By AMEARA DITSCHE
Arts Editor
Montero Hill, better known by stage name Lil Nas X, is an Atlanta based rapper. In April 2019, hip-hop and country collided for Hill’s hit debut single, “Old Town Road.” After capitalizing off of “Old Town Road’s” immense success, on June 21, the rapper released an EP titled “7.”
Sticking to his strengths, the album was mainly hip hop with other genres’ influences. Hill has an active social media presence, especially on Twitter. He often would joke about him milking the success of “Old Town Road” the relativity self awareness made him entertaining to a primarily teen audience.
His first EP is admittedly quite short. It contains 8 songs, but it’s just 18 minutes long. This is an increasingly popular phenomenon in music today, especially in hip-hop music. With the decline of music being bought, whether physical or digital, many artists are making shorter songs in order to increase streams, and therefore the revenue. Streaming is less instantly lucrative for individual artists, as they receive less money for a stream than they do a purchase. However, it is a more long-term source of income, considering they will make money every time the song is played. Whereas when the song is purchased, they receive the flat rate of the purchase and it can be played an infinite amount of times. Hill even alluded to this when he dropped the single “Panini” the day before the EP release, tweeting “me making panini short to increase streams” as a caption for a gif of a cartoon character laughing mischievously.
One thing I look for in albums is diversity. While it is understandable for an artist to have distinct sound, what sets apart artistic albums from just a collection of songs is the ability to listen to the whole thing and not be bored. Lil Nas X brought this factor, making the EP exciting to listen to. His melodic and easily distinguishable voice plus the exploration into other genres made the album uniquely his, while still being a full experience to listen to.
The second single from the album “Panini” may seem like a comedic track at first, the opening lyric being “Ay panini, don’t you be a meanie.” the use of a typically considered childish word like “meanie,” especially that early in the track, could discourage listeners from really paying attention to the song, but if you hold on and listen to the lyrics you can see his is indeed telling a story and doing so smoothly over a fun beat.
As catchy as Panini is, my favorite track would have to be “F9mily.” The song is definitely more pop than rap but is enjoyable nonetheless. Like I said before, this straying from the traditional pigeonholing oneself into one genre is what makes me like Lil Nas X so much. “F9mily” is a perfect summer song, it was practically made to be set to a montage of young friends enjoying time together.
Hill’s comedic personality and blatant exploitation of “Old Town Road’s” success made some think the EP would be gimmicky when finally released. He proved these people wrong by having a very few features on the album, all attention received will be solely based on artistic merit. It was not heavily marketed aside from his personal social media. The only features were the well-known remix of “Old Town Road” with Billy Ray Cyrus, and controversial female rapper Cardi B on “Rodeo.” The use of the Cardi B feature is a well produced juxtaposition of rap and the more pop-rock vibe of the rest of the song.
A common complaint among rap fans is the topics addressed in many modern rap songs. Especially those who rose to fame at a young age via online platforms, like Hill did. Many will say that these songs only touch on drugs, sex, or violence. Most of the songs on the “7” EP appear to be love songs.
These are just a few songs and few reasons as to why “7” is a valuable music addition to 2019. It provided many fun to listen to bops that should make their way into your summer playlist.
