WIZKID ONLY SINGS FOR HIS FANS!
Oh shut your trap Alaye! — and ‘Alaye’ is not gender sensitive.
I didn’t become a big Wizkid fan until about six months ago. There is just something about his new sounds that gets me brrrrrrr jigbi-jigbi. What intrigues me the most however is how people who used to be really great fans or ‘stans’ have complained about what his music is now, especially since the release of the ‘Sounds From The Otherside’ album — Talmbout how his music is losing its original flavor and now favoring international ears. You see, comments like this have a way of getting me started on new music. I’ve always liked Wizkid’s music though. Man clearly has mad talent and skill.
Then there’s the Wizkid-Davido argument that has endured for as long as these artistes have hit the airwaves. It’s almost like there’s an unwritten rule, that you can only think the world of one of them. Like it’s either or. O wrong nau. Life o le to yen. And I don’t think it should be a thing to critized having a rich father. I can’t even beef Cuppy. I’m trying to be a rich father myself, and I’m not doing it for the sake of my kids.
‘Sounds From the Other Side’ was the first Wizkid album I listened to end-to-end, and despite the popular disposition, I think that album had some really mad songs and vibes. I list ‘Come Closer’, ‘Picture Perfect’, ‘Sweet Love’, ‘Dirty Wine’, ‘Sexy’ ati bee bee lo. And no, this album was not just an experimentation or an attempt to grow an international fanbase, because these tracks don’t sound as foreign as people like to make them out to be. What is more ‘afro’ than the ‘Sexy’ or ‘Sweet Love’ tracks? Or the casual use of local similes and euphimisms?
I’ve always preferred album play to just singling out popular tracks. The most important reason is that they allow you enjoy the body of work and really get into the mind of the artiste. For instance, you can listen to Fireboy’s Champion and enjoy it as a song, or you can listen to it as part of the ‘APOLLO’ album and realize the subtle undertone of an artiste who has come to realize and appreciate his own talent; making a statement to whom it may concern, that he didn’t get ‘here’ by dumb luck. Lowkey, I even think the APOLLO means ‘ela oju kan’, like say somebody or some people dey vex am with yeye talk. Hn even publish am in capital letters. There’s Chike’s ‘Boo of the Booless’ which centers around unrequited love/love gone sour; perhaps his personal struggles with love and relationships. Sarz and Wurld’s ‘I LOVE GIRLS WITH TROBUL’ too. You can listen to MAD and absolutely love it but it bangs differently in a body of work with other tracks like SADE, TROBUL, SWEAT and FOCUS. There’s a story being told.
Another great reason to listen to albums or projects is that, they help appreciate the growth (or decline) of the artiste. Take ‘Train’ for example — The band. Listening to Train’s ‘Train’ album (1998), they sounded very Led Zeppelin-ish because their lead singer Pat Monahan used to be on the Rogues Gallery (a Led Zeppelin cover band), but as time passed, Train grew into its own sound, and by 2014, their ‘Bullet Proof Picasso’ album was absolutely nothing like their initial sounds. They had grown in their music and as individuals, and listening to every album in between these two would help you follow that growth.
Now, back to Wizkid.
Wizkid is not looking for new fans! Hold on, kamdan Alaye. Ma ni suuru. The thing about an artiste like Wizkid is that he is comfortably one of the greatest musicians of his generation has proven that time and again, over and beyond. His fanbase, successes and accolades also speak to that. Wahala for who wan dey argue with this o. The ‘Made In Lagos’ album was not written or made in such a way to attract new fans. It was not written with the sort of energy of ‘No worry, make I murder am so dem go feel me’ or ‘Dem must jam my music from here to Gwagwalada’, because let’s face it, they will jam the music to Gwagwalada nonetheless. For Wizkid, it’s largely an expression of more refined art (as defined by him) and a project for HIS FANS. It’s not an album to run through once and get pumped about. It’s an album for fans who will keep listening to it until they find the soul of the artiste wedged between the lines of lyrics, between the intervals of the notes. It is for those who vibe to Wizkid the artiste and not just Wizkid the music.
Made in Lagos (MIL) is not a hot album despite being on various charts right now. It is only expected that an album so anticiapted would be streamed a lot, which would of course turn into chart numbers. The real test of the greatness of an album is its shelf life. Four to five months after realease, where will the album be on the charts? I don’t think MIL would be doing those numbers by then except Baba begins to drop mehd videos. I guess in essence what I am saying is that Made In Lagos is not a great album except for those who will play it a third, a fourth, a ninth time. Those who would keep listening, for the love of Wizkid, might eventually realize how beautiful the piece of work is.
I think I saw a tweet some time ago where he mentioned that MIL would be the last album he drops under the name Wizkid. I have listened repeatedly to his projects recently, and it is evident that whatever name he eventually decides to move on with, he has truly become the ‘Soundman’.
If you’re yet to listen to his work on the 7-track 2019 project ‘Soundman Vol. 1’ released under the name StarBoy, I think you should. It is easily my best music project from a Nigerian in all of 2019. Every one of the seven tracks was an absolute miracle. If you love yourself some good music, you’re sure to fall in love with Wizkid, and when you’re satisfied with this, run through MIL a couple more times. I think you might find it is quite a time to be alive. My fear is he doesn’t get bored in his 40s.
The track ‘Reckless’ is an absolute malafurkin jam!
