”Death of Deuce” Marks a New Era for 7xvethegenius (Album Review)
This is the long-awaited sophomore effort & Drumwork Music Group debut from Buffalo, New York emcee 7xvethegenius. Emerging off her first 2 EPs The Calm Before & Self 7xve as well as the full-length debut 7xve is Love, it wasn’t until she & Jae Skeese both became the first artists to sign with Conway the Machine’s very own Drumwork imprint where 7xve got her biggest break yet. She has since preluded Death of Deuce with Thy Will Be Done alongside Self 7xve 2 & most importantly the DJ Green Lantern-produced The Genius Tape. Almost 4 years after being signed, it’s finally here.
“A Lesson” produced by !llmind is this cloudy trap opener assuring that things are only gonna get crazier as time passes by & to think wiser from this point forward whereas “Triangle” featuring Papoose soulfully talking about seeing $1M before she even made it as far as she has in the game. “Graymatter” hooks up a boom bap instrumental from the titular producer asking how you gonna buy your mom a house with street credit just before the jazzily dusty “Psalm” featuring Jae Skeese that Camoflauge Monk laced gets the hurt off 1 verse at a time.
The title track maintains a boom bap edge showing off some crazy ass rhyme schemes for 107 seconds straight leading into “Dirty Nikes” gets back to the soul sampling talking about focusing more on her craft as of late. “Moma” heads for a luxurious direction thanks to STREETRUNNER expressing gratitude for making it onto without a spoon or a fork, but then the self-produced “Deuce” strips the drums completely welcoming y’all to this beach chair.
“Authentic” takes the spacious boom bap route altogether talking about wanting to be herself while “The Genius” was my favorite single from the Daringer beat to 7xve’s lyricism cautioning to say no to drugs sticking with rapping so y’all can learn what love is. “Jump” has some more jazz rap undertones maintaining the kicks & snares cautioning that you should look before you leap while the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League-assisted “Serious” flexes that she stay on top of their heads.
The penultimate song “Float” nears the end of Death of Deuce questioning God wanting to know when the first will be the last since she’s had her heart broken by these motherfuckers so many times keeping her head down focusing on work & lastly, “If I” closes the LP on some cloudy boom bap shit basically talking about if she were to pass away for roughly 5 & a half minutes.
Almost 4 years in the making & Death of Deuce begins a new era for the First Lady of Drumwork. I find myself leaning towards the production on The Genius Tape more in comparison but regardless, the elite lyricism & storytelling of that tape carries their way onto this album showing us how much she’s grown ever since Conway gave her a record deal.
Score: 8/10
