Best New Music: Cruel Santino Blends the Present & Past on Sauce Kid’s “OMOGE WA JO”
A spin on Sauce Kid's 2006 single
Experimentation has always been the motto for Cruel Santino’s music. As one of the leading voices of Nigeria’s Alté music scene, he has perfected his knack for often polarising yet irresistible tunes. His 2019 debut studio album ‘Mandy & The Jungle’ was a thrilling ride of hard-hitting records and the accompanying visuals drew inspiration from Nollywood horror movies. He followed it up with the genre-bending sophomore project ‘Subaru Boys: FINAL HEAVEN,’ whose roots stretch far into his deep-seated love for Japanese pop culture. Recently, he resorted to the online platform Twitch to connect with fans and other artists on gaming and music.
Four days ago, he released a new single. As part of Spotify’s Singles Cover, Cruel Santino’s L0LA-assisted “OMOGE WA JO” is a reinvention of Nigerian artist Sauce Kid’s 2006 song of the same title that featured the veteran Mike Okri. Spotify’s Singles Cover aims to celebrate Nigeria’s music history. Cruel Santino is the latest act to deliver reimagined renditions of modern-day Nigerian classics.
Produced by Tochi Bedford, Cruel Santino’s version turns Sauce Kid’s Hip-Hop number on its head, pulling the smooth rhythm in the direction of upbeat alt-rock with Disco undertones. Sharing his thoughts on the cover, Cruel Santino revealed that “The difference between ‘OMOGE WA JO,’ the Sinzu version and mine [is that] Sinzu’s one is more like laid back and chill. Mine is just freeform sprinkled with like Santi madness.”
Tochi Bedford’s production is the solid base for the magic that Cruel Santino and L0LA weave on “OMOGE WA JO.” The drums and twinkling keys carry a life of their own; they invoke a sensation that feels both nostalgic and avant-garde, in line with Santino’s psychedelic tendencies. A recent collaborator on Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up,” Tochi Bedford, who also contributed to Cruel Santino’s ‘Subaru Boys: FINAL HEAVEN,’ leads the line with exceptional production that makes L0LA and Santino’s work easier.
In Sauce Kid’s “OMOGE WA JO,” the rapper oozed cool confidence as he bragged about being a far-from-average spitter and about the magnetic pull he had over the ladies. Mike Okri’s suave hook carried an impressive modern sheen for an act that ruled Nigerian airwaves 80s with dance music. Sauce Kid went on to rebrand as Sinzu and put out the Davido-featuring hit track “Carolina” and Mike Okri’s “Time Na Money” remains one of the evergreen songs in the history of Nigerian music.
“Lyrics don’t guide me sometimes, it’s just the feeling and the melody, and I make out what I make from it,” Cruel Santino told Rolling Stone earlier in the year. His version of “OMOGE WA JO,” in every sense, is freeform as he cuts through different subject matters. L0LA, on her part, brings some form of narrative: she sings about how being with her lover inspires uncertainty in her. The divergences, though, are unified by L0LA’s soft refrains.
The accompanying video reiterates the energy on the track as Cruel Santino and L0LA engage in joyful camaraderie as they dance and dance and hop through a London street. The video joins Santino’s growing list of music videos he has directed through his Monster Boys outfit— “Gangsta Fear,” “Freaky,” “Rapid Fire,” “Raw Dinner,” “HEATING ROCKS,” Odunsi (The Engine)’s “Alté cruise” and GoldLink’s “U Say.”
“My favourite part of the original song is the whole song. I spent like two weeks cracking my head on it,” Cruel Santino said. “When people listen to my version, I want them to be happy that those times were there but sad that they might never get them back again.” Cruel Santino continues to tease new music while revealing that he has four projects in his ‘Subaru’ series in the works; with his version of “OMOGE WA JO,” he again highlights that his artistry will never wane as he remains on his path of reinvention and experimentation.
Listen to Cruel Santino’s “OMOGE WA JO” below.
Featured image credits/NATIVE
Best New Music: Tiwa Savage and Skepta Are Stuck In A Loop On “On The Low”
After over a decade helming some of the most romantic cuts in Afropop, Tiwa Savage’s dalliance with R&B is...
