Boldly melodic but still capable of slinging a verse like nobody’s business, Page Sevii’s voice is a good medium between soulful crooning and sleek rapping in the new single “Cheat Codes,” but his golden pipes aren’t the lone reason to give this song a shot this January. Rocking a light beat with little synthetic backing, “Cheat Codes” is a relatively simple track that doesn’t put up a strong instrumental front to compensate for a lack of lyrical depth on the part of its rapper, but instead gives him a template-like structure from which to launch quite the memorable (and highly melodic) performance.
This rhythm might be missing the heaviness of a west coast bassline, but the tightness with which it presents the lyrics is enough to convince me that “Cheat Codes” wouldn’t be the same song without it. I can see where there might be some remix potential, but from my perspective, I think this is about as smooth a rendition of the composition as we’re going to get, given how relaxed Page Sevii is attacking the beat here – even at its most cautious and, seemingly, stoic. I’ll take discipline over decadence any day of the week, and singles like this one are the reason why.
Watch the video for “Cheat Codes” below
Page Sevii doesn’t try to establish himself as a surrealist or even an extension of a growing melodic trap movement in the American underground here but instead is going out of his way to give us an amalgamation of soulful grooves and mindful melodic vocals that speak more to his personal influences than anything getting clout left of the dial. There’s nothing wrong with identifying yourself as part of a larger scene, but he appears above that here – he acknowledges the heart of the 303 underground in “Cheat Codes,” but outside of this it’s all about sticking to his own creative path.
I’ve been listening to a slew of up-and-coming rappers over the past couple of years essentially trying to break off something similar to this single right out of the gate, but none have come to me with the inventiveness Page Sevii does in “Cheat Codes.” The overzealousness of an optimistic fame-chaser is nowhere to be found in this single nor its music video, but rather a dedication to the medium that has become increasingly difficult to find no matter where we look and listen in hip-hop and western pop music in general. Simply put, don’t underestimate what Page Sevii brings to the table.
