend & looking to close out the Self 7xve trilogy 52 weeks later.
“Stay” produced by Haas Almahdi & S1 was a lush intro talking about having no care or fear & speaking God into her home before sleeping at night whereas “Twin” featuring Sol ChYld works in some pianos from CG confessing they’ve fallen in love again. “Price of Love” carries the keys over except the kicks & snares are replaced with hi-hats talking about paying the price of pain in exchange of affection leading into “You & Me” continuing the romantic subject matter contrasting her doing well & not so much for her partner from what she’s heard.
Haas reunites with 7xve & has Bricks da Mane co-produce my personal favorite of the 2 singles “Pedals” featuring Reuben Vincent questioning whether he truly loves her or not over a jazzy instrumental while the melodically cloudy “911” featuring Lil Sos reflects a relationship where their arguments weren’t ever merely between them. We later get some cool sampling chops on “Windows” talking about her beating the odds that were against her while “Worthy” featuring Flames dot Malik brings back the jazz thanks to Cartune Beatz teaching that it’s not love until you give some.
“Running” featuring Willyynova begins the 4th quarter of Self 7xve 3 talking about themes of escape over an EYEKETYSON instrumental while “Save Yourself” featuring Monie Love rivals the lead single for the best of the 5 collaborations forever going out their way to save themselves. “Survivor’s Remorse” hooks up more pianos to spit what she considers to possibly be the realest shit she’s ever written & “On My Own” ends the LP by talking about standing in the dust once the smoke has cleared.
Every chapter of the Self 7xve trilogy to me has it’s own level of significance when you think of the fact that the inaugural entry came out months prior to her getting a label deal & the sequel came when she was halfway through her said previous contract. Of course I have to mention the last 2 installments both being extended plays & this being an actual album, marking a new era in her career under Roc Nation recalling true stories of her life with meticulous production in preparation of her & Che Noir’s long-awaited collaborative project a month from now.
Score: 8/10