Lil Nas X recently shot to stardom with the country trap song ‘Old Town Road’, alongside a remix with the famous country musician, Billy Ray Cyrus. The track blurred the lines between hip hop and country, causing much controversy along the way (particularly due to Billboard removing it from its country charts), and continuing to stay no.1 on the Billboard charts for 7 weeks. With ‘7’ Lil Nas X attempts to capitalise off this popularity, continuing to provide the genre-shifting style that blew him up with ‘OId Town Road’.
Throughout the short EP, Lil Nas X constantly adapts his style to different genres. ‘Rodeo’ continues to embrace the country trap style which made him famous, whilst ‘Panini’, ‘Bring U Down’ and ‘F9mily (You & Me)’ utilise elements of rock. ‘Panini’ is a particular standout, a concise, yet catchy, song based around the Cartoon Network show ‘Chowder’. Interpolating Nirvana’s ‘In Bloom’, the track adopts elects of rock and pop, showcasing Lil Nas’ skills at blending different genres of music. ‘C7osure (You Like)’ is a well produced, relaxed track, whilst ‘Bring U Down’ is a stark contrast to this, with Lil Nas presenting a repetitive, yet catchy hook over a loud guitar instrumental.
What ‘7’ lacks is substance, with Lil Nas X not diving deep enough into the respective styles to provide many memorable moments. Though he embraces rock styles, it’s often watered down and lacking in personality. It seems that in trying to adopt so many styles Nas X does not establish any clear style or personality to listeners, thus making the project somewhat unsatisfying. Indeed, in the styles he does adopt he fails to provide anything of particular significance; though ‘Bring U Down’ and ‘F9mily (You & Me)’ are well produced, listenable tracks, they do not achieve anything of significance within their respective styles.
‘Rodeo’ is an excellent track, with Lil Nas X providing a memorable hook over a hard-hitting beat. However, Cardi B provides a dull and uninspired verse, which ruins the flow of the track. Both ‘Old Town Road’ and ‘Old Town Road remix’ with Billy Ray Cyrus bookend the record, a lazy addition seeing that the record is only 7 tracks and 19 minutes.
‘7’ is a promising start to Lil Nas X’s music career, showing that he does have the potential to stay in the industry. However, though the songs presented are all well-produced and enjoyable they fail to establish an impact on listeners, and are often too watered-down, failing to create a definitive project.
6.2/10
Written by Jacob Matthews
Masterpiece Music 