6/10
Favorite Track: "Panini" Least Favorite Track: "Kick It"
Lil Nas X is the world’s newest lean sippin, bull riding, cattle herding, weed selling, sensation from Atlanta Georgia. This man is an icon for creativity and a good one at that. I don’t think anyone would of guessed that one of the biggest music names in 2019 would be a homosexual, black, country, rapper but this man has catipulted diverstiy into the limelight. His new EP 7 is an all out genre experiment. This thing jumps from country to rap to hip hop like its bipolar. “Old Town Road” wasn’t only a hit because it’s a meme. “Old Town Road” is a legitimate banger and that's why it is currently atop the Billboard Hot 100 and has been for thirteen weeks and just like “Old Town Road”, as much as I want to dislike 7 I just don’t. His career may have started as a meme and despite 7 not really telling us anything about who Lil Nas X is musically , this man has at the very least proven himself as a legitimate artist. He has way too much industry push to die out any time soon and I really don’t think he is a novelty one hit wonder. 7 really isn’t a bad project in the slightest. It shows off Nas’s innate ability to write infectious hooks. “Old Town Road” wasn’t the only idea Nas had in the back of his head and that's been proven on this EP. Fittingly, the project opens and closes with two different versions of “Old Town Road”, the first of which being the Billy Ray Cyrus remix. Within, the context of the album its apparent how much better this country-rap crossover is polished than its contemporaries such as Young Thug's Beautiful Thugger Girls. It is also much easier to see just how much hiphop this man brings out of Billy Ray Cyrus. “Old Town Road” started as a meme but the second he got a legitimate country megastar to hop on a track with him, it became real. I also enjoy track #2 Panini quite a bit. The hook is very quality despite the vocal melodies on top of it being a little rough and too monotone. The chorus screams Lil Peep in my opinion. Some of his flows roll off his tongue pretty creatively as well when he recites “Hey panini, don't you be a weenie” (even if the lyricsm is a little sub-par). “F9mily (You & Me)” doesn’t miss a beat in terms of this whole pop punk genre clash thing. I love the way track builds to the intro with its cosmic sounding synths and Nas’s token whistling. The track features a pretty base heavy drum beat that drives the track in a pretty heavy direction. It sounds like something straight out of the Fall Out Boy discography. Once again his singing gets a little rough but it isn’t too noticeable. However, it is very noticeable on the next track “Kick it” which is probably the weakest on the album. The song feels very pointless as it’s so forgettable sonically and in terms of lyrical substance. The surprise saxophone and string sections really fail to make up for his poor singing in this track. Track #5 “Rodeo” is Nas doing what he does best. The country fusion style that made anybody interested in him in the first place. Once again, it's a banger. Some of the minor key guitars in the background give the song even more twang than Nas’s own accent does. Cardi B makes an appearance on the back half of the track and her verse is very solid. She adds a lot of charisma to the cut and plays off Nas seamlessly. Track #6 ; “Bring You Down” isn’t too interesting. It’s more of a run of the mill rock song. It doesn't really add anything to the track list as it seems to kind of sit in the shadow of the projects other rock effort which turns out to work much better. “C7osure (You Like)”, is apparently a confession of sexuality from Lil Nas X on the back half of this EP. I think he goes about this coming out anthem in a pretty tasteful way. You can hear a respectable amount of passion in his voice in comparison to some of this projects other efforts and it adds a lot to the cut. The way he goes about talking about his sexuality as though telling his fans about his identity is something that he says “I have to do can’t be regretting when im old” is very creative. Overall this project is super interesting, and strangely addictive. He has won me over and I can’t say I'm anything but excited to see what this kid does next. Admittedly I would like to see him double down on the success of “Old Town Road” and make a full blown country-rap album as I feel that's what he does best, which was proven by “Rodeo” on this EP, but I guess his creative trajectory to be determined. All in all 7 proves that Lil Nas X isn’t a one trick pony (pun intended).