MY TOP 10 SONGS FOR 2ND QUARTER 2018

1. BLACK EFFECT-THE CARTERS

2. PRAISE THE LORD-A$AP ROCKY FEAT SKEPTA

3. GIVENCHY-NASTY C / ANYBODY-DJ HAZAN FEAT C-BLACK, SHINA PELLER & BEEZY

4. WHITE LABEL-NAS

5. HOUSTONFORNICATION-TRAVIS SCOTT / SO MI SO-WANDE COAL

6. KWEKU-CHIEF OBI / SUPER EAGLES DODORIMA- AUSTINO MILADO

7. 4TH DIMENSION-KANYE WEST x KID CUDI / ELEVATE-DRAKE

8.JUNGLE-NASTY C / FRIENDS-THE CARTERS

9. SANTERIA-PUSHA T / BABA-DJ SPINALL FEAT KIZZ DANIEL / SURVIVAL-DRAKE

10. INFRARED-PUSHA T / AFTER PARTY-DESIIGNER

TOP 3 ALBUMS

1.STRINGS AND BLINGS-NASTY C

2.DAYTONA-PUSHA T

3.L.O.D-DESIIGNER

ALBUM REVIEW: MI'S YUNG DENZL SUFFERS FROM A CHRONIC IDENTITY CRISIS

MI's Yung Denzl was the most high profile release of LAMB August and a lot of people expected it to be the focal point of his bid to give Nigerian hip hop a face-lift.The goal of his movement,if we understood it well was to loosen the grip of indigenous and 'pop' rap on naija hop hop and promote the purer aspects of the culture but on this album,we see an artiste distancing himself totally from the naija rap culture and trying too hard to prove he is of international standard.Yung Denzl suffers from an identity crisis so profound the first song-Do you know who you are?.Take your time and meditate on yourself is actually an anti-racist song.."Do you realize a negro is a hunted commodity/Look around you/Observe your ecology".What ecology around me,Nigeria?.

The album is pretty much a one-dimensional work with all songs either on the slow and mid-tempo range which technically puts a lot of dependence on his lyrical abilities,hip hop movement or not.If not thought-provoking then the very intriguing lines.The self-evaluation of Yung Denzl measures up to that standard with the very immersing "All i wanna do" vibe he was on.But on a wholesale,MI quite regrettably fails to do vocal justice and never really puts the icing on a some fabulously made joints.The worst victim being You are like melody.My heart skips a beat.Lorraine Chia is so breath-takingly awesome on the hook,you could listen to it forever and its really sad how MI ruins quite a high with his verses.

He gets the sound right on a couple of message-themed cuts but it doesn't help that he's set the songs up to rest on his flow.He ticks every box on Last night i had a dream about a hummingbird but on Stop! Never second guess yourself he tries to preach self-confidence and loving oneself with a big boss chic narrative.The last person that needs any such sermon.It pretty much captures the lack of effortlessness on most songs.

He beasts through I believe in me.You should too,believe in you  but then there is the sheer arrogance in expecting the audience to feed off his cockiness.He doesn't in anyway try to strike a balance between his story and the listener he seeks to inspire.

Mr Incredible appeared to be having a mid-life crisis when he said he was better than 95% of american rappers and 2 years down the line, Yung Denzl only proves he still harbours such laughable thoughts.He says on I believe in me.You should too,believe in you that Pusha-T should be honoured to be mentioned in the same breath as an African King of the mic and that he was kin to BIG,2pac and Jay-Z.Thats highly outrageous.

Only bested by the irony of a rapper chastising his peers for singing on You rappers should fix up your lives and doing so himself on Love never fails but where there are prophecies,love will cease to remain.

Loyalty is probably hip hop's 3rd favourite subject after nothing to something and stunting on the haters.Hip hop isn't just music,its a culture and everyone keys into its universality with their very own reality.

MI talks loyalty to Choc city on Another thing! Do not be a groupie and it felt quite odd listening to him try to make a big deal of sticking to a label he became partner and Vice-President at since blowing up.Word had always been he was responsible for signing every artiste since Jagz and Ice Prince.Its as off as a father yelling for accolades for paying school fees.

Hip and catchiness to appeal to the core of the nigerian music market and a distinctive lyrical edge to re-awaken the consciousness of the average hip hopper.That is what nigerian hip hop needs and not a total inculcation of foreign values.MI's work can't seem to get a grip of anything.Loose and AQ's Crown works despite not having the mass appeal element because it is a lyrical magnum opus.And also noteworthily because they don't try too hard to be alien.

MI does.

ALBUM REVIEW: CROWN IS TRUE,PURE AND AS REAL AS IT GETS

Sheer hypocrisy!!!.That was the problem most people had with MI's declarative You Rappers Should Fix Up Your Lives.Mr Incredible hadn't done anything for the culture other than show up when he had an album and a following mixtape to drop with his last coming 4 years after his sophomore release.These rappers were a lot more active and could reasonably raise 'adjusting to times' in their rapid drift into popular music.Nobody was disputing the fact that MI Abaga was Nigeria's number one rapper.The question was how much different was he from anyone who had accepted the status quo?.He has answered that a year later.

MI is making the most conscious effort ever to revive hip hop in these shores with the LAMB releases all scheduled for August and that no one is giving him the 'he think he Kanye' treatment all attests to the wide acknowledgement and  support of his generous moves.

