Pop culture is a gift that keeps giving at the coming Polartics art exhibition

Posted on by The Native

Despite the agitation the world looks to be cursed with, culture remains the one constant. Documenting human culture through any lens or angle is important for the preservation of the history, but art is easily the most boujee way to go about it. Polartics are offering a chance to be part of the documenting of our culture with their exhibition lined up for the 21st of December at the 12 Glover road location in Ikoyi.

Polartic is an online art gallery that’s patently curating and exhibiting contemporary African art. Their launch event this Friday is an exhibition of the evolution of distinctly Nigerian icons and influences that shaped popular culture. Emerging artists like Joseph Obanubi, Wami Aluko, and Andikan will curate pop culture’s progression from their youthful POV and they’d like you to come be a part of that.

You can see the flier for the exhibition below.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/
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ICYMI: Here’s everything you missed from last year’s ‘Art X exhibition’

Dénola Grey and Falana are hosting the Christmas edition of the Nok TNIF

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This Christmas season, Nok by Alara is offering a limited edition cocktail, curated by the stylish and fabulous duo of Dénola Grey and Falana. The Christmas themed cocktail is called “12 Cocktails of Christmas” but for more context, they shared a press release, where Dénola Grey and Falana offer some backstory to their taste selection and how Christmas influenced them.

Dénola Grey explained how his “intensely magical time” in Lagos in December inspired his “Hot December Romance” cocktail. And also expressed gratitude for the opportunity to curate contribute to merriness of Lagos’ nightlife saying, “Creating this menu with Nok was something I didn’t know my I needed until I started working on it. I’ve spent numerous good nights at Nok celebrating the music, style and flavours. Putting a bit of myself into that vibe has been pretty epic.” His cocktails were inspired by “Visualizing, in anticipation, the different tastes that each up-coming, event, gathering, date, meaningful connection and vibe would taste like this Christmas.” He is also responsible for the Steamy December Romance: (Mexican Hot Chocolate): Hot chocolate, cayenne pepper, coffee patron whipped cream and chocolate syrup garnish.

Falana also intimated us with her “Fa la la la la” cocktail, explaining that it is a combination of “Just some of (Her) favorite things for Christmas: White chocolate and Champagne”. She admits that it was created as a result of her love for chocolate and preference to go light with the booze at Christmas Parties. “You definitely cannot go wrong with a chilled glass of champagne with a sweet chocolaty twist.” After promising that the “12 Days of Christmas” limited edition cocktail has something for everyone, she wish everyone a merry Christmas.

After trying, testing and tweaking all 12 cocktails to their unique tastes, Falana and Dénola Grey also shared a 60-second video featuring a bartender called Awesome, as they thrill viewers to the wonders that Nok by Alara offers this festive season. The pair are also inviting everyone to the Christmas edition of the Nok TNIF at the Nok Garden the 21st of December.

Check out some of the images Bia took for Nok by Alara’s “12 Cocktails of Christmas”

 

 

You can see the flier for the event below.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/bailikedubai
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ICYMI: Watch the video for “Ride or Die”, Falana’s first release in 4 years

Best New Music: Olamide’s “Poverty Die” confirms Baddo’s visual renaissance is afoot

Posted on by The Native

Olamide often gets a lot of flack for not being as insightful, deep or focused as he should be, and he should. An annual concert, several hits and yearly album drops, under a decade, since his career started, feels like a normal progression but Olamide’s god-status is also a product of a series of events beyond him. First came Da Grin’s untimely death leaving a vaccum at the top of Yoruba hip-hop. Then, the spread of open file transfer technology like Bluetooth and micro SD cards.

Olamide was one of the first few digital artists in the ears of the everyday Nigerian, and this feeds his eagle eye for what the public wants and vice versa. And naturally, in a country where the majority live in squalor amidst evident affluence, his catalog for the most part is filled with the exact kind of lightweight commentary people going through hardship can enjoy without thinking too much.

But man shall not live by club hits alone.

