- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Overall, the God MC can still carry the throne as one of the greatest rappers of all time, but he'll need stronger production the next time around.
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MojoHe sounds as raw and vital as ever. [Feb 2010, p. 105]
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This album still falls way short of what it could be, and I have to wonder how this even happened.
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This record, though not awful by any means, is simply not up to the standards set by the God MC.
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The Seventh Seal is perhaps the most stale, thoroughly unremarkable album of 2009, and confirms a sad fact: Some comebacks are better left unexecuted.
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He's still solid with the flow and constructs rhymes that are both interesting and intense, making The Seventh Seal a worthy purchase and return for a man who was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, God without end--Rakim. Amen
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Suffice to say there's nothing very compelling here, though Seventh Seal is made interesting by the paucity of Rakim's material.
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Too bad that the production here is decidedly mortal.
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The Seventh Seal is a record that’s been made a hundred times or more--one that attempts to save rap while rocking beats that prove the producers aren’t sure what rap’s current state is.
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He still commands the discipline, skills and microphone presence he brought to hip-hop in the 1980s. But if he’s only going to get around to releasing one album per decade, it should be more than a holding action.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 14 out of 21
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Mixed: 2 out of 21
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Negative: 5 out of 21
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Dec 18, 2015
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[Anonymous]Dec 7, 2009
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Jan 25, 2011