After Beyonce up-turned the album roll-out format with two back to back releases of albums that neither followed regular scheduling or hit the stores in the expected manner,many artists have imperatively followed the path of the queen. Jidenna has taken that cue to update the roll-out of his “The Chief” album released last month with six accompanying videos from the debut LP. Earlier today, the rapper released the teaser videos for all six videos off the album. Get a first look all the cuts below
Pain, like other emotions, has been a well of inspiration for different artists. Frida Kahlo’s paintings often depicted her suffering on canvas in stark, disturbing and even bloody images. Amy Winehouse’s music and Ernest Hemingway’s literature both came from a place of personal suffering and torture. After experiencing the loss of a loved one, Oma Mahmud has gone down this worn path to create “Hurting” in collaboration with Fuego Senoras‘ DJ Yin.
On “Hurting”, Oma describes the motions of dealing with the heartache that comes with losing one close to him. He sings about how the pain never really goes even after a long while and the hurt still remains while he remains hopeful about better days. On a striking note, IAMBEATZ’s drum-heavy production is decidedly upbeat which stands out against the sober lyrics. Perhaps, it was an intentional twist hinting at man’s ability to still create happiness from a place of sorrow.
Audu Maikori, the founder of Chocolate City Entertainment was first arrested in Kaduna on the 17th of February after making a tweet concerning the killing of the five students of College of Education. He alleged that the Fulani herdsmen were responsible for their deaths and since then, the government has been on his case. Despite his admitting he was misinformed by his driver before taking down the controversial tweet, the Kaduna State Government still called for an arrest of the pseudo-activist in the weeks following the incident.
After a first arrest, Audu was released amidst sighs of relief from fans and well wishers but their relief was short lived by a second arrest on the 10th of February. Although police deny being responsible for Audu’s second arrest, reports confirm that the entrepreneur was confined in a police facility till the Kaduna State Ministry of Justice took his case file from the police. Audu’s second arrest comes a week after Kaduna State governor promised to ensure that Audu got prosecuted for attempting to spur up violence in the Southern part of the state.
Considering how quick the Chocolate City boss was to retract his statement and apologise for his error, it is easy to understand why he has won the support of many Nigerians who have taken their protest to social media with the hashtag #FreeAudu. The government however saw the situation as an opportunity to impede on the civic rights of a citizen and persecute anyone trying to oppose the government. This follows a similarly hostile government reaction to 2face’s planned protest earlier this year and has been flouted in some quarters as the government’s lack of tolerance for opposition.
In spite of the government’s aberrations we can not ignore Audu’s initial error. We can’t argue for what his intentions were or weren’t, but considering his law degree and celebrity status, he should know better than to put his integrity and influence behind disruptive statements. Spreading information capable of inciting violence without verification is merely adding to ills of a ‘Fake News’ phenomenon that has become one of the biggest problems of modern information dissemination in recent times. It’s people who say things without first confirming if it’s true that makes the job of civil rights activists harder.
Still, in all respect for basic human rights, we are glad that sanity has been restored by the judiciary who have stepped up to take up the case from the police to ensure that between Audu and the State government, both parties get a fair hearing.
Dee Moneey became one of the new school rap acts to watch since his “Finish Line” West Africa-Connect remix featuring Paedae, J.Town, M.anifest from Ghana and Nigeria’s Ice Prince and Reminisce. To celebrate his birthday yesterday, he released his second single for the year, “Only One” featuring songbird, Efya.
“Only One” shows two artist who know how to balance their differences together without lapsing on their individual roles. Efya’s soulful opening is complimented by Dee Moneey’s rhymes on a base heavy beat produced by Ghost 88 (LXXXVIII).
The video for “Only One” is directed by KTO for Hawk Eye Cinema. Dee Moneey released his first single for this year back in January and this follow up single is expected to do just as well as the first.
Watch the Video for Dee Moneey’s “Only One” featuring Efya here
Perhaps the greatest save for the future of Nigerian Afropop is the existence of a broad range of song types and styles to draw influences from. The mid-to-late 2000s witnessed a renaissance of Nigerian music, more attention was paid to detail and production evolved out of its shell of American hip-hop samples and debased local reworks of mainstream hits (See Maintain“Catch Cold”, Banky W’s“Ebutte Meta” et al). This was also the era of compositions so uniquely original, that due to its multiplicity of old and new influences, any genre-definition beyond ‘Afropop’ would have never sufficed.
