There are different ways to market your artists to the world. For record label, Tinny Entertainment is forming a little union of artists branded as Tinny Mafia. We’ve seen this happen before when Chocolate City constantly released music with their signees under the name Choc Bois with songs like “Oleku” and The Indestructible Choc Boi Nation album. Tinny Mafia is set to release new music every now and then, keeping each of them in the media rounds of trendy music and Talks. It can feel both powerful and sublime. It feels like a minor blessing to have Tinny entertainment do this with “Komije”.
Tinny Mafia, all don’t appear in their first music release however. Instead, Ycee dictates like a solo artist on this one. It appears that’s the point —to put one artist after another in the limelight under the umbrella name. And how best than to introduce it with the label’s lead act, Ycee.
“Komije”, isn’t much of an experimental track. It has an arch bump to it that recalls some of Ycees previous songs. His words as always, slurs and rhymes artfully and wittily with a series of flavorful and suggestive innuendos. But in the middle of all of this, is Adey’s bottom-heavy drums and synthesizers hitting body moving frequencies amidst that slurred sing-speak of Ycee’s. He is the same beat maker of Ycee’s “Juice”, and here they serve a successful radio check too.
Bump Tinny Mafia’s “Komije” below.
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/iam_ycee
Fisayo is a journalist who thinks writing is hard and reading too. But her journey somewhere reveals, words are like pawns on chessboard when writing. She wants to see, create and share with the world, experience & communicate these experiences. Tweet at her @fisvyo
If you’ve been seeing Davido’s new partnership with Orange Culture, well, here is a piece of a good story because they aren’t just a label.
Orange Culture has slowly grown its cult following since debuting as a Nigerian Androgynous wear brand inspired by silhouettes, print fabrics and contemporary urban street wear. Last year, Orange Culture was chosen as a finalist for huge design platforms like the LVMH (Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennesey ) prize – where The Orange Nerd was picked alongside 29 of the hugest emerging designers from all over the world out of 1221. As part of the growth, the brand and its creative director, Adebayo Oke-Lawal have been featured in Elle, Vogue, Marie Claire, Financial Times, Voice of America and the list goes on and on. While most people recognise OC for avant-garde pieces, like most international superior brands, Orange Culture debuts each line as a collection with a particular initiative or narrative, often going for a theme (adolescent rejection, Romanticism etc) that underpins Orange Culture as a “movement”. Adebayo has described OC as “self-aware, expressive, explorative, art-loving nomads”, which is a typical speak for its head-honcho, but one that also points to the soul of a brand for a creative class.
Orange Culture is no stranger to collaborating with other people/brand for creative pieces and collections. One of this was with Dennis Osadebe for a summer collection last year. Hence, this new collection with Davido right in tandem with their core values. As with every collection, The Davido X Orange Culture Capsule collection has its own theme. They choose to explore music matters with minimalist pieces, delving deeply into fashion and music collaborations with the birth of “Music X Fashion”. It’s their first collection, and an apparent attempt to draw more attention to Africa’s current Afropop boom in more ways than music. At the launch was Omoyemi Akerele, creative Director of Style House Files and DJ Cuppy.
This is important for Davido who is currently on his Thirty Billion World tour and Selfridges is one of the longest-operating chain of departmental clothes stores in Britain. A collaboration like this can help create avenues for Davido to rake in extra revenue from merch sales at the remaining for the rest of his tour. Over the past few years, entertainers set on entrepreneurial ventures in fashion have often failed at execution. Wizkid’s unsuccessful attempt at releasing a line of “Starboy” branded T-Shirts, the disolution of Sarkodie’s Sark Clothings are only a few of the examples. Davido and Orange Culture’s collaboration with Selfridges present somewhat of a blueprint for how established brands can benefit from mutual co-existence in the cultural ecosystem.
This post has been updated for clarity and specificity.
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/Orangecultureng
Fisayo is a journalist in search of words. Tweet at her @fisvyo
You’d have been excused for not knowing who Olutimehin Adegbeye was three weeks ago. But to still remain ignorant of her brilliance now, is just inexcusable.
Earlier this year, there was a TED event at the MUSON centre in Lagos, and nearly two dozen Nigerians who the good people at TED recognized for the important work they do in advancing innovation and technology, challenging archaic socio-cultural norms and generally sharing their own personal stories. It is a great honour to be invited to give a TED Talk and the speakers at the TED Lagos event more than acquitted themselves. But three speakers from TED Lagos conveyed their messages with so much empathy they were chosen to speak at the 2017 TED Global event, making its return to Arusha Tanzania after a ten year hiatus. Those three were dancer and activist Quddus Onikeku, language advocate Yvonne Chioma Mbanefo and activist and feminist writer Timehin Adegbeye.
