7098 - Until Next Time (Album)

Last year, in October actually, 7098 blessed us with what, at the time was definitely his opus but on “Until Next Time”, it’s a much more poignant affair. We open with some soulfully smooth production by Cubskout, someone who, I’ve seen the name on several occasions but am not too familiar with his production so, as far as I’m concerned, this is my first real glimpse at that & it’s so sweet & the raw emotion 7098 is delivering over it. It’s like he’s levitating over the beat with all his haters looking up at him as he steadily inches up that inclination in life, shit is getting real as he put it & it’s only cause he’s been so determined to make this thing happen no matter what & on “Notorious freestyle”, even he can feel it just around the corner.

“People sleeping on you cause they know you selling dreams” is a line I feel will wake a lot of people to death, I love that he’s separating himself from others in this business cause, he just does things differently than they do, from his moves to just the way he carries himself. Whereas with them, it may have been blind luck, he always knew he was destined for greatness & through his incessant determination, that is more than felt in his impeccable lyricism, he has managed to manifest it all so, now he’s on the “Loose” & I don’t think there’s any stopping him at this juncture in his career, the only way to go from here is up.

I can always appreciate when artists show us their range, show us that they refuse to be boxed in when it comes to what they’re capable of. I wasn’t expecting to hear him croon on this record, it’s impressive how he’s able to switch from that to the smooth player talking lyricism that’ll for sure get his “Late Night Link” to swoon, maybe even faint over, I would if I was her. But fret not if you thought he was turning soft on y’all, he immediately reminds you just what the fuck it is on “FlipMode freestyle”, which finds him flexing his braggadocio over some very zanily infectious production.

On “You Know”, we go back to the R&B after that banging intermission & find him trying to convince his Misses Right to let down her guard or pull up her portcullis to let him within her temple cause clearly he’s to treat her with the utmost care, he’s extremely selfless on this record & the focal point is her, he’s just doing what he can to make her feel comfortable & let her know that it’s actually safe to open up to him, whatever trauma she faced with the prior dude, he’s sincere in his reassurance that, that won’t be the case this time around & hopefully she’s eventually convinced cause, he’s even being delicate in his wanting of it, he’s not demanding nothing of her, rather easing her into that level of comfort. Whether he’s poking his chest out on “Fuck Allat”, speaking to himself in times of struggle on “Don’t Worry”, there’s a lot here to unpack “Until Next Time” but I’d say he’s delivered his magnum opus here with his sophomore effort & side note, what in the world is that sample on the outro cause my God it’s impeccable!