Out of that chaotic freeverse have come many one-hit wonders and producers alike, who rabidly turned out a slew of hits, before cashing their chips early and moving their careers to foreign lands. One unforgettable name from the lot is Klever Jay, the man that gave us “Koni Koni Love”, a fast paced Reggae-R’n B song about unrequited love off his 2008 debut, The Beginning.
“Koni Koni Love” works for many reasons. The single leans towards the Island Calypso Kevin Little and Rupee had popularised in the late nougties with era-defining global hits like “Turn Me On” and “Tempted To Touch” respectively. It also subtly runs a narrative of a tortured lover while maintaining a tempo clearly built for the dance-floor by default. Klever Jay features Danny Young and a largely unknown Chris Don, but the trio’s harmony could have as well been taken for a group effort.
At face value, “Koni Koni Love” is pop music at its most mindless, a preppy attempt more or less to snag a radio hit off a relatable emotions. But it also captures an era where Nigerian producers and artists alike experimented with a wide range of ideas. The music encapsulated in this time can serve as a literal goldmine for samples and interesting reworks by younger generation of Nigerian artists who are broadening the soundscape to accommodate more fringe patterns and alternative genres.
Davido can do many strange but oddly phenomenal things. Hitmaking aside, he can rise to the top in an elemental style so bawdy only few have and will ever dare. He can get away with cheeky brags so ridiculous, its breaks (or questions, when you think about Dele Momodu) many laws of nature and physics. Davido, can and will also body every artist willing to sacrifice the solo glory of a potential hit for a guest verse.
But if you still have doubts about what the man can do, you should listen to his latest single “If”, a super laid-back acoustic rework of “Pana” you never knew you needed. Unsurprisingly, “If” is produced by Tekno, but its not impossible to tell which is the superior song.
“If” is stripped bare of many distractions to save Davido’s vocals from the obscurity of over production. A problem many producers trying to place his gruff voice on mellower melodies have misunderstood in the past as the need for auto-tune.
Nostalgia is one of pop’s most effective tools and Davido sleekly incoprates a sample of Lagbaja’s “Gra Gra” off the millennium album We into “If”. While Lagbaja’s cut sounds like a vocoded incursion of Daft Punk’s “Instant Crush”, Davido’s spin leans into an emotional melody, screams with raw urgency and is sprinkled with just the right amount of auto-tune for pizzazz.
Despite attmepting to mimic the light drum and synth patterns of his own prior hit, Tekno’s production is not near-tactless as it appears at first glance. Davido’s often ignored ability to successfully tap into the wavelength of a broad range of instrumentation only further defines him as a top-class act. Tekno should’ve known better than to give his wave to a man that resurrected a ‘Lagbaja hit’, then casually decided to make it a ‘Davido hit’ from then on.
The acclaim of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, Kanye West’s Yeezus and Young Thug Jeffery amonsgt other records have spurred a renaissance for sparse production and electronic chords. Local interest may be low now , but auto-tune and other electronic synth-based genres have come under the spotlight as the future of sound evolution.
To prove our point, The Euphonic Music Company, a homegrown collective that recognizes this potential just put out the independent work of producer, Xoe in an EP titled Tales 2. Tales 2 is a sequel to Tales, an instrumental EP Xoe released via Euphonic’s SoundCloud a month ago. Xoe’s EP, Tales 2 relies solely on musical notes and sounds to express the story of it’s subject’s struggle. It’s not literal as you’d expect, but we doubt it was intended to be.
“Xoe’s Ode” is the third track off Tales 2 and it is a great entry point for the rest of the body of work. The instrumental starts with a piano chord anchored on a somber violin baseline and by the time the beats drop and the drums are introduced, Xoe’s angst and skepticism about hope comes in full circle.
The atmosphere of “Xoe’s Ode” is a broody one. It yearns for hope inspite of retribution, a release that never comes and longing for a journey to a place far away from here.
Amidst fan clamour for Simi’s debut album, “Smile For Me” comes as her first single since the release of Chemistry her joint album with Falz. The single was unveiled earlier in the year to be a potential lead single off her upcoming album (expected later this year) and as part of promotions, the roll-out has been accompanied with an adjoining video.
“Smile For Me” is directed by Clarence A Peters and cuts from the video takes us back to a time of record players and bicycles. Simi is lead on a romantic quest to find her lover who has prepared mysterious hints that would help her journey through romantic scenery and traditional drummers. She finds her lover, actor Ayoola Ayobami whose love gestures has her smiling all through the video.
