When you hear the word ‘gangster’, the thoughts that come to mind usually revolve around violence and crime. Shatta Wale latest single, “Man Like Me”, however, expands that narrative by attempting a romantic number that incorporates all of the gutsy flex of a tough gangster.
“Man Like Me” finds the Ghanaian artist detailing his villainy accomplishments over an equally grim beat Damage Musiq produces with sweeping synths, rattling harmonies, drums and samples of gunshot. Though the chorus for “Man Like Me” assures of a romantic direction, Shatta Wale’s gritty vocals and cocksure lyrics are too chilly to be heartwarming. Rather than sing the praise of his love interest (if she can even be called that), he uses it as yet another confirmation of his brilliance. But his uncanny ability to switch between guttural assertions to nasal quips in seconds promises of a sweet spot that love can take root in.
Flash’s sleek voice singing “Get Get Up Yeah” still goes off in clubs across Nigeria. His elegant snapshot of summer romance hit the sweet spot that guaranteed its stay on radio charts and in DJ rotation for long enough to get a much-deserved video treatment deep in 2017. DJ Tunez and Flash revive the brilliance of their past collaboration with a new romance-fueled single destined for DJ turntable in the sun, “Too Much”.
Though Flash’s emotive vocals make “Too Much” instantly familiar in style and substance, the producer is different as Guiltybeatz gets credited for the preppy harmonies that listen like a cross between electronic music and tropical house. The party-themed genre of Afropop may be filled with pseudo-romantic lyrics, but Flash is among the best at it as he blends pidgin English, English and an indigenous Igbo dialect to confess his feelings for a love interest in the most casual way; “She Make A Black Man Speak Chinese”.
Listen to Flash and DJ Tunez’s “Too Much” here.
Featured Image Credits: Instagram/flashworldwide
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
Its been 20 years since the release of Lauryn Hill’s iconic album, ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’. To celebrate two decades, Ms. Lauryn Hill is going on an anniversary tour where she will play the classic LP in full across Europe and North America. The show will feature an incredible lineup that includes Dave Chapelle, Nas, Santigold and M.I.A.
The four-month-long tour will also include appearances from Mr Eazi, who will be joining the legendary singer on her September 22 show in Phoenix, Arizona. Patoranking is also expected to open for her in a few places throughout the tour.
“Surrender” is the second video released off Adekunle Gold’s sophomore album ‘About 30’.“Fame” the first video, follows the theme of the album and the video mirrors that theme. For “Surrender”, however, Adekunle Gold and the video’s director Sam Kirk, opt for a more playful depiction of the song’s sentiment
Adekunle wakes up from a dream at the end of his video for “Surrender”, laughing to himself on the couch. The video begins in a space station run by Adekunle Gold and assistant slash love interest, playfully running a spacecraft while he sings promises of forever to her. You’d wonder how dancers would get into what you’d assume is a secure area but then you realise he’s dreaming and the human subconscious has been known to engender strangeness.
See Adekunle Gold in “Surrender” here
Featured Image Credit: Youtube/Adekunle Gold
“Tomiwa is figuring it out…” Tweet at her @fauxxbella
The first official single from UK’s X Factor runner-up team, Four Of Diamonds is a dancehall-pop fusion that confirms the influence Yogi says Afro-pop currently has on the UK. The song, Titled “Name On It” is written partly by Burna Boy, Tre Jean-Marie and Dayo Olatunji (Dyo) and features additional vocals from Burna Boy himself.
Though “Name On It” wasn’t written by them, the girls of Four Of Diamonds— Yasmin, Sophia, Lauren and Caroline — said in an interview that the message, valuing yourself enough to be assertive in your demands from a potential lover, resonates with them.
On “Name On It”, Four Of Diamonds sing blithely about a man shying away from an official relationship [think Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name”], while Burna Boy takes the role of the lover full of excuses [“My enemies go for the people I love/I try not to let ’em know”] and quintessential asshole lines like “So when you done playin’, you can come find me/ You’ll never find another, ‘nother like me”.
See Burna Boy and Four Of Diamonds in “Name On It” here:
Featured Image Post: Instagram/Fourofdiamonds
“Tomiwa is figuring it out…” Tweet at her @fauxxbella
The release of Yemi Alade’s third studio album, Black Magic effectively put an end to an eerily problematic “Mama Africa” era for the singer. The release of her new single, “How I Feel” may, however, point to a further healthy distancing from Afrocentrism her music has inadvertently become most known for. Despite a deliberate show of splendor unseen from Yemi Alade, “How I Feel”, doesn’t ring unlike any Yemi Alade dance number you have heard recently. However, the singer holds longer notes spliced with a vocoded instrumental bridge hinting Yemi’s return to using R&B as a baseline for her bubblegum Afropop style.