As a writer, Timehin Adegbeye’s ability to convey complex ideas in ways that resonate strongly with every day women has won her audience and a following. Her no-holds approach to intersectional feminism saw her invited not once but twice to international feminist fora organized by the African Womens Development Fund (AWDF) But her personal experience with the Lagos state government’s brutality against the residents of former beach-side fishing town Otodo Gbame and connecting with the very human victims of governmental abuse of power was what spurred her to fully immerse herself in climate related activism. Since then, Adegbeye has represented the indigent residents of Lagos’s beach towns, providing much needed counselling and legal aid and raising awareness through articles published locally and internationally; all important tools in the fight to ensure that the Lagos State Government follows the rule of law in its attempts to convert the state to the “New Dubai”. Adegbeye’s talk at TED Lagos expounded on her work with Otodo Gbame and when she was announced as a speaker at TED Global 2017, she hinted that her talk there would streamline the ideas she delivered at the Muson Centre in February 2017.
The accolades started pouring in just before she left the TED Global stage. One of the organizers called it the ‘highlight’ of the entire four day event. It was the first talk from the TED Global Arusha event to be released to the public via Youtube and was given pride of place on the TED website. It is not a talk that cannot be described, you just have to experience it first hand to get the full zing. Timehin Adegbeye takes on a government in her talk, and lays bare its greed and ideological fallacies and she brings a room full of innovators and influencers to their feet. We could all learn a thing or two.
Watch Timehin’s talk here.
Edwin eats his rice and cabbages. Tweet at him@edgothboy
I still remember where I was when the first Asa album ‘Asa’ was released. I was a teenager stuck in that limbo of long senior high school days and short nights, when sleep is never enough. 2007 was an entirely different world culturally from the one we live in now, it was the cusp of the Internet explosion that would start in earnest in 2009, before mobile internet supplanted cybercafes. CD stores were still a big deal then, they were the only way you could find new music.
I’d known of Asa long before her debut album was released, she’d been signed to Storm Records and while she languished in pre-album purgatory, the bigwigs unsure of what to do with a diminutive, guitar strumming prodigy, she did an insanely popular skit for Soundcity TV (that would eventually grow to become the cable channel). Then in late 2005 Asa disappeared, leaving Nigeria for France and the opportunity to see her music properly supported and her vision given flight.
The store was CD Classique on Ago Palace Road, a tiny store couched in a busy highway in Okota, with a newly installed CCTV camera because its constricted shelves made it a sweet spot for teenagers pilfering from their selection of soft core pornography. I had come to replace a couple of my old faithfuls, Meteora, Under My Skin, Riot!, Folie A Deux, when I spotted it, stacked in paper jackets on the counter. There was just something about ‘Asa’, the minimalist album art, a monochromatic portrait of Asa caught midway through a dance, eyes closed, loc’s in motion, sensible glasses. It was nothing like the polished, West gazing art that other Nigerian pop stars of the time favoured. I worried the attendant about the album and she told me what she knew: It was Asa’s debut, I found out for myself, Cohbams Asuquo, who was still coming into his own as well, had produced the entire album. I listened to it from start to finish, and fell head long in love with Asa.
In many ways, Asa is more artist mission statement than personal introspective album. There is a fervor that defines the album through and through. You could tell from the songs that she was ecstatic to finally be able to make the music she wanted to make, the way she wanted to make it. But there were also so many discordant ideas in Asa, Asa’s allure for grand ideals sometimes tips into phantasmagoria. A typical example is her lead single off the project “Fire On The Mountain”, a song that was not only well composed, but also came accompanied with a haunting video of life frozen in motion.
“Fire On The Mountain” parlayed themes of child abuse with real world conflict in the larger society, Asa brings it all to a bridge where she sings “we would run, run, wishing we had put out the fire!”. It’s a promise of an apocalyptic conclusion that offers no respite from the already heavy subject matter. Re-imagining Asa’s diminutive guitar pose from a video at a subway in New York makes all the difference, because what you get is your typical doomsday prophet, who yells signs of the end times at passersby with no promise of retribution for sinners. Understandably, this says more about Asa as an individual threading the fine lines between spirituality and wokeness, than it does about her music, but such grim philosophical leaps resurface across the album, with a noble outlook, that lacks optimism
I didn’t get into Beautiful Imperfection until a year after it was released. I’d gotten into university, gone through the motions and become entirely disillusioned with the whole process. If Asa is Asa exploring her place in the world, Beautiful Imperfection fits as a consolidation of the former project with a new sense of self-establishment through all new ‘costumes’, gimmicky glasses and a whole persona that fit awkwardly on her. The era marked a more self-assured and free-spirited Asa, with cuts like “Be My Man”, “Bimpe”, mirroring some of my own personal struggles in many ways.