Follow Simi’s quest for love in the video for “Smile For Me”
As the Sound Engineer for Nigerian music collective Euphonic, sound engineer Bond has helped craft his fair share of the Nigerian ‘New Age’s sounds. But now he’s stepping into the booth with a few bops of his own. Bond is the consummate Nigerian Millennial dabbling in multiple pies apart from Euphonic; specifically an indie record label Vision Inspired Music based in Ghana. With plugs to Ghana’s musical renaissance and it’s insistence on process and Nigeria’s ‘New Age’ preoccupation with wil experimentation, Bond is in a perfection position to bridge both disciplines. And he does so on his new ‘concept’ EP “Neighbours”.
With just two songs on the EP, there’s not quite enough music to gauge the breadth of its experimentation but Bond does show his chops on both songs. The first “Come Over” featuring Robin – Huws and Reynolds TGM (both signees to Bond’s Vision Inspired Music) is an afropop bop, heavy on the hand-held percussions and that non-committal tempo that Ghanaian hip-life has mastered excellently, occasionally shaking things up with classic EDM techniques, the bass heavy breakdown and a short piano sample that works as the song’s instrumental hook. Robin – Huws and Reynolds TGM acquit themselves quite well, but it is obvious that the song remains a showcase for Bond.
The second song “Labalaba” despite its very Yoruba title, is entirely a hip-life song, thanks to the force of nature that is the song’s vocalist and V.I.M signee Adomaa. She completely dominates the song, turning it into her own thing. Her breathy vibrato, dipping occasionally into lower octaves, demands attention and holds it, right down to the last note. Bond is a lot subtler on “Labalaba” too, playing with harp arrangements and and very electronic-y synth trumpeting to create a convenient wall of sound. The tail end of the song shifts into 90’s inspired dance percussion, an appropriate reprieve from the all the unrequited love that Adomaa builds through the earlier parts of the song. We definitely want a more extensive project from Adomaa.
Album art by Kofi Note tries the whole thing in a neat little bow, ready for you. You should hit play and keep it on repeat.
Rap is all about your bonafides. The very history of rap abhors the vacuum of a rapper without any kind of history or pedigree and since the 70’s rappers have made a statement of repping their ‘hoods’, shouting out their ‘cliques’ and ‘gangs’ and featured or bragged about their mentors. Even Nigerian rap isn’t immune to the phenomenon of Rap bonafides, it actually has spread into most of Nigeria’s musical genres with rappers like Olamide claiming Surulere and Bariga’s agberos as his family, Phyno repping Enugu, M.I and Jesse Jagz putting Jos on the map, Terry Da Rap Man repping Kaduna and Wizkid bringing Ojuelegba to the world.
Every contemporary rapper has to fight the temptation to provide their bonafides but most fail, and few have been as ingenious as Abuja based rapper and producer Kuraye asserting his street cred without losing his originality. Kuraye takes the route of the populist by making an homage not to a specific hood but the preferred beverage of all hoods, traditional herb infused alcohol, Alomo.
Alomo Bitters, originally from Ghana (like a lot of the contemporary facets of our lives that scale) has become synonymous with traditionally made herbal drinks preferred by the ‘hoods’, and comes with it’s own street cred Kuraye featuring singer XL Spliff and extra production credits from DaReKasali, asserts this over a trap beat, asserting his street cred over and over and his allegiance to all hoods. It is an interesting bop, bound to get more than a few replays.
At Native Mag we love to shake things up every now and then, break the monotony that can come from constantly covering male dominated afrobeats/afrotrap/afrotrap genres and branch into something new or something classic. South African music has been hitting that spot for us, providing that other perspective that we often miss in our testosterone driven industry. Nana Atta is one of those women.
Nana Atta, currently signed to Universal Music South Africa released a debut EP in 2016 that featured the hit “Don’t Lie” with a feature from artist WTF. She is making a play for 2017 with “Bang’hlebhile” accompanied only by synthesized organs and an occasional guitar riff ad libbed by concert chimes. But Atta’s voice is the song’s main focus, and she rides the melody with ease and skill, transcending language barriers. Considering her EP was primarily sung in English, this might be Nana Atta’s way of appealing to her South African fan base. Eitherway we’re not complaining.
