First project in 5 years, Harlem’s own Jus Smith has finally delivered his tape, ‘Game 7′. Featuring 12 tracks in total, the entire body of work was produced by Compton’s own Dre Tha Oneda. Serious sidenote, yes, the producer is from the West Coast so once you press play you’ll be questioning if he really is or not. Trust me I did myself even though I knew the answer already.
When you’re an artist passionate about your craft you become a perfectionist to make sure you deliver the best possible body of work you can. In Jus’ case, the long wait was not only contributed by him wanting to be perfect but in the last few years life presented several obstacles for him. Now I am in no position to speak on his circumstances but as you listen to each track on the tape you’ll be welcomed into Smith’s world as “Game 7” is his most personal project to date.
You name a topic, Jus speaks on it. Using his keen knowledge of sports, specifically basketball, metaphorically ‘Game 7’ symbolizes that with one last game left you still have the opportunity to come out on top. Starting the tape with ‘Tip Off’ and finishing things off with ‘Buzzer Beater’, we are taken on a journey with Jus.
Several standouts early on; ‘Bad Boy’, ‘BMW’, ‘George Gervin’, ‘Hadream Olajuwon’, ‘Smith Talk’, ‘Sky Hook’ and of course ‘Crown’ which dropped prior to the project release. It is songs like ‘Ant Mason Margiela’ that really put into perspective how important and personal this project is to the Harlem native. Pay close attention to the lyrics on Ant Mason, there’s no way you can tell me you did not connect to this one.
Without holding you guys any further, listen to ‘Game 7’ on all streaming services, Tidal, Apple Music and Spotify.