Thankfully, this year, the YBNL boss appears to finally be stepping onto that documentarian mantle, many older fans have long-dreamt he would claim. Starting with this year’s “Science Student” video making social commentary on drug abuse and his era-defining “Logba Logba” stamping his footprint his history.

“Poverty Die” continues his music video renaissance as his pseudo-spiritual lyrics are depicted in a captivating performance showing Olamide wearing a white garment with others in prayer before he is later shown in black with men in black clothes, using their laptops. Though some of the scenes Unlimited LA directs are inspired by videos like Kanye’s “Mercy” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble”, the message at the core of the video’s imagery shows the legitimate and illegitimate lengths Nigerian will go to avoid poverty. The video for “Poverty Die” may not have the same all-out dance performance that made “Wo” and the Shaku-Shaku dance it incited so riveting, but it captures a Nigerian sentiment that perhaps only the YBNL label head can express adequately.

You can watch the music video for Olamide’s “Poverty Die” below.

Featured Image Credits: YouTube/OlamideVEVO
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ICYMI: Watch the video that started the Shaku-Shaku trend, “Wo”

Yomi Blaze and Picazzo are living the Nigerian dream in their new music videos, “Ika” and “Macaroni”

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The latest additions to Olamide’s YBNL label, Picazzo and Yomi Blaze, are the 21st-century Nigerian dream. Their rags-to-riches story is a product of living the creative life on social media, the answer to the question of how to be famous in the modern age. In less than 3 months, they have gone from unlikely internet sensations to superstars after sharing their “Able God” freestyle on Instagram and Twitter back. Twitter as they say ‘Did it’s a thing’ and connected them with their audience, which as it turns out is almost everyone in the western part of Nigeria.

A few days after going viral with their video clip, both artists were were signed to Olamide’s YBNL label. And just a couple weeks after that, featured on YBNL Mafia’s debut single, “Juju Guns and Rose” before going on to have their singles feature on the YBNL MaFia’s ‘YBNL MaFia Family’ album, released shortly after. But the dream doesn’t end there. Yomi Blaze and Picazzo have released his debut music videos, “Ika” and “Macaroni” respectively, giving a more graphic depiction of what the Nigerian dream is for young Nigerians.

Though both rappers were barely famous a few months ago, they’ve wasted no time being tame as their videos explore the limits of their outlandish imaginations. While Yomi Blaze takes the rough and edgy car drifting course with his “Ika” music video, Picazzo takes the bad boy rapper route, filling his video for “Macaroni” with sexy models, shaking everything.

Unlike Big Shaq and the recent “Different Ye” singer, Osh, Yomi Blaze and Picazzo aren’t taking the satirical direction that most internet sensations turn musicians go. Instead, they upped the ante with their edgy imagery matching the intensity they brought on their freestyles and subsequent songs released since. Yomi Blaze’s camouflage jacket help cast a menacing look on his rap competition while Picazzo Rhaps is seen in a fur coat that validates the pimp persona he portrays in his raps. Both artists have kicked off their rapper careers and now have music videos featuring Olamide to authenticates the persona they depict in their songs.

Watch the music video for Yomi Blaze’s “Ika” and Picazzo’s “Macaroni”.

Featured Image Credits: YouTube/Picazo Rhap
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ICYMI: Listen to the YBNL MaFia album, ‘YBNL MaFia Family’

Teni shares new single, “Christmas is Here”, a tribute to the festive season

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To celebrate the holidays, Teni is offering her fans a gift in the form of a new single titled “Christmas is Here”. Tis’ the season for giving after all and the song tributes to the merry sentiments that come along with the international holiday. Over a piano-led beat Jaysynths Beatz produces to mid-tempo guitar and drum riffs, Teni’s performance highlights all of the optimistic characteristic of Christmas; Happiness, family and Christianity.

Although the nearly 2-minute long song is brief and rendered in much warmer vocals than anything we’ve gotten from the singer till date, Teni didn’t metamorphize from being an Afropop party starter on “Askamaya” to become a sentimental ballad singer overnight. It’s no great detective work to hear the cheeky and romantic intentions expressed on her popular records where she also blends her Yoruba and English influences. Her unabashedly reveling in the glory of Christmas means the song will only be seasonal, but it’s sure to boast her visibility this festive season.