See Yemi Alade in “How I Feel” video.
“Tomiwa is figuring it out…” Tweet at her @fauxbella
The paradoxical marriage of her gloomy, waterlogged doom with a confident poise, finds the singer giving a picturesque depiction of a trouble romance struggling under the weight of self-esteem issues. Though Yinka Oshodi’s captivating and cocksure vocals takes lead—singing her verse and the chorus—it’s featured artist, Remy Baggins who’s verse reveals the crude truth to Yinka Oshodi’s boastful confessions.
Over the mid-tempo synth led beat Remy Baggin produces, Yinka Oshodi lays down the usually unaddressed worries of dating an attractive partner. While she’s clearly aware of her own charm, even going as far as admitting she “Got Options/ A Thousand And One”, Remy Baggins’ rap-fueled rejoinder provides an argument against making assumptions based on insecure emotions.
So much emphasis is placed on being yourself like it’s the solution to all of life’s problems. But experience will teach that being genuine will get you in just about as much trouble. Navigating the waters of honest self-expression takes careful consideration and AYLØ’s two new singles, “Still II” and Tay Iwar assisted “LITT!” offer varying ways to go about it.
The emotive vocals on “Still II” is addressed to a love interest who “Crazy As It Sounds, (AYLØ) Ain’t Never Leaving”. Through the song’s lyrics, his affection is made clear, but there’s an underlying sense of imminent doom as if he’s too self-aware to avoid the subject of his imperfection; “Hopefully, You’ll Still Be In Love With A Nigga Like Moi After Everything I’ve Done”.
In similar fashion, his more recent release, “LITT!” is honest, though more confidently so. Over the atmospheric synth led beat Le Mav produces, AYLØ delivers bars confirming that he’s just being himself even when he seems to be the doing the most; “I Just Live It How I Dream It”. It’s an ironically obvious way of bragging about being real like when Lil Wayne said “Never Apologize for What You Feel, It’s Like Being Sorry for Being Real”, only better.
The release of Olamide’s “Love No Go Die” last year came with a 007-themed artwork and music video, leaving many with hopes of an aesthetically cohesive project from the YBNL-boss. Those hopes were dashed with the release of Lagos Na Wa, a project that does see Olamide take on a rare storytelling form, but with disjointed narratives and unconnected arcs.
Like the album precluding its release, “Kana” feels like another one of Olamide’s half-baked stories in many ways. Paired with vocals from Wizkid, Olamide sings about taking hints from a woman who wants to get with him by smartly understanding her cues. In the Sesan-directed accompanying video, that simple narrative becomes a heist and gamble house shootout, with equal amount dead bodies and bullets flying around. It’s hard to tell where “Kana” fits in Olamide’s aggrandized public image, it’s even harder to tell how the wanton display of guns and violence would sit with the NBC, but it doesn’t seem bizarre at all from the self-proclaimed voice of the streets.
See Olamide in “Kana”
Fisayo is a journalist in search of words. Tweet at her @fisvyo
“In case we end up well, and we have a beautiful baby girl, she go fine like you”, Kizz Daniel sings on new track “For You” featuring Wizkid, like a man with no worry in the world but love. The FLYBOY Inc and StarBoy collaboration has been teased as a sign of greater things to come since Kiss Daniel’s row with former label G-Worldwide began.
Recently, G-Worldwide filed a copyright claim to “For You” and the name ‘Kizz Daniel’, a moniker he adopted with his feature on Omawunmi’s “Me Ke”. At the moment, the embattled singer is currently fighting to maintain status quo with his decision to part ways with his former management and the release “For You” with a top-flight co-sign like Wizkid, is no less an act of defiance. Lucikly “For You” is a breezy whine-friendly number that ignores all the drama for what matters the most: good music.
Stream Kizz Daniel’s “For You” here
Fisayo is a journalist in search of words. Tweet at her @fisvyo
In the fast-moving Nigerian music industry, success for musicians always seems sudden. In reality, it takes about six years of constant grind, on average, for artists to go from the underdog with a demo to selling out shows at Eko Hotels. These days, the internet has revolutionised the practice of making music. Artists can now create and distribute their music to a global audience from the comfort of their homes with fewer barriers than in the past. This shift has come with a sense of urgency. Artists now have to work on actively reinventing themselves to appeal to an audience with constantly evolving tastes.
