After almost two years of waiting, Nigeria’s critically acclaimed“hip-hop messiah” M.I (Mr. Incredible) releases his Sophomore album MI2. MI 2 begins with a track titled “Announcements” which is more of ashort film that essentially re-introduces M.I to the world... The trackhas the right music film score and conjures up a theater feel with avoice-over asking all to switch off all “mobile” phones in the theater.The next track titled ‘Action Film’ continues with the short film but within seconds of introducing M.I, M.I hits the ground running getting into music action. “Left (x6), left, right, left, right, ha! ladies and gentlemen, I am back. . . came back to set a new standard,” raps M.I. Indeed.He does set the new standard and raises the bar for Nigeria/Africa’s music industry. Track 3 titled ‘Slow Down’ begins and you know MI is really seriously and “going in” as they say instreet slang terms when you are ready to dissect a song, job etc. MI2covers the gamete with diverse genres and does it so well. On track 3,M.I delivers a slow version of what sounds to me like a Sean Kingstonmeets Sean Paul Dancehall accent as he flirts with his love interest.Who knew MI could “toast (flirt)”, as Nigerians would say, in aNigerian-Jamaican accent. “Whaa gwan?”
Making sure no one confines him to the dancehall genre or confuse him to want to be a Rastafarian, M.I switches up his lyrical flow and beatsby taking on Nigeria’s traditional genre of music called ‘high-life.’This genre typically appeals to a more mature crowd but in recent timeshas produced hip-life music greats like Nigeria’s J-Martins and Timaya that appeal to both young and old. The track, Track 4 titled ‘Number One ft. Flavor’shows hip-hop can blend seamlessly with high-life. The sound isbeautiful M.I is clearly not leaving any fan behind: old, young,Nigerian or otherwise. Track 5 ‘Anybody’ is a return tothe short film concept sprinkled throughout the album. There is theflute and piano creating the right backdrop to showcase his lyricalprowess.
I feel like M.I anticipated I would spot the Timaya high-life influence. But in case I or anyone missed it, the next track, ‘Anybody’ explicitly features artist ‘Timaya’ on it. While I want the ‘Anybody’ title to geta bit more creative, I appreciate how M.I effortlessly shows that heresides among the best of the best in Nigeria/Africa’s hip-hop musicscene.
Picking up on I, guess my post telepathic communications, the next track is indeed a showcase of M.I alongside the best of the best inAfrica’s music scene, TuFace. M.I’s choice of title for the track ‘Nobody’ makesme wonder if he was also giving a nod to Nollywood (Nigeria’s filmindustry) with one liner titles that make it easy for the streetmarketers to easily pronounce? ‘Anybody’ and now, ‘Nobody?’ “Okay,” Ithink.
‘Nobody,’ however, illustrates and reminds me of the brilliant M.I I was introduced to, via his music, in 2008.
“Ask TuFace. It’s like toothpaste. Without your gist in their mouth, they get toothache,” he raps in his verses as TuFacesings the hook. “Just because say you no tie shoelace they carry yourgist around like a suitcase. Ask Omotola, ask Genevieve. The kind offalse things that people believe. If City people write, City people readuntil there is nothing real, all na weave. Ask Timaya, ask Wande Coal.They follow you bumper to bumper on a Sunday. . .” I am lovingM.I’s references to Nollywood and Music stars and explaining thechallenge of being a celebrity i.e. always in the lime light.
Taking gossip magazines on and also sharing the life of a celebrity in showbiz, M.I uses his next track ‘Beef’ to get out all the “hate” brought on, this time, from music industrypeople. ‘Beef’ for our non-rap listening audience is essentially havingissues or in Nigerian local dialect “wahala (problem)” with acolleague/persons in the industry. It is commonly used in rap music andis what rap wars are made of.
“See dem, see dem. They wanna beef me. Now that they see BET on my CV . . . my motto is do more talk less. Neverget mad at another man’s success,” raps M.I showing his frustration with those who envy his success and seek to sabotage him.“So when people tryna make sure I chop (eat) less, I say no be yourfault you are just jobless.” MI raps on a jazz beats and stays on pointwith the beat, rhymes and delivery. His next track stops “chewing thebeef” and again transitions into a short film titled ‘Wild Wild West.’
The track is okay but not a highlight for me. As if to sense he might lose the interest of his audience on that track, M.I returns with avery nice surprise wrapped in track 9′s ‘My Head My Belle.’ Notconceding the global music audience to only Western musicians, M.Ireferences heavy Spanish accentuation in his track. As I listen, Iappreciate the concise and clear thought process that went into makingan album with a diverse body of work for a audience.
