Author: Oluwakorede Ogunleye

Olawale Ashimi better known as Brymo released his sixth studio album on 27th of March, 2018. ‘Oso’ is a follow up after work after of album. Brymo has proven over the past half-decade as an album artiste and most of his works have been packed with powerful messages. In an interview with PulseTv, he describes his music as afro fusion which is packed with different genres and he deeply paints his sound as alternative with elements of Rock.
Just like all his previous albums, Oso album is a piece its own unique theme. Oso is based largely on research and it is the first album by Brymo to be mainly created on Piano. It is recorded in English, Pidgin English and Yoruba language. Oso (Wizardry) sets to be deeply satirical with a blend of love issues. Every track on the album has been written by Brymo himself with no collaboration. More importantly, Oso shares similar tracklist arrangement with his last four studio album which is the 11 tracklist style. He probably considers the number 11 as his lucky number. A die-hard fan will love to ask him about this format.

‘No be me’ is one of the tracks with hard core truth concerning political dispensation in our present society. He stands as an intermediary and message bearer of truth. His message points to every member of the society and admonishes individuals to stop putting the blame on each other.
‘Mama’ may not be the best ‘Mama titled song’ in Nigeria and it may seem quite surprising that it is the shortest track on the album. This particular track has been the most complex track on the album because Brymo seems to address different things as Mama. The word ‘Mama’ on this track serves as a symbolism to different spheres of life. It seems the track has been intentionally made short to make listeners fill the puzzle.
The titled track ’Patience and Goodluck’ may prove a little sense of humour at first sight relation to the former president and his wife but reverse is the content of the song;
‘Some people know say the drug for sorrow na attitude’.
He asserts that patience is key and the way to goodlife.
Some of Brymo songs go beyond literary meaning. He does not use much of English vocabulary but his mix of words can make some of his songs sound a bit complex for ordinary music listeners. He is sincerely one of Nigerian music act to possess context prowess and vocal dexterity.
‘God is  in your mind’ sounds controversial but the idea behind the song is the existence of God in the lives of mankind.
In few days, ‘Heya’ has been able to move to the height of being the lead single off the album after releasing a visual  portraying a cave man playing the Piano. It depicts a message of humans living in a modern life with shallow thought.

‘Olumo’ and ‘Olanrewaju’ serves as an appraisal to one of Nigerian’s greatest monument, ‘Olumo’ and the growth of a child to adulthood respectively.
‘Ba nuso’ is the last track on the album and it is undoubtly one of the best tracks on the album. This will be a good song to play for a Yoruba parent. It is plainly in Yoruba language and it translated into ‘Keep opinion to thy self’. The music sounds more indigenous than the previous tracks. It further has minor qualities of high life sound with simple chorus and irresistible chant.

Brymo has been one of the criticised artistes in the Nigerian music industry over the years and this has not reduced his credibility as a great song writer. Some of his works is still been referred to as classics.
The only setback in the album is the complexity of some of the tracks because some listeners may find it difficult to crack some of the literary devices used. The album would have been a complete work if it could be made more relatable.
With all the assessment and criticism, the album has 7.4 out of 10

By Ogunleye Oluwakorede

About Me  

Ogunleye Oluwakorede writes majorly on entertainment, history and
socio-economic matters. He has previously released works like album reviews and
content information. He is also a music critic and analyst particularly on
Nigerian music entertainment.

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Instagram: omo_baba_ogunleye

Snapchat: horluwakorex

Twitter: horluwakorex_

Whatsapp: 08144651530

 

Major media outlets have not been able to tackle the few setbacks of the Nigeria Hip hop. Some just focus more on the good music these Artiste produce but the question we should mainly ask about the Nigerian Hip hop is; do we still have talented and real Hip hop artiste in this country?
Growing Hip hop artistes blame fans for their change from Hip hop sound but I have personally seen this excuse as a messy and silly one. Things have gone so wrong that fans can’t see any difference between Hip hop and other music genre. No Artiste can force a particular fan base to adapt to one’s music style but you can make listeners love your music just for the passion you put in your work. Building a fan base does not just happen within a short time except one goes through dubious ways. It requires hard work, commitment and diligence to develop this. Artiste should learn how to leverage more on the few fans they are building so as to expand further to other fans who may find little interest in their music.
Hip hop genre basically has not been a music from the African tradition even though it still has little element of African music and it may seem difficult to imbibe in average African’s heart. I can clearly relate this to the inception of the English men in some African nations. The English language has never been a culture of the African community but the English were able to imbibe a foreign culture into the minds of individuals by also adapting to a tradition that is not theirs. This phenomenon was a slow and gradual and it has become something that may be impossible to expunge in some African nations. In relation to this short example cited, Hip hop should be a culture that listeners love and it is not with compulsion but it should be something that runs in a society’s life activity. Hip hop is predominantly more than a genre but a culture. It applies to different spheres of a society’s life. You cannot lure teenagers in your song about drug addiction and smoking in an African community like Nigeria and expect individuals particularly adults to love your music. One of the main reasons for Nigerian Hip hop stagnation is that few Hip hop artistes have not been able to crack the minds of the majority listeners and give out what these listeners want to hear. Importantly, there has not been a unanimous opinion on what Nigerian listeners are interested in.
SHOUT OUT!! To M.I for the wakeup call directed towards all rappers in the country. It has come to my observation that we rarely have quality rap album in the last years. It is high time one made things clear: so many rapper are not able to uphold the Hip hop culture. Every artiste wants to be complimented but very few Artistes shy away from critics.
Most genre of music in the world never got its popularity with ease. Hip hop made its emergence in the lives of the Black-American boys in the 70’s but it became a mainstream music in the mid and late 90’s.This is more than 20 years of commitment and these guys were doing this for the culture. Also, the RnB genre started immensely between the 60’s & 70’s. It went through series of evolution ranging from soul, funk, disco but the genre became more impactful in the 80’s. Relating this scenario back to Nigeria, Hip hop also started from the streets of Lagos in the early 2000’s with young boys showing their Emcee skills and it has been nearly 18 years and we are still waiting for something massive to happen. My attention was drawn to a particular line M.I gave in his ‘’You Rapper should fix up your life’’ single: /Once you blow up you switching up/ That’s why these fans are not feeling y’all/. There is more to this line than just rhyme or literary application. It is so evident that most rappers are majorly interested in the bars (money) and not the bar (music) and this has shifted them from the initial motive. There is no doubt that the media outlet produce young and talented rappers and we have seen it in some cyphers, internet short videos and many more but how can these talented Artistes be promoted? There has been no Hip hop record label that has been able to spend at least more than 10 years making good music and signing talented rappers. We are majorly familiar with labels of other genre of music and there has been limited promotion for young rappers. The lack of all these is enough for an Artiste to switch sound.
It has become so evident that most top Hip hop artistes have not been able to collectively pass a legacy to younger generation of talented Hip hop stars. You don’t encourage younger generations by just releasing your own hit records or freestyle session. You sit some of these guys down speaking the hard core truth about Hip hop and most of all, encouraging them by having few studio sessions.
The question of ‘’who to blame?’’ is not of necessity. In my view, the media, fans, artiste any other related music consumer can try pushing a music genre like this by offering the best and upholding the truth and fact. The media should learn how to correct flaws constructively and compliment great works. All these, particularly, compliments are what inspires an Artiste to get better. The music industry should get to a stage of maturity whereby most artistes will show realness. Those who built the music industry we enjoy today gave their best through hard work and endurance and that is what makes an icon. Rapper should not only fix up their live, they should also fix up young Hip hop stars.