You can stream “Christmas is Here” below.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/tenientertainer
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ICYMI: See the music video for Teni’s “Askamaya” here

Listen to “Skin”, Minz debut single for 2018

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Since releasing his colourful music video for “Odoyewu” in February, Minz has taken a break from putting out music. But just before we draw the curtains on 2018, the singer just released “Skin”, his first single in 2018. And though the song’s romantic lyrics and dance-club intentions aren’t anything we haven’t heard from him before, he seems to have grown a calmer attitude since we last heard him.

The mid-tempo bounce of the atmospheric synth base beat he produces for “Skin” soaks up his sultry vocals as he performs his laid-back set. Singing a love interest’s praise while reprimanding her for “Let(ting) A man Do (Her) Phoney”, “Skin” finds Minz both charming and cutting.

You can stream Minz’s “Skin” below.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/minznse
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ICYMI: Minz’s “story” is everything you’ve heard lately but nothing you’ve ever known

On Sexual Assault and Rape, watch Udoka Oyeka’s “Las Gidi Vice”

Posted on by The Native

While we would all rather live in a world where rapists did not exist and violence was a myth, we aren’t exactly sympathetic to rapists getting what they deserve (which is the knife by the way). Udoka Oyeka comes through with this fantasy in his short film “Las Gidi Vice”. Centered around a rape survivor seeking revenge against her rapist, the eighteen-minute film takes a lens to millennial party culture and illicit drug use.

The short film is a welcome input into the ongoing conversation around sexual assault globally. While we continue to push for legislation that effectively punishes perpetrators and room for survivors to share their experiences without fear of being shamed and silenced, we can’t fault media sensitization like this one (we would however rather see more rapists incarcerated in these films than play to the fantasia of penile dismemberment)

Watch the Short film here

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Celebrating the market march as a small win toward ending harrassment

It’s a Mexican Standoff in DJ Ecool’s video “4 U” featuring Davido and Perruzzi

Posted on by The Native

At the start of the year, DJ Ecool and Davido teamed up on “Ada“, a compelling single complete with an aesthetically pleasing video that bode well for the kind of year Davido and his music leanings would have.

If you, however, don’t remember ever hearing the second single featuring Peruzzi, “4 U“, it’s no fault of yours as underwhelming music releases are assuredly easily toppled over by better ones which Davido and the DMW have themselves put out.

The video Twitch directs opens with Perruzzi making a booty call and progresses with Davido and E-cool independently courting their women with shopping sprees and intimate dinners. In what is intended as a plot twist,  it turns out all three of them had been dating the same babe with no one the wiser.

Watch the video here:

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Best New Music: Davido’s “Wonder Woman” is another typical OBO flex

Hear “Famzy Anthem: Moving Mad” by Falz

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Since the start of his career as an artist, Falz has never shied away from showing off his uncanny ability to go from charming to ridiculous at the drop of a hat. Whether it’s spoofing the Yoruba English speaking accent on his Instagram or coming up with outrageous pickup lines for his music releases, the Law school graduate turned artist is able to tap into his funny bone and make himself famous. His stick has afforded him the opportunity to act in films (and even make political satire) with his Famzy role in EbonyLife’s “Chief Daddy” being his latest foray into cinema.

To celebrate the film’s release last week, Falz released a new single, “Famy Anthem: Moving Mad” along a music video that also features cuts from the film. On the song, he stays in his London road-man Famzy character, bragging about his swag ‘and that’ over a Grime beat that establishes his penchant for pairing decidedly millennial pop-culture obsession and charmingly homemade aesthetic.

You can watch the music video for Falz’s “Famz Anthem: Moving Mad” below.

