AMG Review of VII

Garth Cartwright
All Music Guide

This is the last recorded effort of Just-Ice (although he appears to take around three years between albums). Still, it's nothing to get excited about -- Just-Ice is still full of piss and swagger but he's never developed into a storyteller or rhyme cruncher of real interest and the hardcore raps on offer here come from a man who helped invent the gangsta style but now sounds desperately out of time. As ever, he's backed by beats-by-numbers and his label obviously didn't want to spend money on samples, as the music here is, for the most part, colorless. Considering that Just-Ice's former producer Kurtis Mantronic also appears to be on the unemployment line these days, perhaps someone could engineer a reunion. It's worked for old rockers so why not old rappers?