After months of milking "Old Town Road" for every possible Caucasian dollar, Lil Nas X has finally released his highly anticipated EP, 7. As celebration, this article will be a track-by-track review based on each song's first impression.
If we're being fully transparent, a first listen review is a terrible way to review a project, but, based off snippets, 7 is most likely a collection of experimental singles rather than a project centered around a collective theme, making it perfect for this format.
Before we embark on this journey, I think it's necessary to applaud Lil Nas X on the way he and his team maximized the "Old Town Road" bag they stumbled upon.
For those who don't know, I attend the University of Southern California(shoutout Full House) to study Journalism, and some other stuff that is irrelevant to the purpose of me disclosing that information, and, as a Journalism major, one of the things I learned in a joint Journalism/Communications class was the power of memes in selling products to younger generations. It's the reason that immediately after a new song comes out, the same "this song set my house on fire" joke is recycled. Memes are easily digestible ways of sharing information and have the potential to stick in a buyer's long-term memory. An entire day of class was dedicated to that very sentence. You're welcome.
Lil Nas X mastered this, as he meme'd "Old Town Road" and this project daily, often beating people to any potential criticism while also building hype. Look no further than his Twitter page at this very moment. I could go on about the marketing that surrounded 7, but that's another article in itself.
Old Town Road(feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) [Remix]
I, along with just about everyone else, have heard this one before. A ridiculous amount. Normally a song being drilled into my skull would make me hate it, but something about Lil Nas X makes it impossible to dislike anything he does. Like a dog giving you puppy eyes after he/she/it/2019/PC just rampaged your room, Lil Nas X pulling industry tricks doesn't make me mad like other artists doing it does.
Going back to the amount everyone has heard "Old Town Road", if we just calculate the first week streaming numbers of the record-breaking Billy Ray Cyrus version,7 sold 14,300 copies. For reference, YG's latest album, 4Real 4Real, sold just over 36,000 units first week with 14 streamable songs. One week of a Twitter personality's single almost did half of one of the West Coast's most popular artists entire album. It's scary hours in the music industry.
Panini
I didn't want this to be an article on Lil Nas X's marketing, but Panini has over 2 million Youtube plays and is number two on trending in just 12 hours. Making the most second most popular song on the EP less than two minutes long is going to make the streaming numbers ridiculous, and he knows it.
Hopping off the meat that is 7's marketing, Panini is an enjoyable track that makes the Chowder lover in me proud. I was curious whether or not Lil Nas X would make music based on his life or just high-quality joke songs, and Panini answers that question as he addresses someone seemingly wanting to keep him at a lower status than the one he's destined for.
Side Note: Lil Nas X is doing everything right off of coming up from joke records that Ugly God did wrong. Okay, next song.
F9mily(You&Me)
This track made me check the genre that 7 is listed under, and I am genuinely proud of Lil Nas X. Listed as "Alternative", Lil Nas X is operating in a lane that no one could discredit. Billboard can't pull their "it lacks the elements of a country song" card and rappers like Dave East can't hate on his inevitable success.
In fact, I can only think of a handful of rappers that would even sound good on this track and that handful becomes shrinks when thinking of which artist would actually select this production.
Travis Barker, producer of Lil Wayne's "Drop The World", does an amazing job of creating a sound that makes allows Lil Nas X to shine, despite delivering essentially 2:30 of chorus.
Kick It
This is a bop. As of now, Kick It is my favorite of the project, as it has the most rap elements of any track so far. It's also worth noting that this is the only track that the family friendly rapper curses on, as he uses "nigga" to better transition between bars. But if you're Black, this track is a clean one too.
Kick It also is the most Lil Nas X shares about his personal life, with verses like:
"Oh, you just that nigga, now, can't pick up, cool, then let me know You ain't got no talent, nigga, more up in my pinky toe I just thought that we could kick it, why not let me know? You'll fall off, I'll give it, oh Two months, give or take a whole" Rodeo(feat. Cardi B)
I was pretty happy that, aside from Billy Ray Cyrus and minor Travis Barker vocals, 7 had no features, but, as life tends to do, that happiness was stripped from me. The Cardi feature is confusing, considering its forced feel yet the two aren't label-mates like most forced features. Nevertheless, Cardi dropped off a solid feature that included a reference to her favorite show(Oxygen's Snapped) and a very hard line on never being a person's ex.
Rodeo will likely do major numbers, but it doesn't do much for me after the first 20 seconds. Lil Nas X's country flow was interesting and is something that I expect he'll use as a feature on future records.
Bring U Down
When speaking on "Bring U Down" Lil Nas X gave this information, "it’s from the perspective of people who try to ruin other ppls career when they see them on the rise."
According to my loosely-handled calculations, that would make "Bring U Down" the fourth time Lil Nas X visits the idea of someone trying to stop his stardom, meaning this is probably one of the main issues he's had to deal with since "Old Town Road" took off.
Much like "F9mily", "Bring U Down" is pretty much just a high-quality chorus with short two short verses interjected. The track would make for great use in a show or some type of visual, but it isn't much to listen to on its own.
C7osure(You Like)
For his conclusion track, Lil Nas X revisits the common theme addressed throughout the project--him having to accept his changing life to the disapproval of those close to him. As I said at the very beginning of the article, I wasn't expecting a central point from this project, but I stand corrected.
Side Note: the term "I stand corrected" is dumb. You're not correct. You're wrong. Swallow your pride and say the words "I was wrong". But, yeah I stand corrected.
Lil Nas X accurately represented a feeling of having to outgrow his loved ones to grip the opportunities life has thrown his way. Not only did he touch on an unexpected serious feeling, but he did so as a true artist--through sonically pleasing tracks.
7 provided the quality of music I would expect from a major label artist destined for large streaming numbers and unexpectedly delivered an impactful message. Lil Nas X lived up to the hype.