6/19/2018
070 Shake’s slow, but calculated rise to stardom
By: KT
"We can go forever babe I gotta strong team"
The Story of Shake
When Kanye announced he would be holding a listening party for his album “Ye” in Jackson Hole, I was beyond ecstatic. I just so happen to be working here in this beautiful town of just under 10,000 tucked up against the mountains. Kanye must have lost my contact or something because I didn’t get an official invite, but that didn’t stop me. Well, it kind of did, because while I did not actually gain entrance to the event, it was held outside, and I was listening from just outside of the ranch it was being played at. The amount of A-List celebrities that were there was insane. Chris Rock came on the mic first to give an intro to the whole party, I was beyond stoked. To keep it brief, the album was played two times all the way through. What stood out to me the most however wasn’t Kanye, but the hypnotizing vocals on the outro of the 6th song (later revealed to me as "Ghost Town"), those vocals happened to be 070 Shakes. Among hundreds of the music, fashion, and medias most famous persons, it was Shake who stood out the most, and I’m not the only one who shared this opinion. Soon hip-hop blogs we’re all over breaking down the album, being preeminent and ignorant, they began listing shakes feature as “Dej Loaf” or other female artists. But it didn’t matter, her stardom, and talent, had already been solidified.
A lot of people are just now hearing the diverse, soon to be superstar, 070 Shake. Her most noticeable recent collaborations include “Ghost Town” off Kanye Wests album “Ye” and she also makes an impressive appearance on the track “Violent Crimes.” She, just weeks earlier appeared on Pusha T’s album Daytona where Shake laid down some mesmerizing melodies to add a great touch to Push’s bars. As if that wasn’t enough, Shake also appeared on Nas’s Project “Nasir” executively produced by Kanye West. The vocals she laid down on the song “Not For Radio” will leave you yearning for more of Shake’s hypnotizing harmonies. With all these releases being mere weeks apart, it makes you wonder, how did she blow up so fast, and the short answer is, she didn’t.
070 Shake and the group became aware to me, KT, a self-proclaimed hip-hop connoisseur, over two years ago, when her collective dropped the “070 Freestyle”. Shake goes first on a cypher that is more than well worth listening to the whole thing. Her voice made its way through my headphones, and I knew I was hearing a legend in the making. The way she has the ability, to seamlessly glide over beats and harmonize the listener as if she was in their head is an effect that you’ll never forget once you hear it.
Of course, I wasn’t the only one to recognize the immense potential Shake had, as YesJulz, a social media influencer, women’s rights activist, and entrepreneur had also seen the potential and soon became her manager. With only loose singles and old songs catching on, there seemed to be a lull in the development in her career. While she wasn’t releasing much music, what she was releasing was only high-quality content, all the while she was working on bigger things. Older Shake songs, such as “Sunday Night” featuring 070 Phi, kept me coming back as I was awaiting her debut project. YesJulz and Shake continued to work and make connections with established industry artists such as Fabulous, whom Shake would go on to release a song with “To the Sky,” which didn’t get as much recognition as it should have. Because once again, she was working on bigger things.
Shakes Debut EP “Glitter” was a project I believe was a true work of art. Her track “I laugh when I’m with friends but I’m sad when I’m alone,” struck a little too close to my heart and I began to tear up at the level I could hear myself in her music. Once again though, the masses weren’t catching on and the project, while not selling terribly, wasn’t near where it should be in terms of sales. But Shake, with the guidance of her manager YesJulz are “Never Not Working” a brand and lifestyle Julz and Shake live by.
Unaware of the actual date, its believed Shake signed to G.O.O.D. Music sometime around June of 2016. Almost a full two years before she made her mainstream media breakout upon the masses being exposed to her raw talent on tracks such as “Ghost Town” and “Violent Crimes” off of Ye’s project “Ye”. Her vocals on Ghost Town will have anybody screaming along to the lyrics “AND NOTHING HURTS ANYMORE, I FEEL KINDA FREEE, WE’RE STILL THE KIDS WE USED TO BEEEE,”. The thing that makes Shake so enjoyable to listen to is that you can feel the raw energy and emotion put into every verse, word, and chorus.
It’s hard to believe that an artist who clocked features with: Nas, Kanye West, Puff Daddy, Kid Cudi, and John Legend, all with in the last month is just getting started. But she is. This is just the beginning of Shake’s rise to stardom and I hope you are as elated as I am to watch the Journey.