here comes the AFRICAN GIANT / Burna Boy (2019)

*thought he might be mentioning 'piano' tho, but no: no dey sweet, I be Alomo Bitters

yooo that bangs

nice one!

there's a video now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKv5CBr-kKo

this is such a great style for him, really thrilled by this

yah i think i like this more than anything off his last album.

video pays homage to some classic busta rhymes videos.

yah i think i like this more than anything off his last album.

I hadn't quite had that thought yet, but I think you're otm

I also just noticed this only 2:16, which is why I'm like "wha?" every time it ends

i liked twice as tall on the whole but yah this is in a different zone

funny tho my fav song off that album was also about ~2:15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny4curtenuk

ftr “KIlometre” is an extra 17 secs on streaming

this is so so def. hope the next album will be called Grammy Off My Chest and will sound accordingly, like “Kilometre” does

extremely pleased to wake up with this in my head. I've never felt so good about the metric system

...and British spelling!

"Question" with Don Jazzy is really nice. Not a banger like Kilometre, but some sly production moves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rOer3k2DWg

had been feeling like he was spinning his wheels a bit but this is wonderful

yeah I'm liking it even more on second listen (though dammit I forgot about the annoying explosion in the middle of the video)

so good - https://open.spotify.com/album/6aWJgsbvVPQR2HgPztf4qe?si=IcKdQ1mXTC-7_3h4-9boRA

Fun, my wife is a fan of that Toni Braxton song. Really sounds like a hip hop production. Not a hit or anything, not his most inspired, but it's ok.

This is great! I'm hearing way more of the big backing chorus thing we've been getting this year in naija* than hip hop. It's probably too much of a groove to be a "hit" I suppose, though I couldn't care less about his chart success tbh if that's what you meant. For me it's all about how much I like luxuriating in his weapons-grade charisma at this point, real "he could read the phone book" level of just loving his voice & presence. That's not to undersell this: Chopstix's production is excellent with an attention to detail that reminds me of London's work on the Rema

* and in fact that is Asake on backing vocals I just saw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=421w1j87fEM

Burna Boy Last Last official video out too.

this is great

19 song album out july 1

Taking back part of what I said, I've warmed up to Last Last, I like the chilled inertia, urgency, focus

new one is out now!

Sounds really strong so far.

i'm very late to the party; saw him at Glstonbury and damn, he was great!

watched his show this past weekend, seconding that he was great

luxuriating in his weapons-grade charisma

^
yes, that's correct

this seems a fair bit better than the last one

Looking forward to listening to this in the afternoon. That's a lot of features !

This sounded great on first listen! will need a while to unpack but compared to TaT it's a triumph of consistency if nothing else

on hearing the first half this morning: very solid, if generally unspectacular sort-of-return to African Giant (hi there Kel-P!)

on hearing the second half just now after work: most of these crossover tracks are underwhelming (including the Popcaan one). the Balvin one works thanks to its solid, if unspectacular sort-of-return to the “On The Low” beat (hi there… Skread?)

apart from the two killer singles, (the) keepers on first listen are “Science”, “It’s Plenty” (very Sound of 2022), “Jagele” (with Burna sliding into his higher register) and “Different Size” (with naijapiano’s secret vocal weapon Victony)

wanted to get this perhaps premature (re)view on the ILM record after my almost complete no show here regarding TaT, which remained a musically traumatic experience no matter how many chances I gave it (although I did ultimately realize that “Onyeka (Baby)” at least is a pearl)

yes very excited about the return of kel-p. i was a little nervous after hearing the first track, which is a hodgepodge, but the rest is pretty great! even the ed sheeran track is fine.

i'll second "science" as an instant fav, with "whiskey" and "vanilla" joining as my initial non-single highlights

Kel-P tangent: had never this track from 2020 before - it’s superb:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzRFoo2WlQ4
Jujuboy Star • I Dey There

i like this a lot. african giant feels increasingly like one of the monumental albums of the last 10 years to me so i hesitate to compare anything else he does to that, it's prob not fair, that was just a lightning strike moment in a few ways. but this does feel like it leans more in that direction -- both in quality & style -- than twice as tall.

i actually like some of the collaborations? there's a bit of a karaoke feel to them, like the blxst song sounds exactly like a blxst song. the ed sheeran one is very much in the vein of his pop singles. but idk, i dig them. burna is just such a compelling vocalist... i love hearing him over the misty soft rock of the sheeran collab. i think the blxst one finds a throughline between their respective sounds even if the songwriting sorta transparently leans in blxst's direction. i also like the j balvin one, he coaxes a tenderness out of balvin that i love but hasn't been present in a lot of his recent music. the khalid one is way too mawkish i'd trash that one & the popcaan one isn't bad but feels forgettable. as a brief diversion into western radio music i enjoy that section of the album... they might even be a bit better than the future & YG tracks on african giant

I need to listen more but my undercooked & vague reaction was it reminded me a bit of Made In Lagos in terms of being extremely smooooth. I do wish the Popcaan feature has instead been the (apparently mythical) Koffee collaboration instead

And totally agree on African Giant being monumental. I don't want to think about this too hard, but it could be my favorite pop album of the 10s

and oh yeah, the Khalid song was the only one I earmarked for future skipping: drowned in syrup

produced and co-written by Jon Bellion, who Fireboy DML declared himself a fanboy of in his Apollo says. he must be so jealous (…) right now.

*days

I really like this too, buuuuuut Davido 1 - Burna 0 when it comes to Popcaan collabs. It’s not bad, just not risky enough.

I see what you did there

I’m realizing that i like “science” so much because it feels like a sequel to “anybody,” forever my fav burna song

didnt really enjoy this, maybe being too hard on it, but it kinda just sloshed around for me. loved the big acoustic guitar ballad thing though

He clearly went for feeling and a less expansive sound. It's all very pleasant and competent but he struggles to bring new things. For an afrobeats album it's very good, for a Burna Boy album it's lacking. By little at first, quite severely after. I may like 'Jagele' best, without being really impressed.

it's not as strong as african giant but again, it's a big improvement over twice as tall

nice & breezy, hope he scores some crossover hits from this, as he's clearly aiming for

somehow making guest appearances on afrobeats singles does wonders for sheeran, "for my hand" here and fireboy dml's "peru" are the best he's ever sounded

very much agree. Sheeran is unbearable to me most times (smug, uninspired but oh so highly effective stuff like “Bad Habits” can feel like the Worst Music Ever on a bad day), but the first thing I liked of his was “Shape Of You”, in the shape of its Legendury Beatz (afropop) remix.
part of it is smart marketing I’m sure, but he clearly loves African pop: he joined Fuse ODG in Twi on his “Boa Me” single in 2017 and also did a highlife-inspired track with him on his own album. he also had an official amapiano remix of “Bad Habits” (!) made by Kooldrink (of Tyla’s “Getting Late” fame). and yes, his feature on “Peru” is my favourite thing he ever did.

“Last Last” is shaping up to be Burna’s biggest hit btw, it’s currently at 12 in the UK and is doing well in several European countries, but also in places like New Zealand and Canada. the fact that it’s the biggest song in South Africa is also quite exceptional.

def one of the best songs on the project

i like this fine, its... pleasant. but im not finding it particularly dynamic. i think i like twice as tall more but prob too early to declare.

common person is the one i keep going back to, quite moving

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0SREUni2V8

Joey Akan is pretty harsh