btw, does anyone have a handle on Omah Lay's popularity? Two months on, and he's still got four tracks of his EP among Naija's ten most-streamed songs. I mean, he's good, but so are many others: Why him? Is it that his music somehow fits the pandemic mood (see Mayorkun's quote)?
have a look:
1 = Mayorkun & Davido - Betty Butter2 = Omah Lay - Bad Influence3 = Rema - Woman4 = Adekunle Gold & Nailah Blackman - AG Baby5 = Omah Lay - Damn6 +2 Omah Lay - You7 = Rema - Ginger Me8 -2 Wizkid - Smile (feat. H.E.R.)9 = Burna Boy - Wonderful10 = Omah Lay - Lo Lo
or is this the way to look at it:
How many people saw Omah Lay? How many could predict that the boy from PH will carry so much of the conversation and plaudits on his shoulders? That’s why I never get involved with predicting who will blow. Nobody knows. No one has an idea. Keep working. Keep pushing.— Joey Akan (@JoeyAkan) June 23, 2020
gotta say tho, "Lo Lo" is very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYD2SQljwJo
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Thursday, 23 July 2020 20:17 (three years ago) link
haha i used that exact same tweet to express my confusion in an email to a friend...it feels like maybe one of those people's choice things...makes me wonder if he had some AMAZING song if it wouldn't be 8x as huge as his current stuff, that maybe its a personality/star appeal thing
― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Thursday, 23 July 2020 21:44 (three years ago) link
breastcrawl you seem to be confused about how to make it big in Nigeria, I suggest you grab a notebook and pay good attention:
I’ve hacked the Nigerian music industry 😤😤😤😤😤😤 pic.twitter.com/0AGuLZYkUc— Ditweni (@Ditweni) July 22, 2020
― Nabozo, Friday, 24 July 2020 20:11 (three years ago) link
There's a new Fireboy DML btw (Eli)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UqZINIOB70Not too many risks but I guess the exotic flute is a try
― Nabozo, Friday, 24 July 2020 20:24 (three years ago) link
lol sounds about right, nabozo xp
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Friday, 24 July 2020 20:51 (three years ago) link
d-40, my tweet comrade lol, I’m neutral on Omah L’s star appeal, but I’m thinking the persona plays a part, yes – and it must be mostly in the lyrics (I mean, he hasn’t done any shows or PAs due to the pandemic and his biggest song, “Bad Influence”, doesn’t even have a video). his lyrics are singled out in this profile too: https://www.okayafrica.com/omah-lay-nigeria-interview/
The starkness of the world he inhabits is a wonder and his lyrics are too. Phrases like "You dun burst my eyeglass" and "Omo she be SARS and she carry full van" are a cultural stamp, a burst out of the ordinary for listeners, many of whom now declare Omah Lay as "special."
this mostly eludes me as an outsider-listener, but what I can tell is that he also consistently portrays himself as a drinking, smoking bad boy who’s irresistible to girls in his songs (how novel!), being sexually quite explicit for Nigerian standards in the process, as far as I can tell.
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Friday, 24 July 2020 20:53 (three years ago) link
Not blown away by either of the post-album Fireboy singles.xxp
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Friday, 24 July 2020 20:56 (three years ago) link
digging the new fireboy. he hasn't even dropped album #2 yet, he reserves the right to continue working the formula for a minute
― mozzy star (voodoo chili), Friday, 24 July 2020 20:58 (three years ago) link
I think he's actually going for something new on both of these singles - and listening to "Eli" on headphones now I have to say I am quite digging this one.
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Friday, 24 July 2020 21:07 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E3_RF_NNFMMasauti "Kenyan Boy" - Inawauma
― Nabozo, Friday, 24 July 2020 21:15 (three years ago) link
That’s lovely! file under “SwaRnB” apparently
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Friday, 24 July 2020 21:50 (three years ago) link
brb searching for examples of Swamapiano and SwahEDM
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Friday, 24 July 2020 21:52 (three years ago) link
the fireboy single from a little bit ago "new york city girl" is one of my fav songs of the year... he's almost on his own wavelength. both of these new songs are pretty subdued which is interesting when you consider i.e. "jealous"
omah lay is pretty cool to me, it feels pretty contemporary american R&B to me. like he could do a song w/ 6lack pretty easily or something. it doesn't blow me away but he is really popping right now.
― J0rdan S., Friday, 24 July 2020 21:57 (three years ago) link
"eli" is excellent, can't stop playing it
― mozzy star (voodoo chili), Monday, 27 July 2020 23:39 (three years ago) link
Pulling all the right strings:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilRXM7h_oPgBwoiiDaas • Radar
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 28 July 2020 21:20 (three years ago) link
it had been quite a while, but here’s Patoranking showing he’s still got it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIKF16oagBYPatoranking • Abule(no small thanks to “Wonderful” producer Telz)
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Saturday, 1 August 2020 06:23 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT6aBynWDgEReminisce feat. Fireboy DML - Ogaranya
― Nabozo, Saturday, 1 August 2020 15:09 (three years ago) link
Sarz on the beat!