There are only a few artists in Afropop with the range, longevity, and lustre that Tiwa Savage has. Since she emerged on the Nigerian music scene in 2011, Ms. Savage has set an inimitable standard in terms of platforming the point of view of women at the pinnacle of Afropop, working to show that women are multi-dimensional and layered, capable of going through the motions of joy, angst, distress, and optimism just as much as the next person. By unapologetically leaning into the very minutiae of what makes her tick as a woman, she’s become a fan favourite and an undisputed legend of the genre.
Impressively, she’s done this while making great strides sonically. From the throbbing afropop of ‘Once Upon A Time’ to the swaggering house-inflected triumph of ‘R.E.D,’ and the dense polyrhythmic structure of ‘Celia,’ Tiwa Savage has continued to tincture her R&B-adjacent sound with influences from home and abroad. It is an accurate reflection of Tiwa Savage as a person: grounded by her Lagos heritage but shaped by global influences. For the last six months, she has been talking up her forthcoming fourth album, describing it as a full-throttle return to the R&B sound that was her stock in trade before she returned to Nigeria in 2011 to establish herself as an Afropop powerhouse.
In April, she released the emotive “You4Me,” clearly establishing the direction for her new album, ‘This One Is Personal.’ Produced by Mystro Sugar, “You4Me” put a fresh spin on Tamia’s ’90s classic “So Into You” with percussion work by Magicsticks adding a decidedly Afropop sheen to the song. Upping the ante, Tiwa Savage returned with “On The Low,” a delightful sung-rap bop featuring British-Nigerian rapper, Skepta. Like “You4Me” before it, “On The Low” is steeped in R&B tradition, finding Tiwa Savage pining after a love that feels like a taboo or forbidden pleasure. Produced by Rymez and Mystro, it is a surefire pointer that Tiwa Savage wasn’t joking when she said ‘This One Is Personal’ had overt R&B influences.
After over a decade helming some of the most romantic cuts in Afropop, Tiwa Savage’s dalliance with R&B is helping to propel her artistry to new heights. Just as the soundtrack for ‘Water & Garri,’ her debut as a filmmaker, pared down universal emotions like longing, desire, and anxiety into digestible bits on standouts like “I Need You,” “Lost Time,” “Love O,” her latest song chronicles the intangibles of a romance that’s quite not out in the open. “I know you want to link on the low / We have to stay discreet, you don’t know,” she sweetly intones on the song’s hook, clearly obfuscating the true status of the relationship but revealing just enough to let her listeners know that the dynamic of this relationship is not the usual.
It’s a premise that is established from the opening lines of the song when Skepta breezily starts with an offer to travel, presumably after being unavailable for a while. “Yeah, I’m off tour, we should celebrate / Dedicate some time for you, baby, it’s a date,” he says. It sets off a sequence where Tiwa Savage admits to being annoyed by the complexities of this relationship.
Still, there’s something about the thrills of these tenuous romances that keeps one tethered to them, and Tiwa Savage manages to capture the dilemma of the situation when she sings, “Boy, you make me stressed, you don’t know / Then you send me sweet texts on the low.” Her measured delivery and tonal inflections lend an air of believability to the story that would be inaccessible in lesser hands.
It helps that even as she revisits her R&B origins, the singer still maintains a strong connection to the sonic references that made her an Afropop juggernaut. There is seriously impressive percussion across “On The Low” with enough Yoruba ad-libs sprinkled across to remind any doubters that this is a Nigerian star paying homage to an elemental part of her evolution without losing touch with her roots. It sets the stage for This One Is Personal’ perfectly.
Listen to “On The Low” here.
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Best New Music: TMZY And Yiizi Explore The Motions Of Romance On “Ayawa”
TMZY and Yiizi’s nimble mastery of melodies, penchant for colourful storytelling, and palpable chemistry...
There has never been a more rewarding time to be a music lover. The democratic access that social media allows means that listeners are exposed to a wide variety of acts whose music mines the minutiae of their lives and the circumstances of their experiences as inspiration for their work. In many ways, that sense of believability is crucial in distinguishing acts that stand out in our crowded digital world, and rising singers, TMZY and Yiizi, possess that believability in spades. Their music, reflecting the pulse and vibrancy of their Ebute Metta upbringing, ruminates on the dynamics of modern dating. They are at once frustrated, enamored, and oddly amused by the financial necessities of dating as a young person in Lagos.