The public university system is complicated enough to frustrate even the most gifted. And I struggled, frustrated by the insistence of the entire system that I conform; a decidedly more ‘pop’ bent Asa hued those years with “Dreamer Girl”, a song that subsumes listeners into the mind of a presumably younger Asa with big dreams and nothing but hope. The Asa who forebode the day of reckoning for mankind gave way for Beautiful Imperfection to soar on “Why Can’t We” and “Iba“. Even the initial somber disposition of “The Way I Feel”, explodes into an electric guitar-led chorus. I could never really get into the album beyond these handful. It reminded me too much of the insincerity of trying to conform to external standards, a peeve of the side of me who never got over Asa’s all new pop star markings. It seemed Asa tried to get away from it too, she took a four year hiatus after the album, and grew a whole lot before 2014’s Bed Of Stone.
In 2014, when the video for Dead Again, the first single off Bed Of Stone was released, we could all sense that a realignment had occurred. Asa’s initial pessimism on Asa, may have segued into reassurance and self-confidence on Beautiful Imperfection, but Bed Of Stone, is where disappointment sets in. Starting with “Dead Again”, the lead single off the project, Asa’s leery gaze but optimistic faith in the world seems to have been trounced. Asa is coming to terms with how much she cannot change, the realisation that sometimes love is just not enough and that somethings are to be left forsaken. “Dead Again” is a somewhat existential reflection of how little control we have over the world around us, a fact she already indirectly established on—albeit in a different context— on “Jailer”.
Asa had cut her lock’s into a stylish bob, gone were the costume-y signifiers of the last era and its saccharine songs. In it’s place was urgent agency, emotion. The album was also the longest and the most self-determined. And at its beating heart were two things, “Eyo” the place where everything had started and Asa laying herself bare. The stories Asa told now, were stories about herself, her love for Lagos’ busy street and perpetuatal motion, her experiences with being an immigrant in another man’s country, depression, racism, love and loss and “Moving On”, a particularly harrowing story of what many suspect was sexual assault. There was a rawness to Bed Of Stone that Asa had never given us before, a window into her own mind, her own thoughts as they related to her.
In the following year after the album’s release, Asa returned home for the first time to perform at Eko Hotels, Lagos, as part of the promotional tour for Bed of Stone. It was a magical moment that highlighted her becoming, as she evolved through the years, with her own humanity at the core of her music. Her musings, convictions and trials of love have served as a bed rock for every shade of Asa we have seen in the last decade. In view of a few more years to come, safe to expect the full Asa story to come full circle on the day she drops the mic. (If ever)
Afropop is still pop, but emotions are elemental for DJ Wayne on NATIVE’s 12th mix, perhaps this is why its our coldest one yet. Heavy bass from “Go”, Tekno’s alleged response to shady statements from Wizkid back in July, ease into electric twin mixes from Wiz himself. TY Bello’s ode to the land of promise brings some somberness before the Wande Coal remix to L.A.X’s “Runaway” and the original are spliced together somewhere around here. Bass becomes light strings and melody peaks are waxed together by Mayorkun, Koker, Runtown and Jilex Anderson. There’s some light dance at the end of this by DJ Spinall and DJ Kaywise but Olamide’s “Wavy Level” takes it all back to base where harmony is found in songwriting or beats that have been stripped bare.
Listen our 12th mix and peep the tracklist below.
Go – Tekno
Medicine Remix – Wizkid feat. Phyno & Flavour Medicine – Wizkid Up 2 You – SDC feat Funbi
Greenland – TY Bello Runaway – L.A.X
Runaway – L.A.X feat. Wande Coal Mama – Mayorkun
Only you – Famous Bobson Wavy – Koker
Bad Man (remix) – Dun D feat. Kojo Funds & Sneakbo
No Don – Lotto Boyz For Life – Runtown Jeje – Falz Wave – Jilex Anderson
Informate – DJ Kaywise Feat. Tiwa Savage Calm Down – DJ Spinall Feat. Mr. Eazi
Haters – Shatta Wale & Mr. Eazi
Something Light – Falz Feat. YCEE
Wavy Level – Olamide
If only for its significance to the theme of summer and our reluctance to kiss goodbye to the holiday, Samklef has stepped up his game on visuals. While we’ve heard Samklef singing before—debuting with “Nonilizing” and “Laba Laba”—his latest offering, “Philo” is his first release under Akon’s KonLive record label. The move has seen him progress from acclaimed producer to singer-songwriter and finally a visual artist of sort.
Thanks to the video production by label mate Patrick Elis, “Philo” is created as feast for the eyes with the bright and sunny motif of the video. Samklef’s performance is assisted by a model in a teasing bikini outfit. Complete with suntanned palm trees, a swimming pool, a green grand piano, bright colored fruits and a yellow Lamborghini, Samklef is holding on to the summer shin.
His dance moves on the mid-tempo Afropop vibe of the single is far from convincing. But he enjoys a seductive chemistry with the model and highlights the romantic narrative for “Philo”. Watch the video for “Philo” below.
