Nigerian Rap music has grown steadily over the last twenty years reaching its peak in the hands of Chocolate city and YBNL records between 2008 and 2015. However in recent years, there has been a lot of retrogression in the Rap game in Nigeria because of the home grown sound which are Afrobeats and Afropop. Falz has been holding it down for Nigerian Rap because he is the only Rapper who Nigerians really take serious. The music lovers in Nigeria take him serious because of his morality songs but when you speak to Nigerian Music lovers in Nigeria, they still have reservations about his music. I could attribute this reservations to his voice. Falz does not really sound like a Rapper but more of an orator or poet who just had to talk his rhymes with a Beat. That notwithstanding, he has been a good ambassador of Rap music making good music with good messages in his records. Bad Boy Blaq EP is an album which could be a game changer for Nigerian Rap if the right ears listen to it. Unlike Falz, the Rapper who made this album sound like a rapper having a bold deep voice which a real rap lover could immediately fall in love with.
For some months now cillacritic has been looking for a Rap artist who has export potentials. YCEE, the omo Alhaji has been a good one but his single but his biggest single was not a Rap music but a very interesting song which he feature Maleek Berry. His second biggest single is “Jagaban” which actually blew the internet but the lack of real consolidation with new songs has made his effect remain dormant. Another name worthy to mention is Dremo who is signed to the DMW records headed by Afrobeat/pop heavy weight Davido. The problem with Dremo is that he has so many singing artist around him hence they influence his rap game. Just like water to any acid, they tend to dilute his acidified flows. Rap music is all about the people you train with and when you mix too much with singers there is always the possibility to be diluted. I just feel that he could become better if he moved from a singing record label to a rap record label.
In the past week, I got notified by www.naijatoxic.com about the extended play album released by Akumefule Emeka aka BlaqBonez. I downloaded and listened to the album and I was really impressed by his sound. Over the years, Rap music has thrived by good story telling and the ability to tell the world the stories of your life in good poetry. BlaqBonez seems to really understand this logic and he really got me glued to my ofia headset with his story. Listening to “Good Boy”, I was smiling while nodding my head to the Afrobeat sound. He flowed his Rap in some of the most hilarious lyrics and vocal style. One major feature of the song “Good Boy” is the off the hook chorus that could stick to the mind of a person who listens to it the first time.
Another song that got me loving his Afrobeat-Hiphop fusion is the poetry he vomited in the Remix of “Mamiwota”. The Afrobeats used in this song is not just groovy but when mixed with his Rhymes made rapping with Afrobeat seem easy. Featuring Vector and some other musician in this “Mamiwota” song, Bonez found a way to still spit the best set of rap in just 8 bars.
Nigerian music has been able to gain world recognition due to the ability to accept the hiphop culture from the west and that was well represented by the BlaqBonez with songs like “Bxtch”, “No Longer Stupid” and “Nikes”. Bxtch had Blaq go back to his comfort zone which is dissing. However he did it by emphasizing his message in clean lyrics without really hurting the emotions of the person who he was going after. In the song “No longer Stupid” Blaq went honest with his music citing arrogance and stupidity as the only reason why his carrier in the Music industry has been on a low. He agrees that he burnt the bridges that would have made him great with the arrogant attitude he had because he knew he was dope. Nikes had him pay tribute to the kit company using some lyrics which I did not really listen to but I really felt the Trap Beat. These songs underlines the fact that BlaqBones can thrive in the international music because he thrives in good stories, poetry and beat. He really knows how to fuse Afrobeat with Hiphop sound. He has the voice of a rapper and the lyrical strength to tell his few stories in some good bars.
