And here’s the 7th extended play from Flint, Michigan emcee/producer Jon Connor albeit the 8th in his ongoing The Artist Yahn Freeman series. Someone who’s steadily been holding it down for the last 2 decades including The Calling, Vinnie Chase & S.O.S. trilogies along with the Best in the World series paying homage to some of Jon’s influences, Salvation, While You Were Sleeping & Unconscious State. He was even signed to Aftermath Entertainment for 6 years before departing after Vehicle City wound up being shelved, coming off off Food for the Soul & 24 produced by KLC of the No Limit Records in-house production team Beats by the Pound to drop VI, VII & VII simultaneously for Halloween.
Tito Lopez appears during the trap intro “There for You” talking about how they feel like superheroes whereas “Never Keep Me Down” explains that confidence is crucial for one to survive & things boiling down to whether you got it or not. “Seen It Before” calls for everyone to line up all the closest people in our lives in a row & after the sinister “Let ‘Em Know” reminds people who’s the realest from head to toe, “We Not the Same” talks about the differences between him & those saying they’re on his level.
“Faith of a Child” continues the 2nd half of VIII instrumentally leaning towards a boom bap to discuss grinding until he gets every last thing he prays for in life while “7 Days” talks about the importance of allowing our surroundings influence us regardless of where one lives. “On Go” discusses him hustling like he’s getting ready to lose his mind & trying to feed his kids while the soulful trap crossover “Legacy” wraps it all up talking about his optimism never being compromised by living in the ghetto.
Similarly to VI dedicating myself to the memory of Jon Connor’s friend Mekeva Blackmon who always gave him a space to be himself & believed in him from the get go to her untimely death a couple months earlier as well as The Artist Yahn Freeman VII honoring his older sister in professional life coach Chanel Patton, The Artist Yahn Freeman VIII brings these new chapters full circle mother Mahaley Lark to coincide her birthday only 24 hours earlier.
Score: 7/10