070 Shake shakes things up in Philly at Theatre of Living Arts

In a year where female rappers and vocalists are making big moves in soulful hip hop—thank you Megan Thee Stallion and Lizzo—070 Shake has nicely carved out her own niche.

Even Madonna, the queen of danceable pop and dynamic image making, has said really nice things about 007.

“070 Shake is indescribably mysterious and alluring,” Madge wrote in an email release for her teaming with 070 Shake for a co-joined rendition of their viral ‘Frozen (Remix)’. “There are very few women in the trap music world that aren’t pandering to men. Her lyrics are deep and unique–there is no one like her.”

Before the New Jersey-born R&B-rapper drops her sophomore album, ‘You Can’t Kill Me’, in the first week of June, she’ll head out on her debut headlining tour with a date in Philly at South Street’s Theatre of Living Arts on May 18.

Though famously discovered and signed by Kanye West in 2018 to his G.O.O.D. Music label, and guesting on G.O.O.D. releases with Pusha T and Nas, 007 Shake quickly announced her solo position with her own project, her debut ‘Modus Vivendi’, in 2020.

“I started making music about three years ago,” 070 Shake told Billboard, stating how her first song “Proud” embraced the struggles of not being taken seriously. “Two weeks prior, I was like, ‘I wouldn’t sign to anybody beside G.O.O.D. Music.’ And then two weeks later, they just reached out to me.”

For a young writer, 007 Shake hasn’t let her childhood in New Jersey shift her direction or influence her much. She told Vogue Magazine that her current mindset hasn’t been so influenced, “by the way I grew up or by my surroundings—if it was I would be very closed-minded. A lot of experiences I had growing up weren’t attached to where I grew up. I do think that my hometown has a lot to do with how I think.

“People wanted me to think a certain way, and I had to rebel. If they didn’t make me think that way, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to rebel,” she continues. “In high school, people just tried to put me in a box, and said I wasn’t smart enough or, you know, the regular sh*t that rappers say about their teachers. It was a big thing for me because they kind of f**ked up my spirit a lot, putting me in special ed classes and sh*t like that. So I had to break out of that.”

Considering her newest single ‘Skin and Bones,’ and the music she is making with ‘You Can’t Kill Me’, 007 is an old soul and a fresh face whose music and experience is boldly new.

“I just want to make people feel something,” she told Vogue. “Open people’s minds, save people. Do what I’m supposed to do. I need to reach people; I’m not really doing this for myself. I don’t think anybody really does it for themselves. I want to connect with people as much as I can, I want to leave an imprint. I’m always thinking about when I’m not here, you know. When I make an impression on people, I want it to live longer than I do. I want my art to live longer than I do. That’s my biggest goal—that it lives longer than I do, so I can never really die.”