In the ten years between The Master (1999) and his latest creation The Seventh Seal, Rakim worked for producer Dr. Aftermath Entertainment's label. Dre. The two hip-hop giants were supposed to release the album called Oh My God together. Ultimately, this collaboration was unfortunately limited to guest appearances on albums by Jay-Z, Eminem and Truth Hurts. In 2003, Dre and Rakim parted ways and Oh
… My God has never seen the light of day. The Seventh Seal is a brand new album that Rakim is releasing on his own label Ra Records and of course there are sky-high expectations. The concept is based on the seven seals from the Biblical Book of Revelation. In terms of content, the rapper has therefore remained fairly faithful to himself, but apart from outliers such as Holy Are U and Put It All To Music, the rapper sounds terribly ordinary and that is mainly due to the lackluster production. Especially the sample of No Doubt's Don't Speak cannot be reconciled with the legacy of this rapper. (GL)more