The Urban Retro Playlist

There was now compere at the reception of the event, so I wasn't able to catch their name. I forgot to mention it was a traditional event, a Yoruba one to be precise so I'll leave you to imagine the vibes that was in the atmosphere. There were a number of Yoruba classics the band played but to my focus the current songs the covered. I'll briefly talk about the ones they did and some they should have done.

They Performed: 

Godwin: Arguable the biggest hit from last year in Nigeria performed originally by Korede Bello. The song is very elaborate, fitting the occasion, different members of the audience could easily dance to it Including the more conservative portion of the crowd a very nice pick by the band. The only problems were the instruments they used weren't in anyway similar to the original song and it was kinda off tempo.

Eleda Mi : Another big hit as expected by Olamide from 2014 also quiet elaborate. As the song in itself talks about prosperity and success somethings that is celebrated at that moment and would be a cause for more celebration. Perfect for the occasion again because it's in Yoruba , albeit on the slower side still a very good pick as the crowd could easily sing along to it 

Reggae Blues: Also one of the biggest songs from 2015 by originally Harry Songz featuring a Star studded group of artists. In my opinion I don't think it was the best song to perform, but what do I know. Though it got a decent amount of people to sing along and move around. It wasn't also the best for them to perform because after Olamides verse they attempted performing the next verse which they found pretty difficult and had to iterate the chorus severally. So I think was a bad pick.

Should Have Tried: 

Daddy Mi: Originally by Reminice featuring Davido. Firstly because it's Yoruba and it has that progressive up beat vibe which would fit the occasion. Also, because it's also about progression, projected success and things in harmony with the celebration of life and achievement.  

Iwaju: This is actually one of B-Red's bests songs though he sounded a lot like Davido in it. I think the song is pretty slept on any way I imagine it being easy and straight for to take on live. For it being congruous with the occasion the meaning of Iwaju in English is forward, so need I say more?

In conclusion, all in all it was a pretty decent performance and they did some good oldies just before I left and it seemed to getting even more lit at that time. By the way I took the photo from the event.

I've never actually done or snag at an actual karaoke setting, but I have a good idea of how it goes down. It's pretty much a sing along with whatever song comes up with the lyrics projected making you focus on the melody and pace of the song.

Anyway, I found out a while ago that there's a Karaoke bar somewhere in the island (Victoria Island, Lagos) so I began to wonder if they would actually play Nigerian songs a lot. Then I just came up with some songs I would like to do Karaoke to or would just fit the whole vibe.

Strong Thing - Banky W

Beautiful Onyinye - P-Square

Gongo Aso - 9ice

Fire On The Mountain - Asá 

Oleku - Ice Prince

Why Me - D'Banj

Lagos Party - Banky W

Right Now - Seyi Shay

Jungle Fever - Brymo

Olulufe - Wande Cole 

Olufunmi - Styl Plus

Safe - M.I

Jaiye Jaiye - Wiz Kid

Tonight - Burna Boy

I expected similar work to Sail Out, I mean the Juxtaposition is inevitable as she worked with a number of rappers on that project. I projected it would have a more urban hip hop, contemporary R&B vibe as opposed to her focusing on Soul like she did on Souled Out. Also, she seems to easily find/have chemistry with rappers, in fact I did a playlist with songs she worked with other rappers here.

In they project both parties were in relationships not necessarily entirely with each other. Through the project they went along the line of progressive, sensual, harmonic, border line up beat and laid back vibes amongst others that didn't mention. Frequently their choruses were in harmony (In the sense that it was congruous and they sang at the same time).

Specifically these two songs I immediately developed a penchant for 2Minute Warning and Talk Show.  Well 2 Minute Warning because of the way Big Sean took on the first verse, wooo it was just too lit I replayed the song a couple times just before it. Then Talk Show because of its theatrics, I could easily visualize the happenings from what they were saying. It was like one of those scenes from Black-ish ( It's a Tv show, it's really hilarious) where the Grandparents get into a disagreement and what not and a less angry version of Jerry Springer as well. Big Sean's verse was also A1 here, he was defending himself and his actions while rapping  and he used some really crazy entendres, metaphors and punch lines as the song progressed.
 In conclusion I'll say it's really good, obviously proper production work was done (the kick from Sail Out that I love so much were rampant) and if you enjoyed Sail Out you will probably enjoy this as well so I recommend you listen to it.

I believe they'll do what they think is best for them and even if things don't work out as planned they've been on one hell of a ride. I mean they've has so many successful tours all over the world, received multiple awards, collaborated with several foreign artists in Africa and the world in general and for a long period of time they dominated the air waves. So I just thought back and a couple of their songs came to mind, so I decided to make a playlist off the songs.

Busy Body

No One Like You

Beautiful Onyiye 

Do Me 

E No Easy

Collabo

More Than A Friend

Roll It

Get Squared

Unlimited

Chop My Money

The song of the day is All Fall Down by M.I featuring from his recently released mixtape Illegal Music 3 mixtape. It features Poe and it's currently my favorite song off the mixtape. The mixtape was good, like I really liked it. But, I think it could have been amazing. He should have used a little more effects, he used the deep voiced effect almost althrough. Notwithstanding it was really cool, especially the sample they were lit. He sampled several songs by Tay, Burna Boy, Beyoncé, Pusha T, Jay-Z and many more. It also maintained a similar direction message wise.

The song of the day is My People by Falz the Bahd Guy from one of my favorite 2015 albums Stories That Touch. I think he's really cool, conscious and actually address (not necessarily solves) issues that occur in the Nigerian society, like one of his previous songs that I talked about here.

If you've been in Nigeria, Lagos for the last 2 months you'll be able to relate to the songs message 

This last week precisely where both the Power holding and Fuel Companies decided to go on strike, I mean the main and alternative sources of power in the country. 

In the song he says; "... My people dey hustle like no wahala..." Even in between the difficulties people keep on moving and carry on their activities like nothing is wrong. They'll just find their way around it and to be candid that's one of the things I like about Nigerians.

Though this is not a bad mentality, but I think the problems we go through reoccur and we just use quick fix methods that would cause us problems later in the future rather than going to the fundamental cause of the problems. I can only hope that eventually we'll go down to the fundamentals, but at the moment we'll continue to find our way around the struggles. 

I went on  a road trip this weekend and obviously I had to listen to music on the way to pass the time.  If you've been on a road trip you would have faced some frustration, gotten annoyed or just bored out of your skull these things are inevitable so listening to music is a goo d way to ease the tension and unwind generally.

I realized for some reason that I had listened to a lot of albums from start to finish during the duration of the trip (obviously a lot of things must have gone down, things must have built up). There was no specific pattern to them per say or that I know of, so I decided to just put them down.

More importantly the song itself is amazing, like Micheal Jackson's vocals were just too unreal (If I was a girl who knows what would have happened). For some reason the song had been in my head for like a month and when I found someone to upgrade my recently depleted music library ( Shout outs to my ninja Jethro) I saw a best of Micheal Jackson folder and I was so excited. I've been playing the song since then.

It was released in the late 80's off his Bad album. In the song he expressed his adoration for the Liberian girl in question, describing how she had an effect on him. There's just something about the instruments and how the vocals mixed with it, I mean it was just too congruous to explain. It (the instrumental) was later sampled by 2 Pac in one of his songs; Letter To My Unborn Child.

I recommend you give the song a listen irrespective of if you've listened to it or not, I hope you get the chills again like I did.