Reekado Banks Off the Record EP Review
The world is never balanced, that is why there is more water on the earth surface than soil. That is why the music industry in Nigeria are calling for more people to invest in upcoming artist. While already blown artist disrespect those artist who get invested in. Reekado Banks is one of those artiste who have been disrespected because he got supported and made big by one of Nigeria’s biggest music investors. Although he has since been an independent artiste, other artiste in industry still see him as a musician who got everything on a platter of gold. They underrate and disrespect his craft even though he has been proving himself over and over again. Off the Record is a project that highlights his prowess and gravity in terms of featured stars. He is building something good and his sound is interesting. We at cillacritic are looking forward to his future projects.
POSSIBLE HITS AND FLOPS
Off the Records EP is Reekado Banks’ first major project since departing Mavin Records which was his mother label. Although the tracks on the album are relatively good, it must be known that the already released singles in the playlist are way better than the new songs in the project. “Rora” and “Need more” are club bangers and may not make the EP feel new because they have already been heard. But songs like “People Dey” will be appreciated by many. It could even become a major hit if listened to by the right persons.
THE THEME
The songs on the album do not have a defined lyrical theme but draws its topics from different social ideas in the Nigerian society. For example in the song which he titles: “Happy Yourself”, he sings about being happy and feeling alright even in bad situation. According to him, nobody knows tomorrow hence everyone should believe and always hope for the best in the future. He sheds a little light on police brutality when he uses the line: Olopa nor dey jigger me”(meaning: Police do not harass me).
Addressing people who have some social issues like trying to teach others how to live their lives, Reekado makes a song titled: “You dey mad”. You dey mad is a Nigerian street slang meaning: You are mad. Reekado uses the song to tell these set of people who feel too much about themselves that they want to teach him how to live his life-that they are mad. He also highlight individuals who always call his phone when they hear that he just got new pay check. According to him they that have not been able to make a naira want to teach him how to make use of the millions he has made.
“People Dey” is a song which he uses to discuss about haters and how they gossip and hate for nothing. He creates this song with the help of “Mr Eazi” and they spoke their mind. Reekado highlights that many people have always wanted to bring and talk him down. But claims that these set of human forget that he is always putting in hard work hence he cannot go down. According to Mr Eazi, he had issues with a lot of OAPs and Event managers when he was upcoming. He also claims that many of them refused to promote him because they said he was stubborn. But finishes off by claiming that he will remain happy and live his life because there are always going to be double faced people in life.
Working with former co-label mate Tiwa Savage, they made a love song titled: “Speak to me”. The song has Reekado tell his lover to speak and stay with because he is ready to stay with him. According to him the other ladies in his life are all scam and are not serious lovers of his. In same vain Tiwa sings to her lover and tells him to speak to her because she was ready to stay with him. He also tells him to forget about the men flocking around her because they are not her type.
In summary the songs on the EP are relatively good. Although the best songs are already released as singles, there are a least two song which could become hit songs.
Reekado Banks Off the Record EP Review