While the rest of us only dream of our perfect music collaborations and imagine what they’ll sound like, DJs have no trouble turning it into a reality. Not only do they make great mixes, they also curate the most popular sound with collaborative singles.
Though in this case with “Pose”, both artists and DJ are partial to the Afropop genre, both Tiwa Savage and Solidstar even out their edges for harmony. Yet the synergy they share on “Pose” is every bit as harmonious as the beat influenced by Caribbean harmonies. The mid-tempo drums are elevated by the soka horns and synth pianos as Solidstar take the first verse and chorus—lifted from Baba Fryo’s “Dem Go Dey Pose” released in the 90’s—before Tiwa Savage’s verse. They boast with rapper type swag and enjoy a duet towards the end of the track.
The video directed by ADASA COOKEY is shot in a Lagos and set at a night scene with cameos from guest artists Solidstar, Tiwa Savage and DJ Xclusive himself.
See the video for “Pose” below.
Featured Image Credits: YouTube/Superstar DJ Xclusive
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 is beyond amazing to think that nearly 20 years after Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie began her journey as a writer, she is Nigeria’s foremost 21st century writer and one of the most prominent voices in feminism today. As she turns 40 she is still regarded with a sort of ambivalence by many within and outside Nigeria. Many consider her work stellar but are conflicted by her personal politics.
One thing everyone is in agreement about is Adichie’s outsize impact on women here. Her fierce female protagonists have made a larger part of them reconsider a lot about Feminism. It’s difficult to not narrow all her achievements down to just that. Lets celebrate her with some of the memorable moments that got us revelling in her work and success.
We Should All Be Feminists TEDx Talk
Here, she details her views on gender construction and sexuality. One of her most easily remembered lines is when she says the problem with gender is it shapes who we are. “Feminist, a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes”, she says. Her essay, We Should All Be Feminists is adapted from the talk and has remained on bestseller lists too. The 2013 Ted Talk has spun into many must reads, must hear and must wear (i’ll get there in the following list).
Chimamanda and Beyonce, Flawless
The We Should all be feminist Ted talk was sampled by Beyoncé in her song, “Flawless” off her 2014 album. By adding it as a major part of the song, Beyonce took the feminist TED Talk and amplified it a thousand fold, reaching millions of young women. It also won Adichie her first Grammy nomination.
Chimamanda’s collaboration with Dior
https://www.instagram.com/p/BT9lctZlEuP/?taken-by=chimamanda_adichie
Last year, she collaborated with Christian Dior on a T-shirt bearing the line “We Should All Be Feminists”. Many took the statement pieces to be a part of everything that is wrong with feminism today. The proposition is that feminism has become so mainstream as to be an empty marketing tool, a mere slogan on a bag or a T-shirt. But she elaborates on this in an interview with the guardian uk, “this is why so many women, particularly women of colour, feel alienated from mainstream western academic feminism.” she says. “Because, don’t we want it to be mainstream? For me, feminism is a movement for which the end goal is to make itself no longer needed. I think academic feminism is interesting in that it can give a language to things”.
The launch of Americanah
Her third novel, Americanah, launched in 2014, examines what it is to be a Nigerian woman living in the US. But it’s beyond that. It’s a book about hair: straight and afro; and discreet tensions, between white Americans and Nigerian immigrants, between Africans and African Americans, between the light- and dark-skinned and between new and established immigrants. Americanah (the word refers to Nigerians returning home after living in America) went on to win best novel at the National Book Critics Circle awards and it’s still one of the most read books of our time.
Birth of her daughter
Chimamanda is a wife, a self-confessed daddy’s girl —She’s written a long read on New York Times about her Dad’s experience with Kidnappers in Nigeria, being the father of a presumably ‘rich’ novelist and her dad was also one of the two people (including Chinua Achebe) to read and review her novel, Half of A Yellow Sun— and she is also a mother to a baby girl. But she isn’t delimited to all these and she’ll tell you that too. No one should be.
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@Chimamanda_adichie
Americanah Image Credit: ruthmeharg . com
Fisayo is a journalist who thinks writing is hard and reading too. But her journey somewhere reveals, words are like pawns on chessboard when writing. She wants to see, create and share with the world, experience & communicate these experiences. Tweet at her @fisvyo
By dint of the Afro-house genre she dabbles in, Niniola’s voice is a colourful instrument that hits a lot of emotional nerve clusters at once, making you move to whatever music beats she sings on with precision. This way, every lyric crawls into your memory because you almost can’t differentiate which part of the song bares the chorus. On her new song “Sicker”,“Ma lo fara we mi o” she sings repeatedly, giving the words a different tang and savor in the video each time.