Last year, after teasing listeners with freestyles filmed all over their hood, they made a big splash with their debut, “Money Over Love,” a zestful, youth-fuelled dedication to the utility of cash as the primary catalyst for romantic love. Another single, “Omalicha,” expands on the precepts set out on “Money Over Love,” praising a love interest for her alluring qualities. It all set the stage for their debut project, ‘Money Over Love,’ which takes its name from their debut single.
On ‘Money Over Love,’ the brother duo presents a fuller vision of their sound, while tincturing their melodies with vocabulary sharpened by interests that intersect between the streets and online lingo. No track reflects TMZY and Yiizi’s nimble mastery of melodies, penchant for colourful storytelling, and palpable chemistry like the project’s opening track, “Ayawa.”
Like most of what has come from the brothers before now, they are head over heels for a lover and are keen to show the depth of their feelings. “Ayawa,” the Yoruba word for “our wife,” is used as a metaphor for living happily ever after with their loved one. Impressively, they manage to weave their sticky-sweet verses in Yoruba, English, and pidgin without losing any of the rhythm that listeners of the brothers have become accustomed to. Listening to the song, there are giveaways that the brothers are dialed into the cutting edge of music. “Ayawa” is cut from the sample drill style that American rapper and producer, Cash Cobain, has popularised, with the brothers choosing a humorous sample as a backbone for this track.
In just a little over two minutes on ‘Ayawa,” the brothers manage to pack in a week’s worth of thrills, promising a trip to Las Vegas, decking her out in designer outfits, and a visit to her parents’ to formalise their affairs. Almost impressively, they have a more nuanced grasp on healthy romance, candidly asking, “Would you stand by me?” It is a welcome micro-evolution from where we met the brothers on “Money Over Love,” and a reminder that they are master wielders of narrative with the world buying into their enjoyable music.
Listen to ‘Money Over Love’ here.
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Best New Music: Indi Is Effortlessly Cool On “Over”
“Over” is arguably the strongest addition to Indi’s growing discography yet. It’s sexy, cool and...
Since the turn of the year, the underground music scene has been experiencing a surge of vibrancy, marked by the emergence of a talented new generation of young musicians. Loose terms like New Age and Cyber Youth have been used to describe this new wave of artists, but what’s certain is their ingenuity and profound artistry. Some of the best music coming out of this new movement has come from Indi, a singer, songwriter, and producer who sounds like she’s aching and flirting at the same time. Her songs, most of which barely cross the 2-minute mark, blend Y2K aesthetics with the boldness of contemporary Hyperpop. Think Clara La San meets Charli XCX.
Indi only started putting out music officially in mid-2024, but she’s fleshed out a clear sonic identity in such a short time that one might think she’s been at this for much longer. A Pop singer with light R&B contours, she employs a refreshing approach, somewhere between accessible and experimental, that stands in contrast to the overwhelming monotony of mainstream Pop music in Nigeria.
Tracks like “Atbu,” “Caution,” and “Promise” are built similarly: melancholic, upbeat, and made irresistible by her DIY charm. The singer’s latest single, “Over,” follows this same pattern, fusing cutting-edge club music to melodies and rhythms rooted in R&B and Pop. Her enticing melodies, a key feature of her sound, seamlessly swirl around a glitchy beat courtesy of frequent collaborator Awful Daniel and Three Cyk-Beta.
Most of Indi’s lyrics are often delicate depictions of relatable emotions like desire and teenage angst. They can, however, be pretty repetitive and opaque. “All these lights but I still want you more,” she sings with a spike of anxiety on “Over,” slyly referencing a love interest. This lyrical anonymity is offset by the song’s silky Electronic pop production and Indi’s ethereal vocal passages, which give much of her music deep emotional resonance, much more than her lyrics do.
“Over” is arguably the strongest addition to Indi’s growing discography yet. It’s sexy, cool and forward-thinking. It’s also quickly become her most streamed song yet, a testament to it’s irresistible charm. In a clime that mines nostalgia for the sake of it, Indi borrows from the past to create something refreshingly familiar and futuristic at the same time. This unique ability has placed her at the forefront of this new wave of eccentric artistes who are looking to make their mark on our ever-evolving music scene.
Listen to “Over” here.
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