Blame Drake, but gone are the days when rappers were shy of showing off their vocal range. President Zik isn’t just a post-Drake artists; he a post Take Care artist, possibly the best Nigeria has seen in a while. On that album, Drake drifted lazily from rapping to singing over lush but sparse electronic soul samples that still sounds good every time it plays. President Zik does pretty much the same thing on “You Don’t Know”. He’s a singer/rapper but instead of obsessing over his relationship drama, he delivers a somber number to establish his imminent come up.

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Discussing his struggle to get into the limelight while also being skeptical of the industry politics, President Zik references 2 Face and his Grass to Grace story that turned sour after his various scandals. He’s confident that he can get by with just his musical inspiration as he raps; “never listen to my teacher/tell me who rhymes deeper than the bars wey dey inside speaker”. He features C4 on “You Don’t Know” and she follows that narrative as she sings about surrounding herself with only people she can trust.

“You Don’t Know” is produced by StevJazz with a specific sort of spacious electro-soul sustained on organs and sparse heartbeat drums. The sort of beat that would seem forced in the hands of other rapers but President Zik swings from rapping to buttery teen-idol singing making it feel organic and effortless. This gives the impression that he’s doing whatever makes the most sense at any given time and sometimes that’s all we ask.

Listen to President Zik “You Don’t Know” below.

Featured Image Credit: Instagram/presidentzik

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