Featured Image Credits: YouTube/EbonyLife Film
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ICYMI: Falz’s “This is Nigeria” says a lot about Nigeria but not enough

DJ Enimoney’s “Send Her Money” is an Afro-Latin smash

Posted on by The Native

All the sonic experimenting Afropop artists and producers have been doing this past decade has redefined the conventions of other genres. Until Afropop came into the scene, a good Latino influenced song asides conjuring your waistline to have a mind of its own, also had to make listeners feel like they were fluent in patois. But DJ Enimoney’s new single, “Send Her Money” blends African and Caribbean cultures, leaving his featured artists, Olamide, Lk Kuddy and Kizz Daniel to perform in Pidgin English over the guitar led Afro-latino beat 2kriz produces. While Kranium’s verse infuses a few lines in patois, he doesn’t make an appearance on the recently released video for “Send Her Money” directed by Unlimited L.A.

The music video is shot at a party where everyone but the stars know how to dance the salsa. Just as Jamaican dancehall influenced their melodies, the video also celebrates Jamaican dance culture through the gravity defying dance moves with a touch of arty photographs featuring in the cut.

You can watch the music video for Enimoney’s “Send Her Money” featuring Olamide, Lk Kuddy, Kizz Daniel and Kranium below.

Featured Image Credits: YouTube/DJ ENIMONEY
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ICYMI: Watch the video for DJ Enimoney’s “Diet” featuring Tiwa Savage, Reminisce and Slim Case

See Omawumi and Falz in new video, “Hold My Baby”

Posted on by The Native

“Forget These Lyrics Baby, We Go Quiet Corner Cause I Will Like To Hold My Baby”, Omawumi sings on her new single, “Hold My Baby”, featuring Falz. The singer’s deeply intimate confessions over the sparse instrumental arrangement, produced by Sess to listen like a live band’s performance with cued drum riffs and backup vocals, is both romantic and homely. Her approach to infusing Yoruba lyrics gives the song an intimate feel as though listeners are merely eavesdropping on a private conversation between lovers. And though she keeps her lyrics sweet and suitable for kids consumption, her sexual intentions are conveyed clearly enough to leave knowing blushes on listeners faces.

Falz contributes a verse, using his Brother Taju alter ego to infuse some humour. And though it’s a style that he has consistently employed since the start of his blooming career, its charm is yet to burn out completely. The combination with Omawunmi’s passionate performance on “Hold My Baby” makes a strong case for the Yoruba language’s elegance.

The recently released music video for “Hold My Baby” is set in a rural fishing community that highlights the song’s traditional lyrics as Falz attempts to convince Omawumi that he’s the one she should settle down with and marry.

You can watch the music video for Omawumi and Falz’s “Hold My Baby” below.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/omawonder
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ICYMI: You can stream Omawumi’s street inspired “Malowa” single here

Sade’s “The Big Unknown” soundtrack gets shortlisted for the Oscars

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Coming off her 7-year hiatus, Sade Adu and her band returned with two new singles this year, “Flower of the Universe” and “The Big Unknown”. Both songs are soundtrack for movies but only “The Big Unknown”, the soundtrack for the Steve McQueen-directed “Widows” made the shortlist for “Best Original Song” at this year’s Oscars.

The film which starred British-Nigerian actress, Cynthia Erivo is based on a bank heist led by women who come under pressure from police and rival gangs. Sade’s heartfelt performance over the soothing beat Aaron Taylor Dean produces scored the emotive scene in the film as she performed an ode to rising out from the dark place. The other shortlisted songs on the Oscar “Best Original Song” shortlist include Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born”, Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “All The Stars” from “Black Panther” and Emily Blunt and the cast for “Mary Poppins Returns”‘s “The Place Where Lost Things Go” and “Trip A Little Light Fantastic”.

See the lyrics video for Sade’s “The Big Unknown” below.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/sadeadulovers
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ICYMI: Check out Sade Adu’s second single for the year, “Flower of the Universe”

Ilaye’s new single, “Binoculars”, is a frightening lucid dream as musical

Posted on by The Native

Like she did on earlier works, “Castle Wall” and “Shut it Down”, Ilaye’s new single, “Binoculars”, continues to thread her voice through light, breezy melodies that obscure her lyrics’ dark subject matter. Tejiri’s airy production and Nsikak David’s charming guitar harmonies transport listeners to her moonlit zone, offering wind-chimes and dreamy guitar solos to hang onto. But her captivating voice dares you to pay attention to anything asides her heartbreaking tale of love born of the kind of trauma that could really flourish on a Disney studio film.