Belloved is a corny name but by design, only Korede Bello can get away with that title for a highly anticipated debut album. The curly-haired singer first appeared on Mavin Records’ “Dorobucci” in 2014 and he in the 3 year period, has attempted to start a dance craze, become a meme and scored legions of die hard fans in the process.
As the name suggests, “Belloved” is dedicated to Korrede Bello’s fan base also aliased as “Bellovers”. The surprise release of his album comes after months of announcements and reminders. His earlier announced tracklist was composed of 11 new singles with 3 pre-released bonus tracks; “Godwin”, “Romantic” and last year’s Afro-EDM chart topper, “Do Like That”. Belloved is a featureless debut from an artist who had to do very little to win our hearts. The shelf life of this full length project will be tested over the next few months as Korrede Bello attempts to forge ahead beyond the obscurity of his new comer status and evolve into an Afropop firebrand of his own.
London born, Lagos raised singer Eno Williams is currently being touted as one of the most refreshing new wave African sounds. The singer leads an 8-piece band whose music is borne of a multiplex of influences; a fusion of coordinated fast-paced synths, loud trumpets and music rendered in her native Ibibio language. “Let’s Dance”, comes off The Ibibio Soundmachine’s self-titled debut and it bursts of a vibrant energy and of 70s psychedelic funk reminiscent of an sonic era forgotten.
Capture – Seo
Capture is another one of many hidden in the obscure underbelly of SoundCloud. Seo sings of a world where there is too much to capture, a direct reflection of our information age where there is too much to absorb and not enough to learn.
Emotions In Kumasi – Khandie
Ghanian music is witnessing an acoustic renaissance where peripheral sounds are stripped away for lighter production. Even Khandie’s druggy “Emotions In Kumasi” opens with a guitar riff that sounds like the start of a closing movie sequence. Khandie is in Kumasi sailing through the motions and longing for lost love, but she’s “moving on, moving on” and feeling like she “finna turn up”
Maradona – Niniola
Our Best New Music from last week doesn’t need any more brandishing but ahead of the pressing need from a debut album from Niniola, “Maradona” will live on as a bold exploration of the female sensuality, a murky subject matter many artists of her ilk actively shy away from.
From Our Pot of Jollof
Moving On – Asa
As if to remind us of the continued relevance of her Bed of Stone album, Asa released a haunting performance of her survivor’s anthem “Moving On” earlier last week. “Moving On” is a deep cut from the album about forging ahead despite inherent trauma from the past.
If You Ask Me – Omawumi
West African Idols first runner up Omawumi Megbele turned a stint on a music reality show into a platform to become one of Nigeria’s most successful contemporary musicians, period. Omawumi is always on the pulse of contemporary Nigerian issues, using her voice and her platform to promote women’s issues. But one song stands out above all the others. 2011, If You Ask Me from the album, Lasso of Truth. Covering domestic violence, sexual assault, molestation and incestuous relationship. Omawumi brought to the national consciousness the plight of the most vulnerable.
If I Start To Talk – Tiwa Savage
Before the release of an accompanying video that suggested marital abuse and indicated personal battles for Tiwa Savage last year, the original song stood out on her sophomore album R.E.D as a light-weight Afrowave number about leaving the past unsaid because there’s too much pain buried within to do otherwise.
Overseas
Hey Girl (feat. Florence Welch) – Lady Gaga
If you have ever wondered if there is a song about women supporting women that doesn’t sound like an obvious pseudo-feminist propaganda, you should listen to Lady Gaga and Florence Welch’s duet on this chord light track off Gaga’s sixth studio album Joanne.
Patience – RayBLK
BBC’s Sound Of 2017, Ray BLK brings her stylised hip-hop and soul to self reflect on “Patience”. In a world of glossy contracts and the gold rush for fame, Ray BLK will sit on the outside of it all and leave the rat race for those willing to sell their soul because “slow and steady wins the race”.
Player Dave’s clever layering of the piano over disjointed ambient sounds of raindrops and birds chirping sets the tone for this new potential fave that listens like a grey beach day.
Aylo and AZiff reveal their fear of revealing too much at once and wasted love. The aptly named short “Still” follows the minimalist trend Aylo set in his debut EP Honest Conversations in 2016.
Aylo is following the success of his Billboard-charting collaboration with Odunsi on “Situationships” and his debut full length projcet, “Honest Conversations” released last year. The rapper has featured on Benny Que’s “Fall Beneath” and Genio Bambino’s “Soul”. “Still” is his first official single for the year.