One of her best tricks has been repetition; it drills her ideas and leaves her impact. There have been few lines committed to engagement as “Are you begging, are you begging to dance? Are you willing, are you willing to move?” —it’s almost as if you are made to start questioning those around you along with her and slot in your own dance moves as you do so. Such persuasion plays out all through the song via the production engineer and film maker. Everything about it —the airy timekeeping of Sarz’ drums, Clarence Peter’s colourful montages, and Niniola’s dancing and singing —feels tightly worn and angled just right. It has that easy, rounded glow of someone who has really figured out exactly what they want to say and how they want to sound.
Still, the song exists for Niniola’s upcoming album, which she has promised to put out through our last experiences of 2017. “Sicker” is a piece to the final puzzle.
Bump it below.
Featured Image Credit: Youtube/OfficialNiniola
Fisayo is a journalist who thinks writing is hard and reading too. But her journey somewhere reveals, words are like pawns on chessboard when writing. She wants to see, create and share with the world, experience & communicate these experiences. Tweet at her @fisvyo
It is somewhat disheartening that we rarely hear about the democratic republic of Congo, if the topic of conversation is not about its brutal history under Dutch rule, its current spate of civil wars as feudal leaders fight for control of its vast natural resources, or its often reputation as the ‘rape capital’ of the world. But Congo is more than that, and one of its biggest export is it’s subculture of African Dandies, otherwise known as Sapeurs. Their unique style and their commitment to dress good as a metaphor for self actualization has drawn attention from celebrities as big as Solange Knowles who worked with Sapeurs for her the video for her song.
But finally Sapeurs are finally getting honoured by someone who intimately understands the subculture. Central African Republic DJ, Boddhi Satva, protege of Grammy award winning producer Louie Vega and owner of label Offering Records, and one of the permanent DJ’s on the critically acclaimed Coke Studio Africa teamed up with Congolese rapper Badi to record “Kitendi”, off his sophomore album Transitions. “Kitendi“s instrumentals are a whole soupcon of influences from, oriental drums, synth organs and a contemporary hip-hop beat, mixed in Satva’s distinct style. Badi pays homage to forebears of the genre Satva calls Ancestral Soul: Stervos Niarcos, Papa Wemba and Kester Emeneya. All three helped to pioneer “La SAPE”, the iconic fashion movement from the 1960’s that has morphed and evolved with the times and grown to influence contemporary francophone artists today.
Sans the history of “Kitendi” which means clothing in Lingala, one of Congo’s major indigenous languages, Badi is a formidable rapper, and Boddhi Satva is basically just showing off. It’s a pairing we hope we see more of.
Watch the video for “Kitendi” here.
Edwin eats his rice and cabbages. Tweet at him@edgothboy
Since his “Eni Duro” debut, Olamide has conjured a romance with the street, a theme and narrative that easily makes him the most marketable rapper on the streets—at least in Nigeria’s South West. And though his attempts to fully explore this ghetto aesthetic often derails him from his original Hip-hop genre, his fame certainly isn’t worse off from it. His more Jollof songs like “Turn Up” and “Shakiti Bobo” are easily more commercial than his conventional hip-hop songs and that’s what DJ Consequence’s latest single, “Assignment” is going for.
Featuring Olamide in his local elements, DJ Consequence’s new song is primed for dancefloors thanks to the upbeat Afro-house rhyme produced by Young John. The South African house drums are layered with spacious synth harmonies for Olamide’s laid back rap flow. He shout-outs streets in Lagos; “Shomolo/ Mushin/ Kumolu/” while discussing money, yahoo yahoo, bad bitches and other topics the streets can’t seem to get enough of. All the usual fare for Olamide, but he makes it sound so good.
Listen to DJ Consequence and Olamide’s “Assignment” below.
Although most of KINGJAMAL THE HITMAKER’s Live Long and Prosper is spent “Spitting Fire” bars and “Dream(ing) Of Blowing”, he has the courtesy to bother with the niceties and builds a frame of reference for his hustler aesthetic, albeit trivial—“Life Is Hard So I’m Screaming/ Fuck The World.”
In a bid to revive some of his old tracks and perhaps increase his play count, a few singles released last year are included on Long Live and Prosper‘s extensive 21-track list. Though the effect is a dragging stoner bluntness and a horror gore of a joyride, the short lengths of the tracks, bouncy yet eerie trap beats and features from Mr. Jabari, Rhoda, Toronto, P money and Ice Prince make the album worth the time.
He “Roll(s) Up/ Pour(s Himself) A Glass/ Hope(s) That Shit Lasts” on opening track “Something On My Mind”, a somber piano led ballad that allows KINGJAMAL THE HITMAKER reflect on his ambitions. He goes on to describe his flamboyantly nervy reality on “Frozen Jungle” and “Trap Music” where he teams up with Ice Prince to “Reload (his) Clips”.
One of the stand out tracks from Long Live and Prosper, “Muddy”is built around the tried and true hip-hop principle that the rougher the journey to the top is the better it feels there. Only love songs; “Jonze Me” and “Ur Nomber” divert from his hunger for success as he even goes as far including cuts from DJ Khaled’s “Don’t Ever Play Yourself” on “Leave Her”.
