Five Takeaways From M.I Abaga’s New Album ‘The Guy’
Featuring Wande Coal, Nas, Phyno, Olamide and more.
Longevity is a word that’s befitting as a description for the rap career M.I Abaga has managed till date. Not in the sense that he’s still here and still rapping, it’s that he’s still very visible and, while his powers as a mainstream superstar are no longer at peak levels, his impact in Nigeria’s rap scene remains very tangible. A lot of that hinges on his admirable productivity.
In 2018, he released two full-length projects, the sunny and musically varied ‘Rendezvous’, which was tied to a light-hearted concept, and the greyscale ‘A Study on Self Worth: Yxng Dxnzl’, a deeply ruminative album tie together by excerpts from a therapy session. Two years later, he’d pull off the same double-project output, albeit on a less grand scale, turning out the self-indulgent ‘Judah’ EP, and combining with A-Q for ‘The Live Report’, a short but packed time capsule for pandemic-period concerns.
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Since his last album, however, M.I Abaga has been on something of a crusade. As widely touted as he is as one of the greatest rap artists on the continent, he’s been concerned with annealing his greatness, especially in the aftermath of the widely discussed beef with rapper Vector. While he didn’t exactly lose the beef, his reverence did take a hit, and he seemingly focused his energy on being at his technical best as a lyricist, serving as the main fulcrum for the duo of his 2020 projects and the many cyphers and freestyle challenges he participated in.
After months of teasing, today sees the release of ‘The Guy’, an album M.I Abaga has touted has a return to form. That ostensibly means a return to making music accessible to more people beyond the heads interested in lyrical acrobatics, which is evident in its list of collaborators, including Wande Coal, Olamide, Nas (!), BNXN, and much more. Here are five takeaways from our first few listens.
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The return of Pop-rap M.I Abaga
M.I’s superpower has always been his ability to make rap music that affects as many as possible without totally slouching on his obligations as a lyric-driven rapper. Whether approaching theme selection and writing with an everyman verve, or fusing the bounce of hip-hop with the rhythms and melodies of contemporary Afropop, he’s proven his mettle for being relatable without sacrificing being distinctly compelling.
For the first time in about eight years, he wholesomely leans into this superpower, placing ‘The Guy’ in the pantheon of his pop-rap classics like ‘Talk About’ and ‘M.I 2: The Movie’. Here, even at his most boastful, M.I is approachable and the colourful swirl of sounds prop up the assured gait he assumes throughout the album. A lot of the songs here are meant to be experienced communally, well beyond the confines of hot Twitter takes, which hasn’t been the case for the last couple of M.I projects, sans ‘Rendezvous’—and even that tape swung too Trappy and too alt-poppy.
‘The Guy’ is not a return to form for M.I Abaga as a rapper, but as a consummate song-maker. The artist that can make an effortlessly boastful slap like “Soft Life Tony”, serenading love songs like “The Inside”, and club-ready banger like “Daddy”.
Features, features, and more features
‘The Guy’ contains one more featured artist than its number of tracks. Even on the opening two songs without any credited collaborators, M.I’s voice isn’t the only one present—there’s ad-libs from Tiwa Savage, Naeto C, Vector and R2Bees’ Omar Sterling. It’s par for the course, partly because of its sonic direction and partly because M.I absolutely loves collaborating. On ‘Talk About It’, there were a dozen credited collaborators, including then-fairly known artists like Wizkid and General Pype; he even featured himself—as singing alter-ego Julius Caesar—on ‘M.I 2’; and he went on to stuff every song on ‘The Chariman’ and ‘Rendezvous’ with at least one featured artist.
Working with a lot of people is just what M.I Abaga does, and ‘The Guy’ ropes in collaborators of varying capacities that add to its vibrancy and thoughtfulness. There’s a dense verse from hip-hop legend Nas, a calmly sung and affecting hook from Nigerian rap/street-pop great Olamide, The Cavemen. and Phyno offer sweetly-scented highlife melodies, Wande Coal remains inimitable on a wedding party-ready jam, Tomi Owó’s voice is as bracing as ever on a ruminative deep cut, Lord Vino’s Teflon flow fits the bill for a conceited highlight, and there’s much more great outside contribution.
