HERE IT IS... CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY

A day late than anticipated (Naija Internet), I present to you the mixtape of the year... before the year you realized it wasn't all that good, lol. 19 minutes (yes, 15 minutes of fame and 4 minutes of has-been status) of excellence. Donwload here.

NNA ANYI... IS IT TRUE? (TRIBUTE TO CHINUA ACHEBE)

If you don't know who Dike Chukwumerije is, well then listen up. He's an Abuja-based poet and poetry slam champion. He's the type of person who will be featured on Def Poetry Africa, if my friend Elnathan and I become multi-millionare TV moguls to produce one. Here, Dike presents us with a tribute to the late Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. Oh and just so you know he purposely refused to subtitle the Igbo. Igbo Kwenu!!! Nna anyi... is it true?

THE MIND OF DR. BENNY LYNN/ WITNESS THE SHOCK

As I post this, it's Sunday morning. Probably not the time to disrupt peaceful-minded folk, but this is how you shake things up and possibly ruin a career before it starts. Here are a couple of tracks from the upcoming mixtape So The Critic Has A Mixtape (And A Title Longer Than The Actual Project) or #STCHAM for the reading-too-many-words-in-a-title impaired.


The Mind of Dr. Benny Lynn




Witness The Shock (Ku Be A Hankali)

THE LATE REVIEW: EVERYTHING LATE FROM LINDSEY TO DRAKE... OR DRAKE TO LINDSEY

NOTHING WAS THE SAME ALBUM REVIEW

Perhaps not since DMX, has a rapper been so emotional (Eminem was mostly just angry) and made his success off it. In the case of DMX it was over abandonment issues, family drama and a hard upbringing. In the case of one Aubrey Graham, better known as Drake it’s over ex-girlfriends, missed opportunities (with girls… again) and could-have-beens (yes, with girls). That’s why DMX get respected and Drake gets memes made about him over the internet that start with the phrase, “Drake the type of nigga to…”, e.g. Drake the type of nigga to pick up a bruised apple and ask, “Who did this to you?” or Drake the type of the nigga to read this review and ask, “Abdulnasir, who criticized your writing?... Tell me! Don’t let anyone ever tell you you can’t write!”

          

That said, this is the best Drake album EVER… not that I listen to Drake albums, ‘cause you know he the type of nigga to… Anyway, like I was saying, if you can sit through half the songs and possibly some of their topics where he calls out exes like Courtney from Peach Street or whoever he's pining after and so on, it’s a great album. Adele had the common sense not to mention her ex when she did a whole album about him, Drake is not too common with common sense, which is funny ‘cause he had beef with Common… and that didn’t make sense!

           

Even on his “Worst Behaviour”, where he blatantly rips off a quarter verse from Ma$e, Drake still delivers, even on the emotional songs you sometimes want to wipe away! Started from the bottom he sure didn’t, but most of his records seem to start from the bottom of his heart and for some reason they “Connect”… I suppose that’s “The Language” of staying relevant! (You see what I did there with the song titles?)

P.S. Does anyone like me wonder how come it wasn’t DMX who recorded “Started From The Bottom”?

Rating: 3/5.

LINDSEY’S NIGHT OUT AT EDEN

On September 18^th, the recently launched Eden VIP Lounge hosted perhaps its first musical guest in the form of songstress Lindsey, who performed songs from her Brown EP released earlier this year in February. Backed by the EP’s producer Atta Lenell on guitar, Lindsey went through her songs, while interacting with the audience as some enthusiastically sang along, especially fan favourite, “The 90s Song”. It was an intimate setting, if only for the football match of the evening that distracted a few.           

The singer recently got nominated for the Prix Decouvertes RFI 2013 tour. The French sponsored tour picks an African artist to tour the continent. Here’s wishing her good luck and if you haven’t heard her EP, download it here.