Skales has always been one of the odd ones out. His career began just as the impact of the digital age started to become visible in the music industry. Unlike other artists who have just about the same milestone on their resume, at 27, he has been in the industry for about a decade. At the start, his career seemed to be on an unstoppable upward trend. Even without the favours of the YouTube craze that project many careers into international infamy, his talent and upbeat attitude had earned him a significant audience between his city of residence, Kaduna and Jos.
Born Raoul John Njeng-Njeng, Skales’ earliest in-road into the music industry goes all the way back. In 2007, Skales met Jude M.I Abaga a Jos-based emcee, making music with his brother, Jesse Abaga a student in the University of Jos. M.I. had been in the music industry for four years, creating a distinct niche for himself along with a few alternative artists aligned with his independent imprint, Loopy Records. Loopy Records opened doors to Skales first studio recording on Jeremiah Gyang’s soft-rock gospel track, “Kauna Allah (God’s Love)”, and then his first ever single, “Must Shine”, produced by Jesse Jagz.
By this time, Skales already had a strong presence in the University of Jos, elsewhere in the city, people on street were starting to recognise him. This motivated his entry into the Zain Tru Search—one of many talent singing competitions that started the reality-tv show wave that followed—in Abuja with the goal of earning a larger audience. He was a shoo-in for gold at the competition of course, but as he puts it, “Things were still slow in Abuja”. Getting signed by a dependable label took an act of God, getting bookings were near impossible. As he recalls, “Heading for a Grammy” was borne of that low point, to assure anyone who was still supporting of his intentions to become the greatest.
Going off the adrenaline of making such bold statements so early on, Skales resolved to move to the city as his next step. He thought “I’m a great now let’s see what would happen there”. The decision may have been impulsive but the location was not.
Lagos is Nigeria’s business and entertainment melting pot, but the city’s briskness requires that a person be equally as fast thinking, and Skales was. The first ballsy decision, he recalls, was crashing a concert stage with the help of a friend. As he remembers it, the crowd was into his abrupt entry: “The bouncer wanted to pull me off [the stage] but everyone was feeling me [rapping] so the bouncer just allowed”, he says laughing quietly. His persistence paid off, Osagie Osarenkhoe, a music entrepreneur was in the crowd that night too. Impressed by his performance, Osagie took a chance to book him at “A SoundCity Event” where he met Banky W.
As the only rapper of a young record label also shipping careers like Wizkid and Banky W, E.M.E seemed to offer its artists the minimum of a platform to actualise their dreams. Yet with a headstart like an M.I co-sign and youth on his side, Skales’s time under the label’s management turned out to be an unassuming plot twist.
Fans are usually the most betrayed when rappers become singers so naturally, I asked Skales about his change of sound to see how he reflects in his grand career plan. In his words, the change of sound was no change at all. He was just waiting for the right opportunity to show his diversity and E.M.E presented it. “I’ve always been a singer”, he added with an expressive sigh that betrayed how long he had been waiting to get that off the chest. Skales’ insisted that he only started off as a rapper as a product of his immediate audience. “Every street kid in Kaduna was making rap music at the time, it was impossible to get away from it”. But he’s always seen himself as “an entertainer” and intended to create “all forms of music”—a similar line of thinking often echoed by D’banj.
But in spite of his return to a music-making comfort zone, the slow growth he was anxious about at the start of his career had caught up to him in the form of a legally binding contract with E.M.E. The quaintness and obscurity of his EME days, however, gave him first-hand chance to study the game and build his industry negotiation skills. Lesson learned through uncredited work he did while under the label he hesitantly revealed.
“I was known as the guy making waves in 100 level”
At the end of his contract with EME 2014, Skales formed his own independent record label OHK, with the intention to use what he had learnt to launch other young artists’ careers. He followed up the announcement with the release of the sleeper hit, “Shake Body”, the uptempo Afropop instrumentals and his repetitive lyrics indicating his full transition into mainstream pop.
