If there was ever living proof to the mantra, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, it would be Rich The Kid. A byproduct of the Atlanta trap movement, Rich has always felt like an unnecessary figure, who had miraculously managed to beat his peers to audiences’ radars by the skin of his teeth. That now feels like a world-wide regret. His newest EP, ‘Lucky 7’, is the logical next step of Rich’s abysmal 2020, as he ascends to new levels of unoriginal. ‘Lucky 7’ feels like a real spit in the face to anyone under the illusion that 2021 would be the year Rich would finally justify his success, just as it is a mockery directed to his more skeptical listeners. Here, he is twice as dull and thrice as juvenile as ever before.
Rich truly epitomises everything wrong with the material on ‘Lucky 7’ with the EP’s opener, ‘Split’. I’d complain about just how bland and cliche Rich’s idea of lyricism is, but his walking stereotype approach is almost salvaged by just how inaudible his vocal performance is. It’d require a universal translator to even decipher what Rich was spouting, and in the time it’d take to understand his musings, the track’s inadequate production would bore you to death.
These issues tend to bleed into every subsequent track that has somehow escaped the cutting room floor and seen the light of day. However, no inclusion manages to achieve carbon copy status quite as effortlessly as ‘Right’. It’s truly only differentiated by the fact that I find myself double, and triple-checking that the end is nearer as I count down the minutes until ‘Lucky 7’ ends. It’s as if the EP is a sick and twisted joke that everyone except Rich and myself is involved in. The former has no idea what’s going on around him, the latter certainly isn’t laughing.
Having had to bite the bullet and run the gauntlet with Rich The Kid before, I was dubious at best heading into ‘Lucky 7’. But no amount of anticipation could prepare me for the talentless horrors that unfold on ‘Boom Boom’. Both Rich The Kid and Lil Mosey are credited, but given just how flat and deflated their performances are, this continuous monotone drone of a song will have you second-guessing if anyone other than Rich is at the wheel. Rich continues to suck the life out of his peers on ‘Too Blessed’. In unison with Quavo and Takeoff, Rich tries and fails, to reanimate the Migos in his mind’s eye. It’s a particularly amateurish mix that sounds as if the trio recorded their performances through a tin can.
‘Lucky 7’ well and truly exceeds EP length and edges towards album territory. In classic Rich The Kid fashion, the MC opens the floodgates for playlist fodder to seep in, just to get a taste of that sweet sweet streaming coin. Rich has never been one to boast a distinct sound, but on ‘Money Machine’, he feels the need to join the hip-hop masses and rip off Young Thug. Though suggesting he’s even half the vocalist as his obvious idol is a real injustice, as Rich could only conjure such interesting qualities in his wildest dreams. When the going gets tough for Rich, he attempts to weasel his way around his deficiencies instead of tackling them head-on.
Obeying what feels like Rich The Kid lore at this point, ‘Lucky 7’ is jam-packed with features that leave Rich feeling like a sideshow freak attraction, rather than the ring leader. Perhaps it’s the consistently low benchmark Rich sets, but I find myself often having nothing but praise to shower his contemporaries with. On ‘Laughin’, DaBaby steals the show with one of his most versatile and explosive performances to date. Rich suffers from a case of feature-itis again on‘Nasty’. It’s a boss-bitch anthem that see’s Flo Milli, Mulatto, and Rubi Rose running amuck as this three girl wrecking crew, all whilst Rich grasps on for dear life in the hopes that he’ll somehow be remembered.
It’s pure irony that Rich The Kid thought ‘Lucky 7’ would aptly capture the material on the EP when those who have stumbled across this generic monstrosity are more unlucky than most. What’s most worrying about the EP, is that the bulk of the material could be interchanged with any other release in the Rich discography, and you’d struggle to tell the difference. Furthermore, the result would be the exact same – excruciatingly boring. Being as deep into his career as he is, and with no signs of slowing down, Rich The Kid just feels like a lost cause who’s content with being recognised that way, as long as he’s allowed to continue to mooch off of the industry.
Lucky 7 – Rich The Kid – 2/10
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