“Making music is like painting a picture,” says the classically trained producer Cse7en, previously known as Zeke Lee. “And I plan to paint the walls with the music I make.”

When Cse7en is going through rough times, he transcends his circumstances and lets the music take him where it wants to go. This has been a uniquely productive coping mechanism for the still young producer since he started making music at 16 years old. Amidst life’s struggles, Cse7en’s most peaceful moments come when music is on his mind.

His eclectic musical sensibilities first sprouted at six years old when he joined the Toronto Perth Church choir. Cse7en was immediately drawn to the piano player. Soon after, an eight-year-old Cse7en also made his acting debut with appearances in two movie projects & several commercials. At 12 years old, he realized his earliest musical dream when he started piano lessons & would continue these lessons for seven years. Cse7en regularly wrote the Royal Conservatory of Music exams & often passed his exams with “First class honors”, laying the foundation for his production work in the years to come.

Cse7en’s roots are in Jamaica, where he was born before moving to Florida and then to Toronto at the age of 2. The collision of cultures shines through in his music as well as those he cites as influences. Cse7en grew up around choirs, but by way of his parents, was also introduced to classics like Luther Vandross, Miles Davis, Prince, Quincy Jones and Marvin Gaye. In the 90s and 2000s, Cse7en got ahold of the music selections and tuned into revered hip-hop producers like Timbaland, Just Blaze and Kanye West. Taking pieces from his family’s soul, gospel and reggae roots, his childhood exposure to classic R&B and his teenage affinity for hip hop, Cse7en has now carved out a unique sound based not in genre, but in authenticity. Cse7en is known by many professionals to be an early pioneer of the trap sound in the Toronto music scene, where it was rare and uncommon at the time in the Canadian music industry.

“I didn’t always have a lot of confidence in my musical abilities,” says Cse7en who’s since established Space Symphony Productions and has worked with Liberty Silver, the first black woman to win a Juno Award. “I’d lose my focus, but that’s how it goes as a young man. Life inspires my music, and it’s my goal to inspire people who hear my music. I’m determined to use my talent & abilities to inspire others & change lives.