The project however doesn’t feel as inspiring as the title suggests. The self proclaimed Hitmaker still doesn’t have a hit song to boast of but there is a undeniable hunger for one. And Long Live and Prosper signals progression in his sound, which can only spell great things for KINGJAMAL THE HITMAKER.
Stream the album below.
Featured Image Credits: Twitter/KJTheHitMaker
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
Mainstream Afropop adheres to a rather straightforward blueprint of being unadventurous and relateable. This leaves the alternative-indie scene to pull all the weight for experimental and unique themes and sounds. Savy could have taken the mainstream pop shortcut with his latest single, “All I Want” given his captivating, throaty vocal tone, his candid attitude and love incline lyrics. But instead he steers clear of the dance music obsessions and sings over a decidedly mellow instrumental produced by Heartbeats.
Sure, the theme is familiar but it’s a breath of fresh air in the sense of listening to a young artist singing about things you know they actually relate to or have a hand in. Savy isn’t focused on eccentric, jaded lyrics or building a superficial personae on “All I Want”. All he does is establish his natural singing voice and highlight his affectionate feelings towards an unnamed love interest.
Over a light piano riff that soars as synths and drums are introduced, he confesses that he’ll “Give Anything For You/ Cause You’re All That I Want.” A light backup melody can be heard playing behind Savy’s melodies, giving off a gentle tone to the piece.
Listen to “All I Want” below.
https://soundcloud.com/savy-henry/savy-all-i-want
Featured Image Credits: Instagram/savy_henry
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
Earlier this summer DAP the Contract premiered “Special” at NATIVE’s Birth Issue launch party to instant warm reactions. Despite a somewhat surprise guest feature in the serial hit-maker Ajebutter22, “Special” is indented with all the things that makes DAP such a cerebral artist: a quirky baseline, synths and a slick flow inherently set on striking a balance between feel good and wallflower moodboards. Complemented by one of the best Ajebutter verses I’ve heard in quite a while (he should rap more), the track is the perfect late summer serenade before the days get shorter and the nights get longer.
Beyond sound, DAP’s roll-outs continues to reject convention, every new release is especially different from the former. First he released an EP, Two Roads in April,then he began a recently concluded music release series called ‘Contract Thursdays’.
DAP has just begun the second part of this series and “Special” is the first release of “Contract Thursdays Pt. 2”. In his own words, the new series will feature “a cross-cultural, colorful collection of new music, with help from various stellar artists. You can be sure to find something in the batch that you will fall in love with”. With Ajebutter and former collaborator, Peter Enriquez by his side, DAP kicks off this collection with a gem.
Stream “Special” below, and watch out for the rest of the series.
With only five acts going through to the Final Stage of America’s Got Talent, the artists who placed first, second and third were automatically into the finals yesterday. But the fourth, fifth and sixth acts took part in the Dunkin Save. Host Tyra Banks announced them early on so that the voting could begin: Mentalist Colin Cloud, dance troupe Diavolo, and singer Kechi.
In the Dunkin Save, America voted through Kechi, who on Tuesday night sang “Don’t Worry About Me” by Frances. She dedicated the song to her mum seated amidst the audience.
After the announcement, “I cannot believe I am in the finals,” said an overwhelmed Kechi. “This is unbelievable. Thank you so much.”
Watch the performance below, and anticipate her final performance on the live show next Tuesday, September 19 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01JS2BHVkTU
Featured Image Credit: Youtube/Americas got Talent
Fisayo is a journalist who thinks writing is hard and reading too. But her journey somewhere reveals, words are like pawns on chessboard when writing. She wants to see, create and share with the world, experience & communicate these experiences. Tweet at her @fisvyo
All a good music video needs is a bunch of cool friends, a camera and glossy filters. Of course, considering the glut of uninspired visuals we often get in Nigeria’s music scene and Straff’s uncanny stroke for turning his wildest artistic visions into a reality as seen on his debut video, “Cherry Game Girl”, the video for“Trounce” always showed promise.
Directed by Lenx and shot in Lagos, “Trounce” doesn’t try to tell any story but it certainly does its job as a promotional tool emphasizing Straff’s inherent fascination with psychedelia. The spacious synth harmonies on the single produced by GCL3F are brought to life through the colorful filters, screen glitches, slow-mo to super-fast editing and more erratic beams of light than is medically healthy.
That being said, everyone knows most of the coolest things in life come with a prescribed warning. So before exposing yourself to the waves of psychedelic lights and kaleidoscopic imagery, make sure you aren’t photosensitive epileptic because this video has all the ingredients to trigger seizure.
Watch the video for “Trounce” below.