The Guy is happily in love
“All I need right now is a Naija girl to call my queen,” M.I raps on the intro, title track. It’s a personally revealing moment on a track filled with self-important and dismissive quips, but the rapper wasn’t just wishing at the time he recorded that line. In April, the rapper shared news that he’d be getting married, with a post on social media summarising how they met and their evolution from fast friends to romantic partners.
The heart-warming video clip was scored by the Wande Coal-assisted “The Love Song”, which is one of the three romance-themed songs on ‘The Guy’, alongside “The Inside” and “The Front Door” with Duncan Mighty. From older classics like “Forever” and “One Naira” to newer cuts like “Playlist” and “You are like Melody”, M.I’s ability to make fairytale-inclined love songs has always been a part of his everyman charm. On this album, there’s a palpable joy he emits on the songs about finding and being in love, a glow that carries through the easy confidence that permeates ‘The Guy’.
So..
Wanted to share that I’ve gotten engaged to @EniolaMafe ♥️. I’m generally very private with things like this but I wanted to share my joy with you guys.
Pray for us… we will need it! Thank you for your support! pic.twitter.com/KanI4FuyA9
— The Guy (@MI_Abaga) April 3, 2022
Advocating for less toxicity in society
Back in May, shortly after Kendrick Lamar released the revealing and introspective ‘Mr Morale & the Big Steppers’ to widespread conversations, M.I shared a tweet expressing frustration at not being properly revered. He was obviously referring to the reception of ‘Yxng Dxnzl’, which shares themes and a Therapy-leaning concept to Kendrick’s latest LP. While the rapper has always offered glimpses into his life’s story and mind-set with each album, ‘Yxng Dxnzl’ amped it up several notches, addressing mental health at a time when it still a taboo topic in Nigeria’s conservative society.
M.I would’ve obviously liked the album—which will be four years old in a few days—to be widely applauded but that wasn’t really the case. That hasn’t stopped him from mining raps from moments of honest reflections, like he did on “When I’m Gone” from The Live Report. He does that again on two occasions for ‘The Guy’, tackling the toxicity of social media on “Crazy” and toxic masculinity on “Soldier”. While the former, even with its timeliness, feels a bit contrived, the latter is M.I at his poignant best, asking for love to be extended to men on the first verse and turning the lens back on men to sharply demand accountability.
M.I has been vocal about the need for men to be better attuned to their role in making society a safer and saner place for women. On “Soldier”, he’s even more pointed than the time he rapped, “Niggas open your wings/let your women be kings,” again advocating that all men be feminists. Maybe it will be widely discussed, maybe not, but it’s an album highlight that should leave a mark on the many listeners who are all ears—which is still a W.
A brief moment of reunion for the original Choc Boiz
M.I doesn’t trade in nostalgia on his albums, but he indulges himself at the end of ‘The Guy’. On final track, “More Life”, he’s joined by long-time close friend Ice Prince and brother Jesse Jagz, a reunion for the game-changing trio of rap artists that formed the initial core of record label Chocolate City. It used to be a ritual on each rapper’s albums, all three assembling on a song—often the final track—for a breezy show of one-upmanship.
Those resulted in some revered rap songs: the delightful combative “Nobody Test Me”, the booming “Represent” and the playful “Thank You”. This time around, there’s no friendly competition, just three older compatriots celebrating their journeys and toasting the good life in each other’s company, with just opening ad-libs from Ice Prince, easy and gruff singing from M.I Abaga, and ragga-inflected raps from Jesse Abaga. It’s a wistful closer to a generally joyous affair.
Listen to ‘The Guy’ here.
ICYMI: M.I ISN’T THE MESSIAH THE WORLD WANTS HIM TO BE
Shekhinah Returns With Surprise Album, ‘Less Trouble’
The South African R&B star is at her most assertive on her first album in four years.