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Saturday, 1 August 2020 16:25 (three years ago) link
Follow-up to Yo Pe and it comes... close ?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLu6yW56ALgInnoss'B - Olandi
― Nabozo, Sunday, 2 August 2020 16:25 (three years ago) link
great track! can see this low key crossing over to Nigeria. Has a real Naijapop ca. 2014 vibe - Skales, “Show You The Money”...
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Sunday, 2 August 2020 16:54 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WekJRXIKbcoDj Tunez - Cool me Down (feat. Wizkid)
I love what Wizkid does on these recent tracks. Effortless magic.
― Nabozo, Sunday, 2 August 2020 17:30 (three years ago) link
that’s more or less how I described it on the Wizkid thread lol
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Sunday, 2 August 2020 17:32 (three years ago) link
Haha sorry I should have known, even if it makes sense to have them on both threads, sorryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1dNx8DschwJuls feat. Miraa May & Donae'o - Blessed. Good vibes, always interesting.
― Nabozo, Sunday, 2 August 2020 20:10 (three years ago) link
Very good song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDN5FjXqcMQBoybreed ft. Minz • Julie
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Monday, 3 August 2020 19:38 (three years ago) link
random thoughts on “Eli” - what a song!I like to think Fireboy wrote it about the girl in Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants”. There’s a synergy between these songs. The official video is out now. It’s kinda funny how director Clarence Peters* basically remade his video for “Pana” for this one.*Nigeria’s most famous video director, and, I didn’t know this, son of juju musician Shina Peters.
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Monday, 3 August 2020 20:43 (three years ago) link
I feel so microtargeted right now: a Turkish afropop track (from a Dutch-born guy to boot) featuring the actual Oxlade:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LQjWuGpuPQUmut Timur ft. Oxlade • Saralım (from my yet to materialize EUfrican Pop thread)
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 4 August 2020 10:23 (three years ago) link
You’re all invited to participate in this poll:
🇳🇬 NAIJA SPECIAL: which of these *seven* current high-profile Nigerian hit songs is the best one? please help me decide
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 4 August 2020 16:17 (three years ago) link
good and encouraging to see this kind of shit called out in/by the Nigerian music press:https://thenativemag.com/communities/general-public-might-cynical-simis-apology-lgbtq-community/
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 22:24 (three years ago) link
This is a jam:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgKwYrSzMokDJ Kaywise ft. Mayorkun, Naira Marley & Zlatan • What Type Of Dance
More good Tiwa:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKSfQqYTFRoTiwa Savage • Koroba
More faya from Fireboy:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQpD2EmoS_wCracker Mallo ft. Fireboy DML • Wickedest Wyne
Even the new Peruzzi is good:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tev_ohOnEgPeruzzi • Lagbaja
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Saturday, 8 August 2020 17:56 (three years ago) link
Fireboy goes full afro&b:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsdopaqg85kFireboy DML • PassionVery excited for his second album Apollo, out next week (!)
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Wednesday, 12 August 2020 07:38 (three years ago) link
EUfrican Pop subthread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_vK-Z6bHLIYung Felix ft. Niniola • Pareke
Yung Felix is a Dutch producer, one of the biggest and the best in the game over here – I posted an NSG track produced by him on the UK Afro thread recently.
(track should have been at least twice as long obviously)
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Friday, 14 August 2020 07:41 (three years ago) link
I am finally getting around to checking out the full Reniss album, Nzo, and it's really good. Would especially recommend it to curmudgeon if he's reading this.
― rob, Friday, 14 August 2020 13:46 (three years ago) link
well now:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYiUHMF7upYDJ Tunez ft. Wizkid, Adekunle Gold & Omah Lay • Pami I mean...
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Saturday, 15 August 2020 09:14 (three years ago) link
lovely guitar, and yes, I’m saying it: not enough Omah Lay
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Saturday, 15 August 2020 09:17 (three years ago) link
xp
thanks for the Reniss reminder, rob. I should revisit.
happy to see there is now a video for "Nyama Nyama":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC314NX9MvE
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Saturday, 15 August 2020 09:25 (three years ago) link
Ghanaian alkayida/dancehall banger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OCwQYYOAQsStonebwoy • Putuu Freestyle (Pray)
(they sped it up and danced to it)
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Saturday, 15 August 2020 10:16 (three years ago) link
Bosom P-Yung, Kweku Smoke - Krakye Geng
A drill-inflected sound right here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oTITj6SBAg
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Wednesday, 19 August 2020 21:42 (three years ago) link
Surprised that people upthread are cool on Omah Lay, I love love love "Bad Influence". It sort of... hovers... mysteriously. Love how he kinda swells up on "'Cos the doctor said I burst my liver".
