What You Missed
Here's a roundup of the significant events in the Afrobeats space in the past few weeks while AfroDives seeks to partner with up-and-coming stars to hasten their visibility in the industry.
Reloaded!
It’s been a while since your favourite newsletter popped up in your mailbox and trust me, it’s not been easy fending off Nigeria’s challenges. I’m sure you’re coping with the situation of this country in your own way, for those of us on this side of the Sahara.
And a lot has happened in the music space since the previous AfroDives issue. Burna Boy, Fireboy, M.I, Omah Lay, Oladips & Brymo and BNXN (Buju) are among the notable artistes who dropped an album while numerous of their colleagues had singles up and running on airwaves. Although they may be too many to name at a go, one name stands tall - Asake!
Asake the Terminator
From Omo Ope, Sungba to Palazzo, Peace be unto you and Terminator, Asake has got the industry on lockdown and his form is simply unmatched. Even Don Jazzy admits the manner in which he has made the top spot his own. What makes the singer-born Ahmed Ololade all the more marvellous is how he has defied the competitiveness of the industry to score hit songs the way Cristiano Ronaldo does in Champions League matches.
Three things are sure in 2022 - death, taxes and an Asake hit.
Love, Rest, Damini
If Asake has made the year his own, then Burna can lay claim to have done that for 3-4 years now. The climax of that red-hotness came with the Grammy win in 2021 for Twice as Tall album but as soon as he got the gong, something in him switched. I argued some months back that his intensity, even quality of music to an extent, has not remained the same post-Grammy, and it is understandable. Love, Damini lacks the cohesion and overall sonic solidity that Twice as Tall has. By Burna’s standards, Love, Damini would not be in the top 3 of his discography. Notably, however, he embraces his Naija fanbase with tracks such as Last last, It’s Plenty, Whiskey, Common Person and Vanilla, while leaving pop culture trails along the way.
I expect it to get a Grammy nomination given the inclusive nature of the album. However, if it gets Burna another gramophone, it’ll be because of his established reputation as an African Grammy star, not necessarily because of an overwhelmingly brilliant body of work, unlike P Diddy-supervised Twice as Tall.
FirePlayboy
For the majority of Nigerian music fans who have been following Adedamola Adefolahan’s industry journey, few things stand out in his music: lyrical depth, poetry and thematic flow. For his kind of music, it’s obvious that he takes his time to put a track together. Despite this intentionality and musical brilliance across two albums, his greatest song yet didn’t come from those. It was something simple as ‘peru para.’
In several interviews, he expressed that he had doubts when he wanted to release the song as he felt it was shallow and needed to work more on it. It took the intervention of Olamide, his label boss, to drop the single. Ironically, the song has become his most successful yet. The masterstroke move to enlist Ed Sheeran made the song go global, announcing Fireboy on the world stage for those who hadn’t heard about the phenomenal Playboy.
Understandably, given the success of Peru which had a minimal effort from him, his energy level coming into his third album would not be the same. Hence, there were a number of freestyles like Havin’ fun and Afro highlife. The album overall is devoid of his Asa/Brymo-esque songwriting but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s an evolution of the artiste to Afro-pop and the hit criteria of the industry.
The Guy
Given the recent successes of younger rappers like Ladipoe and Blaqbonez, some felt that Gen Z music fans perceived M.I as a diss singer, saying the lyrical ferocity of the Jos-born artiste was a distant memory. If that was Mr Incredible’s motivation for ‘The Guy’, it did power the album well. The album was complete and had distinct themes and chronology. The first three tracks assert that he’s “a god, a king and a Pharaoh” while the four tracks that followed discussed the power of money, love and hedonism. The album rounds off in a conscious manner with the Jukun man opening up on the burdens and struggles of manhood. The album ends on a reunion note as ex-Choc. City boys, Jesse Jagz and IcePrince team up with their old mate.
The album is a solid one. Kudos to The Guy.
Honourable Mentions
Omay Lay again shows that his life is inseparable from his music and as such, it is easy to know his frame of mind through his songs. His melancholic temperament informs his struggles with the demands of being a music star. Did his international collaborations turn out well? That’s for you to answer.
The collabo repeté album of Oladips and Brymo is another achievement for the culture. One song, different vibes, separate guests. Again, I leave that to you to judge.
Partnering with AfroDives
On the backend, we have been getting proposals from branding and marketing outfits on helping to promote up-and-coming artistes. Does AfroDives do that?
Yes! We do! We’re here for the culture. As this community continues to grow, inevitably do its members. You can look forward to AfroDives powering the next generation of industry stars.
You saw it here first! And watch out for our social media handles.