This is supposed to be the new Rakim album; his first in a long time; but it doesn’t sound like it. His Rebirth comes across as more of a posthumous project, which is odd because the God Emcee, unlike some of the guests featured here, didn’t die. Still every one of these “Se7en” songs is a collab with at least two other rappers.
The best among them is Chino XL who kills everyone figuratively, and literally via bomb at verse’s end, on a cypher that would’ve been better with no hook. I like Sally Green on the Love song though. DMX sounds stupid on Playground. Rakim can still rap. Too bad he didn’t decide to release a proper (solo) album after all these years.
my rating : 3 of 5
2024