Phyno made a name for himself as an indigenous rapper with the least dependence ever on a groovy or catchy chorus.He always had an inch-perfect delivery for a track and the classy drift from ibo to english and back was breath-taking.When he tried his hands on afro-pop,he made 2 of the biggest songs in the country back-to-back in Connect and Father Father.It has to be said for him that no nigerian artiste has ever managed that prior.
A lot has happened since he released his sophomore album,The Playmaker where we saw him excel at new levels of versatility and display an abundant knack for the extraordinary.Everything that has happened since then are pretty much summed up on the 21 tracks on this album.
Though the unique quality the artiste has does pop up every now and then, in between he makes songs that at the very best,can be referred to as casualties of the very high standard he has set.Then finally,there are ones that make you wonder if you even know the artiste at all.
Noteworthy also is the heavier reliance on the indigenous elements of his game for Deal With It than ever before.Some times to great effect,other times not.He opens the album with much panache on the title track,Deal With It.Phyno oozes sheer class on a thumping Benjamz beat in a style quite reminiscent of the 'King of the East' we fell in love with.
Deal With It is perhaps the best indigenous hip hop song made in at least the last 2 years while the trappy and infectious Oso Ga EMe gives an insight to just how ingenious Phyno's creative process can get.Ke Ife O is sweet,refined and well produced with all the trappings of a new era love song.On his day,the Playmaker is a master of sounds.
However,what baffles about this album is the disparity between the great songs and others not on their level.God's Willing with Runtown lacked a genuine spark to lift it out of the ordinary while he had Phenom and Falz to save Get The Info and make the nice chorus count.A Major Bangz beat complete with a subtle soul sample and what is fast becoming a trademark switch in rap instrumentals make Speak Life sound perhaps more pleasant than it ordinarily would.
These latter set of rap songs are what you could classify as victims of an over-pampered listener.
But it is Body feat Harmonize and Recognize with his Pent hauze signee,Cheque that shockingly speak little of Phyno's artistry.He sounds many worlds apart from the artiste we have seen severally shuffle ibo and english lines with an absorbing delivery on the right beat.
While Recognize has a decent pre-chorus and chorus to serve as a healthy distraction,he is ineffectively fast and tasteless on Body.Phyno in addition to being a rapper also sings and a song with the highlife King and fellow Enugu boy,Flavour would have anyone salivating at its prospects but then Vibe is a huge disappointment.They never quite adapt to the native instrumental with Phyno's pace being put again to dismal use and Flavour's unmoving chorus making matters worse.When language starts to become a barrier when listening to a Phyno track,you know he has set himself up really wrong for it to come to that.
Judging from more recent antecedents, Phyno's best was likely to come from his pop songs.The Bag was so very well received by fans,everyone overlooked the not-so-impressive All I See featuring Duncan Mighty which could very much pass for the second pre-album single.There was the typical sprinkling of highlife elements but it basically had you stuck in foreplay all through with no raw cutting edge to drive it home.
Overall,it must be said for Phyno however that there are more outstanding pop songs on the album and a lesser gap in quality between them and the ones that aren't.
A lot of focus will be on songs with high profile features like Blessings which had the chorus-killing heroics of the maestro,Don Jazzy himself and a verse from his regular side kick,Olamide to complete the 'Father Father' recipe.Then also the very captivating Ka Anyi Na Yo; where Phyno and Teni combine so brilliantly with some great singing in ibo and yoruba.
But songs like Deri deserve just as much mention.The absorbing shift in rhythmic gears on that tempo is so dazzling.The ibos have proven time and time again they have a distinctive winning formula when it comes to gospel songs and Phyno taps quite brilliantly into that for the uplifting I Got Your Back.The Zoro assisted Uwam also has to go down as a memorable Phyno track.
On the other hand, Ride For You tops the list of songs that fall victim to the standard set by a singing Phyno even on this album.It has a big name feature in Davido and he did some really good singing in ibo.Ma Chi is a bit drenched in too much intensity for a love song and the only song to fall on the not-just-good-enough column is Problem.
Phyno may not quite be the artiste he once was but dripping this much quality in his current state attests to just how talented he is.Deal With It is an impressive album.
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