South African R&B and Pop singer Shekhinah has released a new surprise album titled ‘Less Trouble.’ The Durban star, who had been quiet for most of the year, took to social media shortly before midnight to share the new album’s cover, synopsis, and tracklist, simply stating, ‘If you’re seeing this my album LESS TROUBLE is out now at Midnight,’ in an Instagram caption.
The soulful singer first began teasing ‘Less Trouble,’ her first album in over four years, about a year ago when she released its lead single “Risk,” a bouncy Afropop-inspired collab with Ghanaian star MOLIY. A few months after the release of “Risk,” she put out “Steady,” a dreamy pop number that suggested that something bigger was on the horizon. But then it was largely radio silence about a project until its surprise arrival at midnight.
If 2021’s ‘Trouble In Paradise’ represented a coming-of-age for Shekhinah, subsisting some of the dreamy, youthful exuberance of her debut album for more measured musings on themes like heartbreak and grief, ‘Less Trouble’ finds her at her most assertive, writing and singing with the acuity of someone who is grown, decisive and discerning. The delicate opener “Break Up Season” sets the tone for the rest of the album as she shows little tolerance for shady behaviour and toxic patterns.
Other standout cuts on the album like “Bare Minimum,” a sombre collab with fellow South African award-winning singer lordkez, the ethereal, in-your-face interlude “New Casanova,” and the percussive “What Are We,” where Shekhinah contemplates the nature of a relationship but ultimately demands all or nothing, all drive home a part of the album’s synopsis, which reads ‘A BOOK ON MORE HEARTBREAK BUT LESS HEARTACHE.’
Shekhinah invites a couple of new collaborators on ‘Less Trouble,’ featuring the aforementioned MOLIY and lordkez as well as multi-instrumentalist Mars Baby and Young Stunna across the album’s 11 tracks. Mpilo Shabangu handled the majority of the album’s production, while other producers like Michael Morare, her longtime collaborator, Mthintheki Mzizi, and Vuyo also contributed to the album.
Listen to ‘Less Trouble’ here.
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The NATIVE’s First Impressions Of Amaarae’s ‘Black Star’
‘Black Star’ marks another evolutionary arc for Amaarae, and The NATIVE team offer our thoughts after a...
Change has always been a constant theme in any discussion about the career of Ghanaian-American star, Amaarae. Since she emerged as a singular voice in the late 2010s, she has evolved from a sirenic Afropop-adjacent singer into a Punk-Pop firestarter with minimal fuss. ‘Fountain Baby,’ her 2023 sophomore album, was a sweeping departure from the lilting melodies and shapeshifing cadences of the hypnotic ‘The Angel You Don’t Know,’ emphasizing her commitment to charting new courses with her music.
In the lead-up to her new album, ‘Black Star,’ she has wholly embraced a Pop aesthetic and sheen that was reflected on the album’s promotional singles, “S.M.O.” and “Girlie-Pop!.” Now that the album has arrived, the singer has advised listeners not to go in expecting a continuation of the soundscape on ‘Fountain Baby.’ As keen followers of Amaarae’s career from its start, we are sure that ‘Black Star’ marks another evolutionary arc for her, and we offer our thoughts after a few listens.
WHAT WERE YOUR EXPECTATIONS OF AMAARAE GOING INTO THIS ALBUM?
Kemnachi: I had zero doubts that she would impress me again. Amaarae always comes correct. She is audacious with her choices, taking creative risks most artists would not dare to imagine, and somehow rendering them seamless, deliberate, and effortless. Her music has a way of enveloping me: it’s fluid, slightly dangerous, and yet irresistibly sensual. Every project feels like an immersive world she has curated down to the finest detail. With ‘Black Star,’ I knew it was not going to be a mere collection of songs but another meticulously constructed realm.
Bamise: I expected something fun, genre-bending, and sonically diverse in the fashion that Amaarae’s music typically is. I may have taken the album title a bit too literally, though, because listening made me realise I had an eye out for some Pan-African statements or something to spark discourse on African identity, but I didn’t quite catch any of that.