She contrasts snippets of hope with an intractable feeling of doom, crafting lyrics like “The Vision is Blinding But I Don’t Want To Wake Up From This Dream” as though she’s trying to convince herself as much as her listeners. “Sweet Turns to Soar and New Turns to Old” Ilaye continues over a sarcastically cheery bassline and trills of bright guitar. Her slight delivery and the echoing quality to her vocals make the song feel a bit like a frightening lucid dream. It seems happy enough, like a jingle for a car commercial, but seeds of melancholy stir beneath the surface. In our increasingly kid-friendly censorship world, her smooth voice is the perfect camouflage for speaking heart-crushing truth.

You can stream Ilaye’s “Binoculars” here.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/_ilaye_
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ICYMI: Ilaye’s “Shut It Down” is a blissful deep-soul ballad

Exclusive: The NATIVE partners with Nike to launch limited edition jerseys

Posted on by The Native

The positive reception of Nigeria’s World Cup jersey is proof of how style and sports intertwine popular culture across the country and its diaspora. This is why NATIVE is partnering with sportswear giant Nike to launch limited edition jerseys themed after Nigeria’s street football culture.

The NATIVE’s limited edition jersey design is a mixed print of Adire-inspired patterns meets tyre tracks, a tribute to the popular make-shift goalposts used by kids on streets of Lagos.

The newly released jerseys from this Nike collaboration aims to merge The NATIVE’s growing influence in Nigerian popular culture with the country’s favourite sport. Speaking on the launch, The NATIVE founder, Seni Saraki told Nike News, “We wanted to create something that wouldn’t look out of place on the field and in the dance. In Nigeria, the football shirt has always been a vital piece in anyone’s wardrobe”

You can visit nike.com/jerseyshop for more details on where you can pick up yours.

Here are more looks from the Lagos shoot below:


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Exclusive: How an All-Nigerian Cast Brought Nike’s ‘Naija Collective’ to Life

The DRB’10 rave is good to go

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While some believe that your December isn’t quite detty enough if you remember every night, the DRB are sticking to their guns and promising that the DRB’10 rave won’t be a night we’d forget in a hurry. The music collective we remember from the serene years—when only the alte knew of the alte scene—are having their 10-year anniversary concert on the 22nd of December and they want you to come be a part of it.

The concert is a follow up to the recent release of their ‘DRB 10′ album reissue, a collection of all the group’s hit songs and some unreleased records. Their role as pioneers of the alternative music scene which is now booming in Nigeria hasn’t gone without recognition from international acts like Skepta and Davido who have worked with the group in the past. The group has also hosted acts like Davido, Olamide, Simi, Naeto C, Seyi Shay, Falz, Ice Prince, Runtown and Dammy Krane in the past. With the DRB’10 being being their 5th showcase, this time, they are bringing the sound of the future with Odunsi, Prettyboy D-O, SDC, Ajebutter, YCEE, Wavy the Creator and Kida Kudz expected to grace the concert’s Harbour Point venue in Victoria Island.

You can get your tickets at Harbour point V.I or the the DRB website here.’

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ICYMI: See Teezee, Boj and Skepta in their music video for “Like 2 Party”

Make room Lupita! Ifeanyi Dike jr. is gunning to bridge Nollywood and Hollywood

Posted on by The Native

As the year rounds up, we at the Native Mag are taking time to highlight the stellar careers of young Nigerians who really stepped up to the plate and pushed their careers to stratospheric levels. There were so many stellar actors who did amazing work in 2018, but I wanted a truly transcontinental artist, someone whose year was spent laying the groundwork for a truly transcendental career. For inspiration I looked to Lupita and her trajectory before her star making turn on 12 Years A Slave, and the only actor who seems on the precipice of that kind of craft is Ifeanyi Dike jr. 