“Shake Body” charted across Africa, landed Skales’ imprint a deal with Baseline Music, his debut album Man Of The Year, was on the way and his career seemed to be taking off. In 2016 however, reports of legal disputes over misappropriated funds between Skales, his manager and Baseline Music became the tabloid headline. According to the news, the label had Skales and Osagie arrested for not turning over the contractual percentage of his earnings to them. This may seem fair, but as the ordeal continued to peel itself, the ridiculous terms of the agreement surfaced on social media, highlighting some reasons artists are continuously reluctant to abide by contracts after catching a big break.
While the internet is doing a great job of providing tools to help young artists make their own decisions on the business front, some people have taken a more direct method of warning them. Industreet, a show produced by filmmaker and actress, Funke Akindele, is a deep-dive loosely based on the Nigerian music industry and how often careers are ended by music big men, offering shady deals. Last year Skales sophomore, Never Say Never Guy was released under Baseline Music, making his on-going arrangement with the label, a model argument against executive run labels and also why artists need to invest in lawyers.
Skales is quick to optimistically deflect such gory details by telling me about opportunities and doors he did not think would have been possible through rap. Music purists like to dismiss claims that rap is not a conventionally mainstream sound by saying good-hip-hop will always find clout. In that light, It would appear the Skales that was heading for a grammy many years ago has convinced himself to get there by any means today.
During our conversation at his current management’s office, he recalls the time when he was the emerging golden boy, “I was known as the guy making waves in 100 level”, leaning towards the table like he was spilling gossip. Somewhere between unfavourable deals and a decision to reinvest in himself and the change in the industry structure, his headstart was curtailed. 10 years working through the uncertainty and instability of the music industry is not easy, but Skales seems to have managed to keep his head above the water. “Someone like Olamide would say ‘Skales should have killed himself by now”, he says wearily as if to say he knows that the pressure on longevity since the internet age means that the stakes are higher now.
Skales rebuttal, says a lot more about his personality than his music. For his near-future plans, the singer tells me he is looking to invite artists from various ends of the continent to create with him for his forthcoming album, Mr Love,. According to Skales, other features from around the world will make the project, but only artists he has genuinely felt connected to.
A few weeks ago, Skales walked out on an interview with a TheNETng rep who had asked an unsavoury question. After meeting and speaking to him, his decision to leave the meeting did not surprise me. Not only because his description of himself paints him as someone who would “A positive guy who keeps his ears closed and eyes on the price”, his manner also embodies the spirit of a man who knows what fights to pick. Much like a man who has carved his own path, he has formed his own road to glory and isn’t letting these things get to him “People don’t understand why I do what I do, but that’s not really my concern”. The goal is to be a global musician and from where he’s standing, his journey so far has brought him to this moment.
[mc4wp_form id=”26074″]
“Tomiwa is figuring it out…” Tweet at her @fauxbella
As “Soco”, continues to earwarm its way into summer playlists with the star power of Wizkid and his Starboy team-up, Eugy aligns himself with its catchy and breez Northboi produced harmonies. The Ghanaian artist just released a remix to “Soco”, adding two new verses to Wizkid’s chorus.
Eugy’s “Soco” remix stays true to the romantic direction of the original without missing a beat on its dance-floor proficiency. It’s a competent mix of flirt and melody that has proven irresistible on dance floors.
Listen to “Soco” remix by Eugy below.
Featured Image Credits: Instagram/eugyofficial
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
In an interview with Complex, Yogi said that his intention with “Baby” was to combine music influenced by the UK and United States music scene. Sampling Julio Bashmore’s 2012 jam “Au Seve”, he says he wanted to create something “rapers could get on” while paying homage to the original track. He does this with support from Maleek Berry, who he says was important because he represents the impact of Afropop on the “UK urban music scene right now”, one of UK’s RAY and L.A.’s Kid Ink. For “Baby”, Francis Wallis directs a music video that begins with a break into a racecourse by a group of actors and the artists. As the music begins, the clip cuts to Maleek berry walking down a racecourse with a racing jacket on, as he sings his lyrics promising money and the good life to a lady he’s trying to woo, Afropop style. All three artists perform at racetracks before heading down to a house party
Watch the video for Yogi’s “Baby” here
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/yogivevo
“Tomiwa is figuring it out…” Tweet at her @fauxxbella
In the face of post-break up trauma, finding a friend to lean on is crucial to one’s well being. And for “Take Your Somtin”, Twitch confides in Ghanaian counterpart, Kwesi Arthur to perform a mid-tempo ode to moving on from lifeless relationships.