Boluwatife: Amaarae has largely delivered throughout her career, so I knew she was going to come correct again. She’s one of those forward-thinking artists who take the kind of risks most others wouldn’t, but she always manages to make it work. She’s proven to be a musical omnivore who constantly meshes her wide-ranging influences into something new, fluid, icy, and more often than not, sensual. I knew ‘Black Star’ wasn’t going to be any different.
WHAT SONGS STOOD OUT ON THE FIRST LISTEN?
Wale: I liked “Girlie-Pop!.” I feel like it captures Amaarae’s vision of pushing Afropop into the future. She’s also really grown comfortable with music and lyricism and will not dumb down her message for anybody. The instrumental for “Girlie-Pop!” is also a wonder; it’s so dense, but there are pockets for Amaarae to be emotive about her feelings. Top song!
Daniel Akins: I need to hear “B2B” at the next rave I’m at. Amaarae is in her Dance era, and I’m here for it. Kiss Me Thru The Phone pt 2” with PinkPantheress is the collaboration I knew I needed, and I’m glad they finally linked up. It’s a clear standout on the project; their ethereal style complements each other.
Shina: “B2B” was the one that did it for me. That is my favourite track on the project. The number of times I ran it back was unhealthy for a first listen. It was also really fun to catch the Don Toliver “Best You Had” sample. I need to hear this outside!
HOW WELL YOU THINK THE GUEST APPEARANCES ENHANCED THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE?
Israel: The guest features on Black Star aren’t mere flexes. They’re strategic, theatrical, and sometimes emotionally resonant. They enhance, yes, but they do so on Amaarae’s terms. A standout for me was PinkPantheress on “Kiss Me Thru The Phone pt 2.” The tradeoff is that a few songs feel like dazzling cameos rather than an integrated conversation, yet overall they enhance the album’s drama, texture, and bravado with precision.
Daniel Banjoko: Everyone showed up and delivered, no weak links here. Instead of just guest spots, they felt like vital pieces of a bigger puzzle. Charlie Wilson on “Dream Scenario” nailed his part especially, making the track sound exactly like its name promises.
Moore: The guest appearances on ‘Black Star’ feel very intentional; each one enhances the album’s world without overshadowing Amaarae’s vision. PinkPantheress’s signature airy delivery meshes with Amaarae’s experimental pop sound. Naomi Campbell’s commanding voice on “ms60” is an unexpected but powerful addition, adding drama to the track. Each feature feels carefully chosen.
WHAT SONG IS THE BIGGEST SKIP?
Bamise: Not to be a party pooper, but I don’t get the PinkPantheress collab, “Kiss Me Thru The Phone pt 2.” It feels like a PinkPantheress song with less pop in it, and just borrows the title of the iconic Soulja Boy song but has no other similarities. It’s between that and “ms60.” For me, the chorus of that sounds like something I’ve heard from Amaarae before, and I doubt its absence would have diminished the album.
Shina: I feel like biggest skip is a strong word for a solid project, but if I have to pick a song to skip, it’ll be “ms60.” I think it’s easily forgettable.
Wale: It’s hard to single out a song that stuck out to me, but hearing Naomi Campbell on “ms60” threw me off. It’s just too contrived to bear for me.
WHAT SONG HAS THE BIGGEST HIT POTENTIAL?
Boluwatife: My gut answer would probably be “She Is My Drug,” just because of how she beautifully reworks the melodies from Cher’s “Believe.” DJ remixes of this song could go crazy. But if I were to think a bit more logically, TikTok would probably lap up “Kiss Me Thru The Phone pt 2.”
Daniel Banjoko: “Kiss Me Thru the Phone pt 2” goes crazy. Amaarae and PinkPantheress are the perfect match. This collab feels like it was destined to happen, and it delivers in full. Honestly, I can’t believe it took this long, and now I just need more tracks from these two, ASAP.
Moore: “Kiss Me Thru The Phone pt 2” has the biggest hit potential on the album. The song has a nostalgic, sad party girl vibe that makes it appealing, and it’s also catchy and well-produced. PinkPantheress consistently performs well on platforms like TikTok, and her fanbase overlaps in a really interesting way with Amaarae’s. The collaboration feels organic and exciting, and will likely create a lot of buzz.