Featured Image: YouTube/STRAFFMUSIC
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
“I Wrote A Song About You” is Rookie SBK’s official music spring back from the angst that happened to him last year. The guy had gotten jaded after putting together 43 songs into one compilation album under the umbrella name Songs For The Blue on his Soundcloud.Tracks on the album are literally his life stories, on a track like “Brink of Adulthood” he rap-sings, ranting to his mother and people, that he is all grown up and on “Wake and Bake” he illustrates a dishonest relationship. This was in late December 2016. All tracks are raw and unmixed tracks, dished out to fans and supporters. In his own words, “the real ones who fuck with the sound”. Then. The unthinkable happens.
First, someone steals all his recording equipments, then Rookie gets into a copyright mess and is taken down on Soundcloud –perhaps this is why we now have 37 songs on the playlist, not the intended 43. After having put so much work in the music work, Rookie gets worn out, bored and tired of life. To him, it was impossible to escape the ennui and despair of it all, and in that moment he tells himself nothing lasts forever, even his music career. But this is a tale too trivial when juxtaposed with how good of an artist Rookie is. And he’s improving. Besides, he gets an ego boost from his followers on social media platforms who motivate him to keep the singing going.
Rookie is becoming a master in the RnB, Jazz and Hip-hop genre. Even when he sounds like Chris Brown or Justin Timberlake, he sounds like himself. And he takes even more pleasure in making sure we know too. “I Wrote A Song About You”, his new song is all bravado. Rookie creates a smooth beat out of a constant piano baseline, bouncing bass and a sound that strikes like a finger snap and he rides it with that fluid, effortless falsetto. “I’m just trying to heal, Oh baby I confess,” into “Tonight the stars are out for you” becomes a sentiment worthy of flushed swoons when it’s stealthily slowed down, leaving just the instrumentals to finish up.
“I Wrote A Song About You” is the kind of that smooth sultry vibe that win ladies back and maybe this really would for Rookie.
It’s beautiful. Peep the track below.
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/Rookie_SBK
Fisayo is a journalist who thinks writing is hard and reading too. But her journey somewhere reveals, words are like pawns on chessboard when writing. She wants to see, create and share with the world, experience & communicate these experiences. Tweet at her @fisvyo
Fresh off a daring Tommy Hilfiger-inspired PSA (as seen above), WAFFLESNCREAM wasted no time in releasing their Dry/Harmattan ’17 collection. In their most ambitious drop yet, the line ranges from the tongue-in-cheek “Common Corruption” t shirts to classic bowling shirts. Shop the collectionhere.
We linked up with WAFFLESNCREAM and photographer Baingor Joiner to showcase the new collection, highlighting the extreme sports culture in Tarkwa Bay, Lagos, Nigeria. The growing community of skaters and surfers are taking to bringing their passion to the mainstream. Peep the the editorial below.
Mr Eazi who was born in Nigeria but educated in Ghana, understands the core properties of the music business, even if it’s by sprawling theories and controversies on the internet or just by catching any opportunity to make good music with good enough people.
On “Leg Over (remix )” he finds ideal partners in Major Lazer, French Montana and Ty Dolla Sign. His “Leg Over” song which was already nearly a sleeper hit is brought back into consciousness as he closes the gap between genres to crop out a more transcontinental appeal. The track is powered by the same sound (worked by Ekelly) housed on the original with a little trilling synth tweaking by production trio, Major Lazer.
With Mr Eazi’s magnetic presence on the track, Montana and TY’s verses blend with the song’s theme and meaning, improving the song’s charm by dint of the same loose narrative Mr Eazi sung the original. The song is opened by Montana who follows up with a snappy verse, he passes it on to Mr Eazi, who still takes much of the spotlight and TY Dolla Sign sings next before Eazi closes the track.
Bump “Leg Over (remix)” below.
Featured Image Credit: Youtube/majorlazer “Leg over (remix)”
Fisayo is a journalist who thinks writing is hard and reading too. But her journey somewhere reveals, words are like pawns on chessboard when writing. She wants to see, create and share with the world, experience & communicate these experiences. Tweet at her @fisvyo
Santi (the man formerly/occasionally known as OzzyB) carries the aura of those “special” artists that don’t come around so often. Soft-spoken and relatively guarded on his personal life (a welcome change in an industry dominated by tabloid gossip), he comes alive when talking about his process, and how he got to where he is now. Despite enjoying his second wind at the moment, he has been in the game for nearly half a decade, and the confidence he he speaking about his “sound” is a testament to this.
Whilst his breakout hit “Gangsta Fear” (featuring Odunsi [The Engine]) seems to be growing into a cult classic, Santi is not resting on his laurels and has dropped two tracks this year, a handful of feature verses, and is in the process of making an EP. One of those singles is the infectious “Jungle Fever”, produced by GMK and featuring Odunsi [The Engine] & Genio Bambino. Santi has just premiered the video for “Fever” (co-directed by the man himself and Ademola Falomo) on Wired Japan.