Backed by production from NOVA, Twitch goes over the autopsy of his past romance, listing bad attitude and terrible texting skills as one of the major causes for its demise. Kwesi Arthur takes the last verse, stamping the breakup with crushing lyrics; “You Tell Me You Go Change, But I No Believe It”. The accompanying video Mickey Johnson directs matches the song’s message for dealing with break-up through building support mechanism. “Take Your Somtin” video shows Twitch breaking up with his ex over a video call, while showing off his new girlfriend before eventually meeting up with Kwesi Arthur at a house party.
Watch the video for Twitch and Kwesi Arthur’s “Take Your Somtin” here.
Featured Image Credits: YouTube/Ground Up Chale
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
Last year, Eri Ife released a self-titled EP featuring 6 electro-folk tracks perfect for a Sunday evening acoustic set. Remi Baggins’ eigengrau also dropped last year, showing off his mix and mastering skills on 6 tracks ending with the Neo-psychedelia track “trippy ass outro”. The follow-up project is a collective EP YLLW that sees both artists bringing these distinct talents together to compel various emotions in 5 neo-r’n’b tracks.
It’s not uncommon to find emerging artists combining efforts to produce songs or extended projects together, YLLW sets the duo apart with often missing chemistry.
Like one might with a group of strangers soon to become friends, both artists start by introducing themselves on “Yeah” “My name my name my name my name” Eri Ife sings over guitar filled instrumentals from Sir Bastien and Jaytrix. With crowd hype lyrics, they sung at intervals by both singers, they invite listeners to journey with them through the story they start here and finish on “Yllw” the titular final track.
The story-telling theme continues as the tempo picks up on the second track, “B’Ori Pe” with a tale about humble beginnings and a committed promise to be great. “I’ll be grinding ’til I’m Up Leaving the dream”, they’re singing in a convincing tone that impels you to believe them. The self-defining narrative ends here with “Bastian’s interlude”, sung entirely by the project’s lead guitarist Sir Bastien after which the duo returns with serenades for a love interest on “My City” featuring Bryan The Mensah.
Eri Ife and Remy Baggins bring the project to a close with “YLLW”, where both singers acknowledge the importance of their crafts in the definition of the lives. Eri Ife implies on “B’Ori Pe” that his craft is all there is to him, but on “YLLW” he reveals a realisation that his life is more than his music. “Now I see that there is so much more to me than some verses on a beat”.
“Tomiwa is figuring it out…” Tweet at her @fauxxbella
Olamide and Phyno collaborations always subtly use their unlikely bromance to show off Nigeria’s unity. It’s not surprising that they would come together (for the umpteenth time) to make music about soccer, one of the few cultural practices that can challenge music’s place for unifying the country.
“Road To Russia” is a throwback to nostalgia that falls in line with the sold-out national jerseys. But Phyno and Olamide echoes the same hopes for Nigeria’s chances at the coming World Cup competition in Russia with deliberately antiqued harmonies produces by Pheelz.
You can stream Olamide and Phyno’s “Road to Russia” below.
Featured Image Credits: Instagram/baddosneh
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
It’s easy to respond to any criticism, however, measured, with a brash ‘don’t judge me’. But for “Hit Me Up”, the latest Ice Prince release which features PatricKxxLee and Straffitti, the rapper offers more context by way of walking listeners through the reality of his life; “I’m Way Ahead of My Pairs (Peers), My Head is Looking out of Place”.
Though the grim trap beat PatricKxxLee produces for “Hit Me Up” adds an air of edgy aggression, the lyrics are ironically endearing—PatricKxxLee’s hook invites listeners to “Come See (Him) On This Side”, while Ice Prince explains why he’s misunderstood. Straffitti takes the last verse bragging about the acclaim of being a teen star and it’s a jolting snapshot to the song’s core message for how celebrity reality is different from ours, despite how accessible social media makes them seem.
Listen to Ice Prince’s “Hit Me Up” featuring PatricKxxLee and Straffitti below.
Amaa Rae released the video for “Fluid”, one of the 6 tracks on her ‘Passionfruit Summer’ project debut. The song and the video stand out from the rest of the atmospheric R&B project because it deals with her sexuality outside of penning love songs.