In ‘My Head O, My Belle’ I also hear what sounds like a Nigerian influenced derivative work of Mexican-American singer, songwriter andguitarist Ritchie Valen’s ‘La Bamba’ song. M.I really turns the beat onits head and adds a much softer touch on the acoustic guitar soundsused. The track finishes with a skit from Nigerian singer Waje whosounds more like a Los Angeles Valley girl that any listener of NickiMinaj would relate to. The skit transitions to track 10, ‘One Naira ft.Waje.’ Naira is Nigeria’s currency.
On ‘One Naira,’ despite Waje’s strong vocals as a feature on the track, there is no confusion on whose album it is. M.I gives a poetictype performance reminding us a big part of rap is poetry. The track isabout relationships and loyalty. Loyalty “whether na one Naira, or 1million. Baby you got me,” loosely translated to mean whether you arerich or poor (one dollar vs one million dollars), you got me. I guesstrue love can be that loyal, right?
In any event, as I savor and focus on the lingering taste from ‘One Naira,’ M.I gives me another unexpected transition. While M.I hails fromJos, Northern Nigeria, he has not necessarily used his album to touchon socio-political/economic issues. In all fairness, the Jos crisis theworld came to know happened after the release of his Freshman Album‘Talk About It.” But, in MI2, it is a no holds bar. M.I delves intocorruption, poor education, Niger delta issue, shooting, looting,degrading of women and using women as sex objects, among other topics.
“When they gbongbonlo, u come dey gbangbanla. . . na so dey craze dey start.”
Don’t ask me what that means. It is just a catchy jibberish hook that says when you go crazy, I go crazier. The “gbongbonlo and gbangbala”give way to verses with deeper context and content that will most likelyimmediately connect with audiences whether they be in the ghettos ofCompton, Los Angeles or Ajegunle, Lagos. As I listen, I am sure thissong will be a big hit. I am mesmerized from the beginning to the end.
The transition into the next track in terms of the line up is, in my view, a bit off. From social issues M.I transitions to being the “Undisputed Champion.” Errr. . . didn’t see that coming. Nevertheless, the hook is simple, thelyrics are not trying too hard, he makes his point and moves on,quickly. The next song sort of attempts to do what his track ‘Jehovah’did in his first album. First, MI features an artist ‘Praise’ who soundsmore like John Legend. ‘Praise’ gives a powerful introduction, theinstruments are more of claps from a praise worship session in church.The lyrics are empowering and encourage listeners to be ‘Epic,’ to betrue to themselves, keep it real. The artist Praise really shines on thetrack, yet he does not steal the show from M.I. Praise hits the highoctaves and really delivers the message of empowerment on a high note.
Track 14 goes into the credit/acknowledgment section of the album and having people say one thing about him they don’t like. I have neverreally seen this done before. On the one hand it could be seen as a lackof self confidence. But, on the other hand, it would take a veryconfident person who is in tune with self to ask people to say what theydon’t like about him, record it and share it with the world. The peopleon the track revealed MI is “very absorbed,” “perfectionist to afault,” “bossy,” “bullies everyone,” “loves to win all the arguments,”“womanizes a lot,” “quite dirty, sometimes,” “very vindictive,” “farts alot,” “holds a grudge,” “very selfish” and “not punctual.” There were afew kind words like he gives a lot. Nevertheless, people really had alot to say and I thought to myself, “I guess M.I will be very immune totweets and facebook attacks for a long time to come?” In any event, Iwas unsure how to interpret this.
Where I was confused on the interpretation, Track 15 ‘Imperfection’ provided context. The whole idea that people act like they can’t makemistakes. But, they do. They are imperfect because they humans. For M.I,realizing that about himself, he calls on God ot help him out when heis imperfect. The son of a Preacher, he raps that he is not expectedtocurse, among other sinful acts, but he does. So I guess track 13essentially prepared us for track 15 where M.I reveals his imperfectionsand that he is human. He reveals money owed to debtors, anger, personalissues, all kinds of imperfection but concludes he is essentially madeperfect and at peace when he calls on God.
Track 16 finishes with a pledge to remain ‘Unstoppable’ in his music and life’s quest. The album wraps up with track 17 titled ‘Represent’which essentially is a shout out to to his record label Chocolate Cityand label mates: Ice Prince, Jesse Jagz and Brymo who all feature onMI2.
As I listen to the album again and the final exit MI makes, I am happy that the album has not been one of those “braggadacious” waste ofspace and yelling matches on who is the better rapper, a feature that isso common in rap and rap albums. There is so much substance, I not onlywelcome the seeming vanity on track 17 but think it is well deserved.It will give me a chance to really sit back and digest it all. In themeantime, all work and no play makes M.I a very dull boy. We don’t wantthat, not for a brilliant artist.
Album Rating: A-
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