Review: Rakim - The Seventh Seal

Insistent on moving forward with a new style and approach, Rakim, the man who was once hailed as hands down the finest MC in all of Hip-Hop brings us his new LP "The Seventh Seal". Returning to the Hip-Hop landscape where he molded his historic career alongside names like Eric B., Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick, Biz Markie and so many other luminaries, the resonantly voiced rapper is now immersed in a much different culture from the one he left over ten years ago. No longer does New York have a stronghold on the music and no longer does the God MC have full reign over the hearts and minds of the youth.

The forty one year old vet dives into the ever expiring rap game after an extended hiatus in which people were promised a collaborative effort with Dr. Dre, but never received it. After leaving that puzzling situation at Aftermath, Ra chose not to include some of that material with Dre on this album. A move that has surely come back to haunt him now that so many of us have heard what apparently he believed was content superior to his Dre sessions. Sadly, The Microphone Fiend’s third solo album unfolds languidly and without many of his old trademarks that once upon a time downright transformed the culture.




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http://abovegroundmagazine.com/archive/11/20/2370/