The Seventh Seal is the third solo studio album by American rapper Rakim. It was released November 17, 2009 after several delays on Rakim's own Ra Records, TVM, and SMC Recordings and distributed through Fontana and Universal Music Group. Considered a comeback album after a ten-year gap between releases, the album features the singles "Holy Are You," which was released on July 14, 2009, and "Walk These Streets" which was released on October 7, 2009. It features production from several renowned hip hop artists, including Nottz, Needlz, Jake One, and Nick Wiz.

The album sold 12,000 copies in the United States by November 22, 2009, according to SoundScan. Upon its release, The Seventh Seal received generally mixed or average reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 59/100 from Metacritic.

The original title for the album was Oh, My God, with the original release date set for 2002, but after he signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath record label, he eventually left. The official reason for his departure from Aftermath were creative differences and the different work habits of Dre and Rakim.

After leaving the label, Rakim began recording new songs for the album and Dr. Dre allowed him to keep the songs that he originally produced.

Then in 2007, Rakim decided to record completely new songs for the album. In an interview with Billboard on July 13, 2009, when asked about if this album contains any material from the unreleased album he did with Dr. Dre, he stated "No, that's locked down in the lab for now. This is me live from New York City, everything brand new."

In an interview with Billboard in 2007, when asked about story behind the title, Rakim said,

In an interview in early 2009, when asked about the new generation of hip hop fans, Rakim said,

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