MUSIC REVIEW

         
BLACKMAGIC


"REPETE"

                           


"I love it when you smile at me, you will never have to weep with me. I will be the happiness that moves your heart and when you sleep I'll find my way into your dreams"

These are the first lines that hit you right after the instrumental at the beginning of the song. I have to confess that even as a music critic (self acclaimed) its been a while I heard such perfectly arranged lyrics. Lets be honest, who bothers with lyrics anymore, just give us a banging beat we can groove to, one that keeps us dancing all night and we won't care that you only repeated the same five words over and over again!


My first listen of the song was on radio one cool evening while driving, i had just turned on the radio and on came this line "Shokoto and t shirt I'm a smooth papa" , I immediately knew that was BlackMagic. Who else would wear shokoto and t shirt and pull it off?


Did I mention that I'm a big fan of Blackmagic, right from his first single Tomorrow" to "Rainbow" ........  and now Repete. With his unique blend of afrobeat, hiphop and soul, you can be sure this dude is going places.

True, a number of people have tried to fuse hip hop and afro beat but none have hit it as perfectly as Blackmagic. The Syndic8 records artiste may not be the usual Nigerian singer but that's why I think he has a lot more to offer.


If half the songs from his upcoming album Blackmagic version 2.0 sound anywhere as good as Repete, it already has enough potential to be, easily, the hottest album of 2013.


And to the guys out there, feel free to borrow any lines from this song, as they are sure to melt any girls heart........ Even if all you did was to request this song for her, the effect would be the same. Trust me on this one!

What do I rate this, a cool 9. Only because it would be prejudiced to give it a 10.

               JUSTIN BIEBER feat BIG SEAN

                                                "AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME"

First, let me start by saying I've never been a Justin Bieber fan. When the whole world was struck by the Beiber fever, i was immune. Thankfully so. The only Bieber song i could allow myself like was "Somebody to love" featuring Usher, but apparently not enough to have it on any of my devices.

However, as I sat at home lazily channel surfing a couple of days ago, I stumbled on Spanking new on MTV Base and thought I'd check out what new video they would be showing. On came Justin Beiber, normally I might have switched to a different station, and although it took a while, the first line  "As long as you love me" he belted out tickled my interest. The song just kept me hooked from one line to the next. I honestly have no recollection of watching the video, I was only interested in listening to the lyrics, the beat . . . . . and then on came Big Sean, who absolutely killed it. In a good way. He starts his 40 second rap with "I dont know if this makes sense but you're my Hallelujah" and I must say his flow was so on point.

I immediately tried to download the song and I cursed my network when i couldn't do so. But since downloading it, its been on replay, I've probably listened to this song more than all other Justin Beiber songs combined.

As long as you love me, makes you want to become a professional choreographer because you can't help but feel the need to do some kinda special dance, even though this isn't the usual party song or "club banger' this song is one of those songs you feel is too short, when in fact it isnt, cos you want it to keep going and going. So you end up leaving it on repeat and just so you know, the song has been on replay since I started this review. Its that bad. So officially let me say, I've caught the Beiber fever! This song marks Justin Bieber's maturity as an artist, and I'm completely loving it. Call me a 'belieber" if you like.

I can't help but rate this one a 9.8, for lyrics, beat, the collaboration . . . . they all came together perfectly to form in my view, Bieber's best song yet. If this is the kind of music we should expect off his upcoming album "BELIEVE", then I see lots of awards rolling in, even more than ever before.

And the video is pretty cool too (I watched it again)
Watch the video at http://www.mtv.com/videos/justin-bieber/820040/as-long-as-you-love-me-featuring-big-sean.jhtml    or at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4em3LKQCAQ.

                            D'banj OYATO

 

 

    

 So, if you’ve not been under a rock for the past couple of months you must have heard about the break up of our beloved record label, Mo Hits. Any doubts we had about the truth behind the rumours vanished when the Oliver Twist video was released without the Don making an appearance. Barely three weeks later Don Jazzy launched his record label Mavin records with an album featuring the Mavin  allstars. Although the album wasn’t so awesome it wasn’t so bad either. And then, we waited, with bated breath for the next monster track from the Koko master himself D’banj.  And then, about a week ago, the wait was over "Oyato" was released, talk began to fly. The die hard D’banj fans claimed it was the work of a genius, the Don papa J fans said otherwise.

                                                 

Finally four days ago, I heard the song.

      At first I chose to reserve my comments, but then I heard the song again and could not refrain from commenting.

At first listen, I thought my comments would be less than objective, afterall I didn’t know what side I had taken in the feud between D’banj  and K Switch on the one hand and Don Jazzy, Wande Coal, Dr Sid, The Prince and Tiwa Savage on the other. I decided to take and step back and try again. This time I was convinced my first impression was correct. 

    I didn’t know what to do with the song, dance to it, clap, nod? It was so dry, lifeless even (if you've ever seen D'banj perform live, dry and lifeless are not words to describe him) This was a song by D'banj and I was not blown away? Where was that undeniable essence, the flavor, the uniqueness, that something that once you hear you are hooked? Well it was definitely not the same as the first time I heard Tongolo, Fall in love, Suddenly, Igwe and the other super hits. Maybe it was the Don Jazzy sound that I had come to expect especially in the chorus, or maybe Dbanj was simply trying to reinvent himself. Whatever it was, this fell far short of classic Dbanj, so for that i will give it a 3 out of ten. If this had been done by some new artist or someone we don’t expect too much from it could get a 4and half for effort. But its D’banj and we have high expectations. So a three it is.The song couldn't hold my attention till the end, i had to constantly remind myself to pay attention.

 Oyato will obviously grow on us. Eventually.  There is no way around it, its D’banj, the radio stations will play it a million times a day. And when the video is released that’s another ten thousand times a day. Do the math. I heard bamabala bambala today and i was dancing, that says a lot about the power of repetition.

    I absolutely love the Skibanj, but all in all, Oyato is a very forgettable song.