Dike Jr. in 2016, took a hiatus from a thriving career in Nollywood to attend the prestigious UCLA’s threatre for an MFA. But even that was career-defining in its own way. Dike Jr. was the first African to be accepted into the programme, and the first to be considered solely on his body of work created with local talent on the continent. It seemed a curious thing to do at the time, Dike was coming off his run as the lead in the Abba T. Makama helmed satire ‘Green White Green’, one of the first Nigerian films to debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. Dike’s work was greatly praised at the festival and he was singled out as one to watch. Not long after the film was picked up by Netflix, and become one of the first Nigerian films to earn a deal with the streaming giant. It also set Dike apart, not just as a compelling lead but a bankable one, a combination vital to be considered as A-list talent in any film industry. 

Just before he left however, Ifeanyi Dike Jr. still took time to do promotional work for Green White Green and accept the Lead Actor Award at the Africa International Film Festival. As the youngest actor to win this award, Dike jr. provided proof that his long term director-lead synergy between himself and the Surreal 16 collective (featuring Makama, C.J Obasi whose film Mami Wata is heavily anticipated and Michael Gouken who is a pioneer D.O.P in Nigeria) was a solid one.

Dike jr. went on to represent Nigerian in the Viacom owned BET reality talent vehicle Top Actor Africa. Top Actor helped introduce Dike jr. to American audiences and talent management, and really assert his desire to crossover into global film. Content in the knowledge that Green White Green’s peculiar subject matter would help catapult it into canonical status (it satirizes Nigeria’s Independence and the continuing friction between its major ethnicities, all processes through the perspectives of three young protagonists), Dike jr. focused all his energies on expanding on his craft as an actor.

Since he moved to LA, Dike has met Kenya Barris, the phenomenal writer and producer behind ABC’s runaway black-helmed television successes Blackish and Grownish. Barris has shown significant interest not only Dike jr. range as an actor but also the unique position his heritage offers to help bridge the viewing audiences of America and Nigeria, much like Priyanka Chopra did on the detective procedural Quantico. 

With critical acclaim, some of the best training in the world and interest from some of the sought after showrunners in Hollywood, 2019 is shaping up to be the year Ifeanyi Dike jr. cashes in all the momentum he has spent the last 5 years build. He may very well become the next African actor to bring home an Oscar. 

 

Celebrating The Market March as a small win towards ending harassment

Posted on by The Native

If you’re a woman who grew up in Nigeria, you’re no stranger to the casual harassment and catcalls if for some reason you dared to walk past a group of men. We’ve all learned to adopt the stern face, aggressive pose, desperately trying to mask the rising panic until we’re in relatively safe quarters.

Its also not news that the harassment is more brazen in marketplaces. You see, nothing is sacred to these group of men; they’ll pull and inappropriately touch your adolescent ward against her will. In this very spaces, women are subject to ogling, groping, and jostling among other assaults. But speaking out creates a spectacle where the audience often urges the complainant to walk away or jeers vehemently.

Market March, an initiative dedicated to putting a permanent end to harassment in marketplaces, had their first protest in Yaba market on Saturday. Their demand that to be respected by the men who trade in Yaba market wasn’t well received. The group of protesters had stones thrown at them, were booed, jeered at, and called names.

The presence of police officers didn’t deter these men, who felt insulted that women dared to demand that they not be harassed. It is this kind of brazen entitlement to women and their bodies that feeds the culture of rape and disenfranchisement. The response to their reports of the harassment they experienced on their anti-harassment walk proved that the problem isn’t just the illiteracy of the traders but deep-rooted entitlement to the bodies of women.

https://twitter.com/eddy_kingdom/status/1074207046713651200?s=21

It would be convenient to conclude that this kind of behaviour is only perpetrated by people with limited access to education be it formal or otherwise but we could just as well bury our heads in the sand and believe unicorns exist. It takes a different approach but this disregard for bodily autonomy is ever present. It trickles down from the co-worker who moves in for hugs and makes you out to be irrational (and blowing things out of proportion) when you refuse them; the stranger who ‘mindlessly’ touches your thigh on the bus; the boss who makes inappropriate jokes (because everyone is cool) but is sure to single you out for a knowing leer.