― Tim F, Thursday, 20 August 2020 01:19 (three years ago) link
Yeah, I found his success mystifying for the longest time, but as I hinted at when I posted DJ Tunez’s “Pami” last week, I’ve really started to come around on him. “Bad Influence”, “Damn” and “Lo Lo” are all great. (the guy makes it very clear he’s a cigar smoker tho, how do I even begin to deal with that?)
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Thursday, 20 August 2020 06:40 (three years ago) link
new fireboy album, gonna check later today
― 3:10 to yur mom (voodoo chili), Thursday, 20 August 2020 15:23 (three years ago) link
feels very much like a mainstream play, still some jams, especially in the second half, thinking “afar,” “shadé,” “go away”
― 3:10 to yur mom (voodoo chili), Friday, 21 August 2020 00:08 (three years ago) link
So yeah, Apollo… I went from ‘this is a fun, but extremely bumpy ride’ (‘whoa, did he really go there?’ ‘bagpipes?’ ‘are you Naija Derülo?’) the first time around to ‘boy, he’s really really really indulging his corny/sappy side here, huh?’ the second time. Listening again today, no way is it the near-perfect afropop album LT&G was, but I’m really enjoying it for the most part, even if the sequencing is a mess. I also think I can safely say this is not for everyone here tho.
My favourite tracks are the IamBeatz-produced “Lifestyle” and “Spell”, a super fun trio with Wande Coal and the ghost of MJ.“Champion” is his “Way Too Big”, “Remember Me” is cheesy as fuck but I like it, but “Dreamer” is definitely way too much of a... thing (if he survived the key change, the rock guitar here will be the death of rob, I’m afraid).
I don’t agree with voodoo chili’s “mainstream play” assessment, at least not in the sense that this is a calculated effort to cross over beyond Africa. Fireboy is a total pop kid at heart, I think he’s just being his musical self here, for better or for worse. This is from an interview from the beginning of this year:
What musicians actively influenced your music, growing up and now?Fireboy DML: Growing up, I listened to a lot of Celine Dion. Elton John helped me discover myself, there’s this song by him “Sacrifice”, that I consider the greatest song ever made. My dad was always playing Celine Dion and my mum always played Yinka Ayefele and Tope Alabi. Those influences made me realise how beautiful music is. But it transcended into people that really started influencing my sound, and they are just three people: Passenger, Wande Coal, and Jon Bellion.
Just listened to Jon Bellion’s biggest hit, “All Time Low”, and it makes total sense in the context of this album.
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 25 August 2020 21:17 (three years ago) link
‘boy, he’s really really really indulging his corny/sappy side here, huh?’
yeah, this was my issue, but i think the real issue is that most of these songs are stacked up in the first half of the project (champion, favorite song, dreamer). the back half is more my speed, tho i do like that wande coal collab and even champion a bit
I don’t agree with voodoo chili’s “mainstream play” assessment, at least not in the sense that this is a calculated effort to cross over beyond Africa. Fireboy is a total pop kid at heart, I think he’s just being his musical self here, for better or for worse
lol this is very possible. i wasn't really thinking that it was a cynical or calculated crossover attempt, more that he was tapping into a more 'global pop' sound than leaning into the naija of it all.
― whiney on the moon (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 25 August 2020 21:33 (three years ago) link
yeah, he definitely doesn’t feel bound by Naijapop genre restrictions any longer. I think his success has freed him in a sense, he’s in uncharted (no pun intended I think?) waters here, as a lot of these major Afropop artists now are. I think it’s partly as a result of this that these big new albums are throwing me for a loop (looking at the Burna in particular), but it’s fascinating to witness. one thing I really really love in all this tho is how all these artists continue to work with local producers (even when moving away from Afropop in the narrow sense like Fireboy is doing). everyone seems very much aware that together they’re the best ticket in town (this also goes for the Adekunle album and, by the looks of it, the imminent Tiwa).
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 25 August 2020 22:17 (three years ago) link
fun fact: Tiwa has a track with Sam Smith, who also had one with Burna.
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 25 August 2020 22:22 (three years ago) link
*has* one
The new Adekunle Gold album, Afro Pop, Vol. 1, is a much more straightforward and concise affair (just 29 minutes against Fireboy and Burna’s 50). It’s mostly good (altho the lyrics can be a bit clunky at times), but it doesn’t make good on the promise of those great singles he released from “Kelegbe Megbe” onwards. “Okay” is the clear highlight of the new tracks.
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Wednesday, 26 August 2020 19:57 (three years ago) link
I’ve been converted. I’m on team afropop-beats-dance now.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2020 21:13 (three years ago) link
the fireboy album is a really really good pop/r&b album even if its not as distinctively west african as a lot of pop from there is. if his album last year was even better i'll have to check it out
― ufo, Thursday, 27 August 2020 10:05 (three years ago) link
Fireboy DML has cited Jon Bellion, Passenger and Wande Coal as his key contemporary influences.[3]
this is a really ridiculous combination lmao
― ufo, Thursday, 27 August 2020 10:06 (three years ago) link