Dare Olaitan’s debut film “Ojukokoro” is expected to be released for public screening in cinemas from the 17th of March but it already got it’s first screening last year November at the African International Film Festival. The press finally got a look at the highly anticipate movie last night and we were left in a sorts of feels.
“Ojukokoro” details the experience of a day in the life of a drug cartel operation. Charles Etubiebi plays the role of the manager who convinced himself beyond any doubt that he had good reasons to steal from the drug cartel. The plot twists and turns, revealing different stereotypical criminals who all feel the same way about the money.
Dare Olaitan and producer, Olufemi Ogunsanwo took a detour from the conventional movie narrative with it’s voice-over narrative designed to make the plot feel like the juiciest gist you’ve ever heard.“Ojukokoro” is eccentric and the back and forth motion of the story gives the film thick layer soul sprinkled across the three major acts of the film.
“Ojukokoro” juggles its multiplex of influences and genre elements all through the movie’s run time with as few plot holes as possible. The film is supported by a strong script that cycled somewhere between action, comedy, crime and drama, tackling a range of subject matters rarely addressed in Nollywood. It’s the early days of the release and we’re rooting for “Ojukokoro” to smash box office records.
Watch this space for our upcoming review. In the mean time, watch the trailer for “Ojukokoro” here
Making it into heaven might top the list but while still on earth, money is one of the most powerful symbols and everyone’s working hard to get some.
Former South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni was the first South African black man to have his signature on the country’s banknotes, and seeing an African name embedded on the money was an inspiration to many South Africans. Given their history with apartheid, Tito is more or less an iconic figure to South Africans young and old.
Inspired by Tito’s success, South African Cassper Nyovest released a single named after the icon. On “Tito Mboweni”, Cassper moved on from just bragging about Bentleys and Gusheshes. Now he’s dealing in places where the money talks, and it’s reserved. Soon after its release, Tito himself made a crack on Twitter about not receiving royalties for being referenced on the single but Cassper tweeted soon after that he had gotten the past governor’s blessing to release the single.
“Tito Mboweni” is the lead single off his 3rd studio album titled Thuto set to be released in May 2017.
Last year, Nasty C came out of the obscurity of his 2015 entry to a continent-wide acclaim following the release of his debut album, Bad Hair. Earlier this year, Nasty teamed up with upcoming DJ, The Vinyl Kid on “NDA” his first post-album single. Late last night, he updated the release with an accompanying official video.
“NDA” is directed by Nani Chehore who shares some of the credits with Nasty C. Nasty C and The Vinyl Kid vibe out in the open fields looking cool as fuck. He raps about his new pussy and new money drenched in a red filter between shots of gold grillz, purple skies and mysterious models.
We’re seven episodes in and we need a hail mary of an episode to rescue OBFW from its inability to give us any multidimensional characters. Episode six ended with a cliffhanger that puts Onome (yet again) back in Charles’s orbit. It seems the perfect opportunity to humanize her and show that contrary to all the evidence we’ve seen so far, Charles can actually step up to the plate and act like a decent human being.
Or pigs will fly.
SPOILER ALERT
If you haven’t seen the episode you know what to do.
It’s morning after Onome’s dramatic appearance at Charles’s front door (let’s not forget she has only slept with him once and the second and third time they met, she threatened his job by giving him a bad review and then extorted him) but yeah, Charles is not the kind of guy to turn ANY woman away.
Onome definitely doesn’t seem like someone who got given a black eye and felt so terrified she ran to the random guy she had a one night stand with and proceeded to extort. Not one bit. Instead she’s all ‘flirty’ in bum shorts, tickling his nose with some thread and suggesting very strongly that she won’t mind if he tries to boink her. She then forms ‘I’m leaving’ and Charles predictably takes the bait and asks her to keep him company.
On the other end of town Jade has miraculously managed to tear Tunde away from his work long enough to go on a picnic date with her. Let the court note at this point that Oreka Godis has the most laid hurr in all the land. Tunde has news by the way, about work of course. Turns out the reason his startup has been taking so many hits is, his accountant and chief technicians have been siphoning valuable capital into their pockets. His ‘sexy’ assistant Tolu from the last episode was the one who found out, she ordered an independent audit and found the breach. At that point Tolu starts calling (again) and Jade has to seize Tolu’s phone to get him to focus on the date.