It may be a long way off, and we don’t make any claims to it being an easy walk but ultimately movements like Market March mirror an on-going rise of social media coordinated protests. A future where more voices join the conversation may not be so far off, after all.

 

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On Sexual Assault and Rape, watch Udoka Oyeka’s “Las Gidi Vice”

Essentials: PatricKxxLee’s ‘Nowhere Child’

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The sprawling sonic of punk Rock has always had an influence on PatricKxxLee’s production. It’s among the many things that inspires him to explore more avant realms with his songs, never shy to push the boundaries of his darker emotions. His production on “You Rappers Should Fix Up Your Lives” helped score M.I a viral hit last year. But in spite of the visibility that afforded him, featuring on the ‘Yung Denzl’ album, PatricKxxLee undoubtedly cast the strangest figure on the project with his somber and edgy performance. On ‘Nowhere Child’ however, he creates a tense Rock inspired trap soundscape where his angst raps feels right at home.

The blend of Rock and rap may have gotten popular after Lil Wayne picked up a guitar for his ‘Rebirth’ album in 2010, but PatricKxxLee’s foray into Rock goes beyond a mere instrument. The penchant for gangster rap’s lyrical pacing he established on his album debut, ‘Diary of an Arsonist’, takes a back seat on ‘Nowhere Child’, showing both his growth as an artist and his resolve never to get boxed in; not even by himself. The album opens with “Intro [The Nowhere]”, where he repeats “Don’t Classify Me” till it sinks and becomes one with the horror-cinematic beat he produces with a pacy rock drums riff, distorted reverb loops and distorted vocals. Though he still operates in slasher mood on the next track, “Can’t Tame Morgan”, he’s a lot more reflective, even admitting his dependency on abusive substances and its effect on him and his relationship with those around him.

He soon returns to his destructive ways on “Sweet Whisper”, a moshpit inspiring song set to droning synths and chant lyrics throwing the middle-finger to his exes. But beyond the cool “Devil Trigger With The Sword Play” reference to a video game, the hyped mood of the song allows a glimpse at the violent voices living inside PatricKxxLee’s head. The mellow next track, “Hurts to Feel” listens like an interlude from his haunting and chaotic reality, yet his lyrics—“Wonder if I’m My Own Demise/ I Still Feel Low When I Get High”—remain as sharp and piercing as ever.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrIblfzh7UX/

The guitar-led beat for the J Molley assisted “Idle Mind” continues the album’s Rock leaning sonic exploration. And even though he infuses mind-numbing synth harmonies and pacy hi-hats to give the song a trap bounce, it doesn’t uplift their graphic detailing of the hollowness of romance for loner celebrity. It’s a theme further explored on Champagne69 assisted “Love Psycho”. Pre-released single, “H3llywood Blvd” ensures it’s not all dark on ‘Nowhere Child’. PatricKxxLee’s voice glides over the somber synth led beat he produces with slow-building drums, repeating “Hollywood Boulevard” like a lost memory of something he can no longer reach, or a dream that never happened. Though his lyrics “Heart Still Pierced And My Life Moves Fast/ I’m Still Shitfaced And My IPhone Cracked/ Fuck!” are woven around his troubling reality, there’s an unmistakable sense of hope; “In H3llywood Blvd”. “Distraction (Reaction Relapsing)” also offers some glimmer of light with PatricKxxLee apologizing to his mom for destructive tendencies, while promising to watch his step in the future.

“Bermuda Triangle” finds PatricKxxLee returning to rap, but it’s another somber confessional that brings listeners closer to his traumatic life filled with scars, rampant drug use and falling out with friends and family that care about him. On the closing track, “Cliff or Hang”, he’s self-aware enough to admit his flaws and warn off new relationships. His unflinching resolve to wear his heart on his sleeves is callous, brazen, and indulgent, like someone testing out the entire spectrum of feeling for the very first time. But asides from his personal story, the album’s attempt to resurrect the fusion of Rock and Rap is also a pretty ballsy feat.