Amaa Rae’s soothing and sensual vocals can always be relied on to set intimate moods, but “Fluid” is her most pointedly political one. Her lyrics, “I’m Feeling So/ Fluid/ Baby Let Go/ You Can Do It”, listens like the most convincing pro-self anthem as she sings over the atmospheric synth-pop instrumental by MikeMillzOnEM. The record is PFS‘s most colourful moment and the video relays that in one scene with cuts showing a bathtub as the water changes colour from pink, blue and white. Amaa Rae is within it all, bright and sweet as the flowers that capture the flow of emotions.
Watch the video for Amaa Rae’s “Fluid” below.
Featured Image Credits: YouTube/Amaa Rae
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
British-Nigerian actress Cynthia Erivo is a model example of the power of positivity. “I tend to say them out loud because I think that’s important, then see what happens”, she said in an interview with Healthish. “The things that I want to happen always happen in the most unexpected ways, so I just go with it”. Well so far, Cynthia Erivo has been in a handful of theatre plays including Color Purple, which earned her nine award nominations between 2013 and 2017 [6 of which she won].
Between Emmy and Grammy and Tony award speeches, the singer-slash-actress has also featured briefly in a number of British TV series. Erivo adds movies to her list of things shes clearly great at with the release of two crime trailers motion picture trailers she stars in: Widows, to be released in November; and Bad Times at the El Royale expected in October this year
The more first of the two Widows is based on a British TV series of the same name. Like the TV show, the Steve McQueen-directed film follows a group of women [Led by Viola Davis] who continue a bank heist their husbands were killed trying to pull off while under pressure of police and rival gangs.
Bad Times at the El Royale, on the other hand, is a horror thriller that follows seven characters, all with a secret to bury – cult leader (played by Chris Hemsworth), a priest ( played by Jeff Bridges), a singer (Cynthia Erivo), a salesman (Jon Hamm), a concierge (Lewis Pullman) and two criminals (Dakota Johnson and Cailee Spaeny) – meet at Lake Tahoe’s El Royale, a rundown hotel that also has a mysterious past, and things get real.
Watch the trailer here:
Cynthia Erivo is also to star in a biopic based on the life of Harriet Tubman. She will also appear in Chaos Walking starring Tom Holland, Daisy Ridleandad others, based off the first of Patrick Ness’ science fiction trilogy of the same name. There is no release date for the former, but Chaos Walking is set to be released in March next year.
“Tomiwa is figuring it out…” Tweet at her @fauxxbella
The pleasure of listening to music comes in different assorted flavours, and one of them is nostalgia. This is the craving Prettyboy D-O’s “Chop Elbow” video satisfies. The track’s subdued Afro-Caribbean influenced harmonies may have hinted at a retro aesthetic—it listens like a sample from vintage Bollywood clips—but the music video certifies there’s no mistake about it.
San Visuals shots a video that takes viewers back to a time when Nigerian media was still experimenting heavily with greenroom technology and Ramsey Nouah was a face punching, ball squashing badass on our home video screens. As if Prettyboy D-O’s politically charged “Chop Elbow” wasn’t enough to revive memories of equally geared throwback hits from artists like African China, the dancers, flawed greenroom effects and cuts from news channels portray the full extent of D-O’s socio-conscious message and its pleasant marriage to nostalgia.
PrettyBoy D-O delivers the song against a backdrop of the chaotic society we live, alluding to the SARS problem with shots of a dancing traffic warden. It’s a precise euphemism as the playful song addresses the daunting—and occasionally life-threatening—struggles of being a youth in Nigeria. With the national elections lurking in the horizon, “Chop Elbow” is a timely release to shake youths apathy.
Watch the video for “Chop Elbow” below.
Featured Image Credits: YouTube/PLUGG Media
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
Timing is everything in music, purposeful collaborations come next. After the release of Letters to K earlier this year, Lady Donli’s Freedom Park live in concert and innovative living room tour culminated the campaign that followed the intimate project that inspired it. These days, the singer is rumoured to be setting up a band with Mr Eazi who recently inked a deal with Colombia Records UK, and while fans await what will come of that collaboration, her first single of the year, “Games”, is here just in time for the summer.
Sonically, Lady Donli’s has made a lot of cerebral shifts over the past couple of months. Blended with electronics and ambient synths, “Games”, is the epitome of the kind of the soulful music style Lady Donli has been silently unpacking into her own genre-defining element. Laced with her airy vocals about giving up the losing games of love, “Games” sweetly sits atop the line between heartfelt soul and good dance music.
Stream Lady Donli’s “Games”
Toye is the Team lead at Native Nigeria. Tweet at him@ToyeSokunbi