Knowing how wink-wink, nod-nod the show runners behind Our Best Friend’s Wedding have been about their plot twists, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that Tolu and Tunde have been boinking, or are boinking.
And Jesus, is everyone on this show except Charles and Promise Yoruba?
Charles and Onome on the other hand are bonding over their family histories. Turns out Charles can cook (+1) and was raised by a single mother (+1). All that is left to tip him firmly into ‘male feminist’ territory is a personal declaration that he respects women. Onome on the other hand cannot seem to relax cos her phone has been ringing non-stop. Our ‘good’ guy tries again to get Onome to open up about how she got her black eye and she asks him to give her one his secrets in exchange for her. It’s official folks, we’re back in high school.
It is actually great that Jade is finally moving on from Charles, because over in Tunde land all the conversations are adult, if a little corny. They’ve spread out the meal for their date and over red wine drunk in blasphemous plastic wine glasses, they get into the nasty about their body counts. Turns out Charles has racked up an impressive 37 women in his knacking career (though we suspect the numbers are a lot higher). Of those 37, he says he’s only dated 5 and only been in love with one, and by one he means Jade. Corny muthafucka.
Jade on the other hand says she’s only been with 12 men (the number is probably lower), dated 5 of that 12 (divide that by 3) and loved one (a.k.a. Charles). They get googley eyed at each other and a ‘moment’ passes between. Issa true love goyz.
Kemi on the other hand, Remember her? The sensible friend who exists to move the plot along? Yeah so they finally remembered her subplot about the absentee husband and they throw us a bone about him and his never ending trips. Still doesn’t say shit though.
Charles and Onome are trading secrets, and Mr good guy’s ‘secret’ is apparently that he bought a ring. Onome knows jack shit about him, how is that a secret? Appaz, Onome’s secret is that her boyfriend gave her the black eye. Charles (and I) were surprised that baby geh has a le boo and the money she hustled from him never comes up. Also this makes it three women with husbands and boyfriends that Charles has slept with. Charles WYD though?
Even worse, he’s actually supposed to meet up with Jade and Kemi for one of their reconnaissance meetings, and he’s ditching them to for this? Jade understandably is panicking that since the Friendzone boo and the ‘I’m too busy to have your time’ boo, Charles has started giving her the cold shoulder. Why wouldn’t he though, when he’s too busy using a battered girlfriend’s vulnerability to get box.
Yeah, Charles and Onome end the day with some good old casual sex.
And Promise, our show’s other plot device get an advancement of his own. Out of nowhere, Tega his drug dealer drops him a second package. You know what happens after that.
So A Rejoinder.
Where is Mama Charley? For someone who is dying, Charles seems not to care at all about his mother’s well being. We shouldn’t be too surprised though, from how Charles treats women on the show, he doesn’t really care about any woman.
I pity whoever eventually marries Charley. I pirry her.
Third, Thirteen minutes is less than a coffee break. Give us proper episode or don’t bother at RED TV.
The international art scene has been unfair in its representation of female artists over the years. Many have risen and sunk in obscurity, barely leaving evidence of their genius behind unlike the male counterparts who make up more than 90% artists on display in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The numbers even rank lower for female artists on display in The Louvre. In celebration of International Women’s Day, Nigerian filmmaker, Jenn Nkiru has created a short film for Tate Modern Gallery to showcase female contemporary artists and their work.
The clip also showcases artwork from Guerrilla Girls, a collective of anonymous female artists who have been working to expose sexual and racial discrimination in the art world. Since its inception in 1984, Guerrilla Girls began a poster campaign that targeted museums, dealers, curators, critics and artists who they felt were actively responsible for the discrimination minorities and female artists suffered. A few of their notable works, The Advantages Of Being A Woman Artist, Women In America Earn Only 2/3 Of What Men Do and a few other pieces prominently feature in the background while Zinzi Minott dances.
The soundtrack playing in the background is a cut from Sleater Kinney’s One Beat, a protest song very much like many songs from the all-girl indie rock band.
The first person shooter is a visual representation of reading a first person narrative story. Video gaming has come a long way since the days of arcade shooting on Tetris and the times of Contra because of the increase in attention to details. The improvements in graphics and story telling has lead to the birth of a new genre of video games that centers on a gun and projectile weapon-based combat through the eyes of the protagonist. It increases the involvement of the player in the game and makes the experience even more breath taking.