OVERALL FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Wale: There is a very visceral quality to how Amaarae expresses desire that I don’t hear very often in a lot of music. It’s abstracted and warped in futuristic textures, but it’s very profoundly human, and it’s always great to hear that even as she advances the sonics of her delivery. I do, however, have an issue with the thematic scope of ‘Black Star.’ I thought there would be overt references to her experiences of navigating her Ghanaian identity, but those references are limited to samples and interpolations. It’s still an incisive listen and a triumph for finding ways to advance music from Africa.
Bamise: It’s Amaarae; she can never go wrong. But for me, this is the album that excites me the least from her catalogue. Other than how bass-heavy some songs on the album are, like “S.M.O.” and “She Is My Drug” among others, it feels similar to other projects I’ve heard from her in a way that’s not exactly refreshing or mind-bending. I may have gotten spoiled by how diverse and eclectic Amaarae’s music tends to be, but I wanted more from her. I expected more gangster, Hip-Hop Amaarae. Thematically, I didn’t get anything that gives the Black Star of Ghana, or black stars are ruling the world. Will I listen again and enjoy every bit of it still, though? Yes, I will.
Shina: So first off, this is a solid body of work. I love the fact that Amaarae stuck with the Dance, Electro-Pop route she was going with throughout the album. The features also played their part, adding their unique touches to each record. I would say, though, a feature I would’ve loved to hear on this project is 070Shake. I think she would have been perfect on “100DRUM,” but we don’t always get what we want, do we? Thematically, I think Amaarae could’ve leaned heavily on her Ghanaian heritage, seeing as the title and cover of the album are a nod to that. Maybe Amaarae just wants us to dance, and that’s what I’m just gonna do, and you should too.
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Tems Partners With Hennessy For Leading Vibe Initiative
Launching in Lagos, Nigeria, this event pioneered by Tems marks the beginning of a continent-wide movement to...
In July, Tems announced the Leading Vibe Initiative (LVI) to support women in music and the creative space on their journey to make a mark in their fields and create space for other women in those industries. Born from Tems’ journey as a self-taught artist with a focus on driving change, the initiative offers training, mentorship, industry access, and community for women in music in Africa.
After a rigorous selection process for its inaugural cohort, Hennessy will join the two-time Grammy Award-winning star to celebrate the launch of the Leading Vibe (LVI) Initiative in Lagos, Nigeria. Held from August 8 to 9, 2025, the two-day event is the beginning of a bold new chapter in Hennessy’s long-standing commitment to music and culture in Africa.
“I’m excited to partner with Hennessy in bringing this initiative to life, supporting talented young women in music as they find their voices, embrace their power, and shape the future of the industry across Africa and beyond,” Tems said about the partnership.
The Leading Vibe Initiative aims to champion the next generation of female artists, producers, songwriters, and music professionals, increasing representation within all areas of music across the continent and beyond.
With Hennessy as lead partner, this ambitious program kicks off with an immersive event in Lagos featuring curated workshops, networking moments, and panel discussions led by top-tier talent from across the global and African music industries.
“Her vision, talent, and purpose align deeply with Hennessy’s legacy of championing those who push boundaries and redefine the world around them. We’re honored to support the Leading Vibe Initiative and to continue empowering African communities and cultures,” said Vincent Montalescot, Hennessy Global Chief Marketing Officer.
Hennessy’s partnership with Tems builds on the brand’s decades-long history of supporting music and artistic expression globally and on the continent. From Hip-Hop to Afrobeats, Hennessy continues to stand beside the artists and communities that shape culture.
In Africa, the Maison has deepened its commitment through meaningful initiatives like In the Paint and now, with the Leading Vibe Initiative, is taking a focused step toward amplifying women’s voices in music. With the Lagos launch as a powerful first step, the Leading Vibe Initiative will expand across Africa and globally, creating a cross-continental network of empowered women ready to shape the future of African music.
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