We spoke to Santi about his thoughts on birth & death, the art of collaboration, and how he compares the current music revolution in Nigeria to the ones of the past. Check out our chat with him below, and peep the visual for “Jungle Fever” above.
In 2013, you released the mixtape Birth of Santi – what is the meaning of birth to you, in this context?
Birth is continuous and as long as you are willing to learn, you will always be able to have the ability to birth; and by birth I mean create. I started off mainly as a rapper, combining a bit of singing as well to form some sort of uniqueness, but as I learnt and kept on experimenting [with] more in music, it was quite clear what I wanted to make and become.
Do you see birth and death as mutually exclusive? Did Suzie (from Suzie’s Funeral) have to die for Santi to be born?
Suzie is a combination of everything, a combination of reality, feelings, beliefs and dreams. And for Santi to be born, those things had to die. Birth and death go hand in hand.
Do you feel the need to nurture your music once it is released? Or would you rather let it grow on its own?
It depends, I feel it’s always key to nurture music when it’s out. Sometimes people who listen to a song might not get it until they see a video. The music is one part of telling the sound and visuals sort of complete the sound. Then again, you often have cases of songs you least expected to do well, pushing doors and doing good numbers. I believe that if you want to have a good run in music, you have to be able to connect with people while evolving, so nurturing music is key as well.
You were one of the early rebellious voices to the traditional sound of Afro-Pop music in the early 2010s. How much do you think the first revolution with the likes of yourself, DRB and LOS has helped birth the latest class of artists in Nigeria?
I think it did help, because it allowed the younger ones to be more expressive and confident about what they’re doing. I was a 17-year-old expressing myself regardless of the industry and the type of music being accepted [back] then. The spirit of being rebellious is a huge part of being a youth and watching us rebel gave the younger ones the confidence to believe in their craft, grow it and push doors open.
What do you do to get yourself out of the inevitable lows of the creative process (writers’ block etc)?
I’m someone who more or less creates music out of sole fiction. It’s key that I am always lost in the world of my mind to be able to make the music I make. Sometimes you are zapped out of that and have to face “reality” and by reality I mean the things that might stress you or certain problems you might be facing. The key to getting out of blocks for me is just understanding where you are at and allowing your mind make the best out of it. Sometimes, it might just be that you are too comfortable, so from time to time I always step out to find new things outside to bring into my comfort zone.
How do you know when what you create is ready to be released into the world?
It’s like a spider sense, you just know!
Do you feel the release of music is always necessarily the final step for an artist? For you, is a release a cathartic experience or is it just the natural end to a process?
I think releasing music is a key step but not the final step, you could release the best album in the world and not leave a single imprint. You need to able to establish the connection between you and the people who listen to the music. Videos, merch and tours help complete the full experience, people listen to music for different reasons, some want to escape, some want to relate, some want to be sad etc. So it’s key to always create the full experience that makes it the music
Do you ever feel like the process of creating trumps the eventual release of your material?
Yeh it depends, for example recording the same song over and over again, just to get it right and after recording it, you find yourself sick of the song and not putting the right energy into the release of the song. So it depends, it’s a thing of the mind really, cause people are never gonna care or want to know what you did to release music. It’s literally all in your head.
How do you view collaboration in relation to creating music? Is it usually strategic or organic? Circumstantial or necessary?
Collaborations are key, especially right now. It’s quite beautiful cause each person is blessed with a sound of their own and combining minds to create music can only to better sounds. Sometimes, its strategic and sometimes its necessary, and it’s great when its both.
Your next release is highly anticipated as a result of how successful Suzie’s Funeral has been. How do you feel about putting this out into the world? Does it scare you?
It does not scare me, the key to making better music is moving on from past sounds and learning from what you created to make new and better music. You’re always gonna be nervous when experimenting and creating from scratch but always remain confident in what you do.
A new short film that solely focuses on Maleek Berry in association with Tidal and Appleton Estate USA rides on the back of all things to pique at people’s interest as he steadily makes his way to top charts in foreign markets. The short film is called “Where I’m From”. And it comes just after Maleek’s debut performance at Jay-Z’s Budweiser “Made In America Festival”.
On the short film, Maleek briefly details his experiences, being a native of Nigeria growing up in Clapham, South London, his production and vocal techniques. In line with the premiere of the short film, Maleek spoke to Essence magazine, where he revealed he’ll be “definitely coming out with another EP before the end of the year. It will be like a sequel to my Last Daysof Summer EP from last year. It’s going to be a whole different vibe though. It’s a different season so, the sound is going to be a little different as well so, people should look out for that.”
Take 5 minutes of your time to watch “Where I’m From” exclusively on Tidal Here.
Featured Image Credit: “Where I’m From”/Tidal
Fisayo is a journalist who thinks writing is hard and reading too. But her journey somewhere reveals, words are like pawns on chessboard when writing. She wants to see, create and share with the world, experience & communicate these experiences. Tweet at her @fisvyo