Over the years, the commercial appeal of the first person shooter narrative has heightened with the success of games like Halo and The Weeknd’s video for “False Alarm”. Here are some of the first person shooter games from 2017 that everyone is looking forward to.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands/ PC, PS4, X box One
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands was released on the 7th of March this year. Its a first person shooter game that gives Ubisoft Paris it’s first open world tactical shooter video. It is the tenth installment in the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon franchise and is the first Ghost Recon game to feature an open world environment. The open world idea heightens the core concept of the first person narrative’s freedom to roam. The open world means players are more involved in the movements of their characters and don’t just follow the games story line mindlessly.
Battalion 1944 The Final Sprint/ PC, PS4, X Box One
This game builds off the nostalgia of popular first person games from our childhood like COD and Medal of Honor. While a lot of people might want to see more futuristic weapons in games, the Bulkhead Interactive franchise are taking us back to the 2nd world war era. Asides from being historically accurate with the locations, they are also focusing on a multiplayer platform which means you get to relive your Medal of Honor days with friends over the net. The game is expected to be released by May 2017.
Escape From Tarkov/ PC
Its a wildly ambitious First person shooter game from Battlestate Games. Its based on surviving gun battle confrontations in a the Russian town of Tarkov. Escape from Tarkov is very engaging and promises an extensive attention on weapon accuracy and realism. Because the game leaves almost everything to the players discretion, there are all sorts of ways for your character to survive.
Residence Evil 7 Biohazard/ PC, PS 4, XBOX ONE
This is on our list because it’s in first person and you do actually shoot things but anyone who knows anything about the Residence evil franchise would tell you the draw of the game is more about the scare. Capcon took the path of first person shooter for Resident Evil 7 that came out 24th of January this year. Though the change has generated a lot of skepticism from the fans because it changes the vibe of the game and there is also the criticism that its copying The Walking Dead‘s game play, first person shooter does actually add to the trill of the scare. Its challenging as players take on the role of Ethan, a man whose search for his missing wife leads him to a derelict mansion, where he has to escape from the cannibalistic Baker family.
Strafe is an incredible looking faced paced, first person shooter inspired by a 1996 game with the same name. Its very violent and gory but the game is colorful enough to be fun because of how “relaxingly” low budget the graphic are. It is first game from newcomer game company, Pixel Titans. Strafeis a classic throw back to times when story lines weren’t so important for game play and it looks like they might just pull of a retro work of art with this game.
Star Wars Battlefront 2/ PC, PS4
The sequel to Star Wars Battlefront is expected to be released this year and fans of the Star Wars franchise can’t wait for them to redeem the errors from the first version of the game. The first installment from EA Dice and Electronic Arts lacked the first person and single player game play but Battlefront 2 promises to fix that with it’s first person shooter narrative. We are really looking forward to this new release considering they have all the lovable Star Wars franchise’s characters and in-game purchases.
Call of Duty 2017/ PC, PS4, X Box One
Because what’s a first person shooter list without the COD franchise. They have released a fresh mind blowing stories year after year and we can’t wait to see what the Activision franchise has in store for us this year. Most fans aren’t too happy about the futuristic direction the game is taking with it’s Infinite Warfare universe but over the years we’ve learnt never to write off Call of Duty. Their first person shooter has a cult following very few games can rival. Call of Duty is expected for release and the tail end of the year
Seyi Shay, former British band girl and current ascendant to Nigeria’s Pop Queen throne has struggled to settle into a sound. Her debut album Seyi Vs Shay saw her fully explore the range of afrobeat, afro-pop and island inspired genres with mixed results. Her biggest hits on the album were collaborations with more visible male artists and many have wondered if Seyi Shay can really hold her own with help.
Her new song, an unexpected collaboration since she’s been on hiatus since the end of the Seyi Vs Shay era is for the South African production of MTV’s iteration of the phenomenally successful British teen drama ‘Skins’, MTV Shuga. The team behind MTV Shuga commission a soundtrack of original songs for the show each season and releases the soundtrack as a compilation album. Past albums have included work by Banky W, Tiwa Savage, Iyanya and P-Square so Seyi is in good company.
‘Down South’ is the lead single from the OST for the South African production and South African rappers Nasty-C and Ma-E offer superior verses in line with the theme of the show. But Seyi Shay is the real surprise on “Down South” with a rapid fire trap delivery that immediately will draw comparisons with nu-soul acts like Tinashe and Jhene Aiko.
Is this the new era of Seyi Shay? If it is, we ain’t mad.