You can stream PatricKxxLee’s ‘Nowhere Child’ here.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/patrickxxlee
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him @debola_abimbolu

ICYMI: Watch the video for PatricKxxLee’s “Dante’s Awakening” here

YBNL shares ‘YBNL MaFia Family’ album

Posted on by The Native

Just when fans started to wonder if 2018 will be the first year we’d go without an Olamide album since his YBNL debut in 2012, the Yahoo Boy No Laptop label-boss released a surprise album titled ‘YBNL MaFia Family’ at the end of last week. Olamide has been building his YBNL roster for some time and it presently boasts of rappers like Davolee, Limerick and the latest indigenous rap sensations, Picazo, Yomi Blaze.

The 13-track album features pre-released Olamide singles, “Poverty Die” and “Motigbana” as well as other songs from the label acts and their joint works. Other artists that are featured include, DJ Enimoney, LK Kuddy, Kizz Daniel, Fireboy DML, Kranium and ex-label member, Lil Kesh. And though YBNL Mafia had initially debuted “Juju, Guns and Rose” earlier this year, the single didn’t make it to the final cut for the album.

You can stream ‘YBNL MaFia Family’ here.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/baddosneh
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him @debola_abimbolu

ICYMI: Read NATIVE’s feature article on Olamide, YBNL and the future of street hip-hop

DJ Tunez’s new single, “Turn Up” gives us the Wizkid, Reekado Banks feature we didn’t know we needed

Posted on by The Native

DJ Tunez’s new single, “Turn Up” features Reekado Banks and Wizkid. Asides offering fans a chance to listen to the first Reekado Banks verse since he jumped ship from Mavins to form his own Banks Music recording label, “Turn Up” also offers the dream collaboration between Reekado Banks and Wizkid that no one had thought to ask for.

“Turn Up” is an ode to the dance-club with Wizkid expressing his frustration with finding love while still enjoying the swirl of an exotic dancer. Reekado Banks’ hook and verse fill us in on the loose details; a late night, turning up at the club. Baby Fresh and HonterOnTheBeat produce the synth bed of harmonies, generating a mid-tempo rhythm optimized for the dance-clubs that inspired the song.

You can stream DJ Tunez’s “Turn Up” below.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/wizkidayo
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him @debola_abimbolu

ICYMI: Watch a pre-Superstar Wizkid throw down a raw freestyle on the streets of Surulere (2011)

Apple Music’s “Beats 1” streams hour-long special on African Music

Posted on by The Native

With 2018 winding down, Apple Music has shared new playlists, highlighting the best music, movies, television shows, podcasts, and books of 2018. The roll out included an all-new “Best of 2018” category and asides giving listeners a chance to reflect on the what we’ve loved in 2018 while also offering hints at what to look forward to in the coming year, 2019. Though the Apple Music editors curated Best of 2018 list is the big talking point for the month, there are also other playlists worth mentioning like the trusty live-streaming, “Apple Beats 1” and the hour-long special airing of Apple Music’s African Music Playlist during Beats 1 on Wednesday.

The show featured Olamide, who gave his take on Hip-hop in Nigeria and Niniola, who spoke about her “Maradona” hit song and it’s global appeal. The Apple Music A-List playlist is the first for the live-streaming show and is mostly dominated by Nigeria, Ghanaian and South African acts, with Nigerian artists taking 19 spots, while Ghana and South Africa get 13 and 7 songs respectively. The list includes Universal Music artistes, Wurld, Nasty C and Sho Madjozi as well as other impressive African artists; Ayo Jay, Niniola, Runtown, Amaa Rae, Darko Vibes, Kwesi Arthur, Jovi and more.

Featured Image Credits: Instagram/thisiswurld

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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him @debola_abimbolu

ICYMI: We are calling it early, but here’s why Afropop is going to revolutionize the sound of popular music