Crown; the first of the 3 albums is a collaborative one by AQ, a rapper finally rewarded for staying true to the game and Loose Kaynon, one most people feel they were yet to see the best of.This was either going to chart a course for MI's hip hop movement or give the ever vocal pessimists the upper hand.

We'll look at the album from 3 perspectives.

DEPTH

No,you got it twisted if you expected a glorified battle rap treat.These artistes actually gave us an evenly balanced work that embodies the art in virtually all shades.They drop bars over 9 cuts with the soberly introspective,the strong message and the lyrical bravado elements perfectly in place.Songs like Out Of This World,Regrets and Hustlers Prayer not only contain so much power,they are fabulous replications of the golden era of hip hop and the fact that a work in these parts not only dares to venture into hip hop's best times; when it had grown to have its purity whipped to just about any form but to also do it oozing so much class is priceless.The humming on Hustlers Prayer,Debbie Romeo's gripping vocal performances on Regrets and Out Of This World all ensure these tight Mcs give us not just great lines but whole songs to remember.

We are guaranteed a new era feel in Blaqbonez's upcoming album; the last of the trilogy but if the aim of MI's hip hop movement was to take back the game from the vultures,Crown and indeed his  would to an appreciable degree,have to key into rap in its present state to not just skool the rapping artistes but to set an example for the incoming breed of cats.The 'trappy' God Wants Us To Be Too Lit does that best.Its such a beauty.The Blaqbonez effect on Off Black gave it a fascinatingly 'now' edge too.

The album title track; Crown along with SDC is the lyrical show piece but don't sleep on Gang Gang.The only track with an indigenous touch has both AQ and Loose Kaynon flexing some mean lyrical weight.

Crown is rich in content.Probably the richest ever in pure hip hop content.

LYRICISM

AQ, the very flexible and adventurous wordsmith and the rigid and monochromatic Loose Kaynon.That was the impression a lot of people had of these 2 artistes before this album.A whole lot will change once they settle to it.Crown was a joint album by 2 great rappers at the peak of their craft.AQ tones down some of that renowned story-telling prowess for a more robust style complete with the swagger of a rapper finally been paid dues owed him by the rap game.

But the true star of this show is Loose Kaynon if you would have to choose.Think again if you thought you knew that brother well.

The Loose on Crown is as lyrically dope as anyone rapping.Lyricism is always the main criteria when someone comes waving that true hip hop banner.People say rap originated from poetry and whatever is been done today came from hip hop.AQ and Loose Kaynon in very simple terms,had us all loving rap again and that is loving skilful metaphors,brilliant word play and mind-blowing punchlines.Still stuck between Loose Kaynon's verse on Off Black and Gang Gang's AQ massacre on the favourite album verse question and that there are a hundred and one other answers out there testifies to just how lyrically dope Crown is.."F**k a twitter account/Can't cash it/They verify my bars tho/Am doin more numbers than a bar code/They tryin to take shots but they got froze/They tryin to throw shades but i'm astro".Thats AQ on beast mode.

The album title track had SDC on it and with his verse on MI's Popping arguably the flamest ever since,he was everyone's favourite to nail it.The track lives up to its billing as a jaw-dropping lyrical slugfest and Loose Kaynon is the unlikely chief slayer."Think you the shit?/You must be something i ate".And thats just a slice.

Crown is resurrecting hip hop and placing it on a pedestal too high for the culture vultures.

IMPACT

Admittedly,Crown's break from the norm isn't a harsh one and you have to love the Choc City team for that.It makes a huge effort at navigating through the very basic and general aspects that tie together how it ought to be done and how it is being done and pitching its tent at a good spot for the former to appreciate the latter while setting a clear path for it.

For the real hip hop movement to achieve its aim,it must get the current crop to completely trust the process of flipping its purity to any state possible.MI himself jumped on the commercial bandwagon on the Chairman album to illustrate how big a task he and his crew hope to accomplish.

The pollution of hip hop started with the obsession for a catchy sound over lyrics and in as much as God Wants Us To Be Too Lit is a fantastic attempt at merging how it ought to be done with how it is being done,Crown needed more of the 'nigerianess' of Gang Gang.The average nigerian artiste isn't looking to blow up his neighbourhood or chat group,he is looking to have the number one hit.Or at least,get as close to Wizkid and Davido as possible.Some of that local spice is what is needed to convince the subscribers of the present status quo as to the workability of the 'pure' model.

Nevertheless,if hip hop is predominantly lyrics then Crown is substance.You can't change that.

THE MAKING OF A SCAPE GOAT AT THE VERY TOP

I really must say President Buhari's handlers have improved remarkably.First,Lawal Daura was fired in response to the invasion of the national assembly by masked operatives of the DSS,then they allowed Vice-President Yomi Osinbajo take all the credit before letting the world know Buhari authorized it and had it in his plans to sack Daura even before the incident.At the end of it all,the senate president,Bukola Saraki is being accused of using him to witch-hunt himself and that has stuck like glue.

But here is the thing.About 2 weeks ago,DSS operatives along with some police officers,blocked the gates to Saraki and his deputy,Ike Ekweremadu's houses in a purported bid to stop them from conducting a plenary session where 15 APC senators were scheduled to decamp to the PDP.The news of their defection from the APC over-shadowed the other events of that day and very few bothered to pay a little extra attention to the gestapo-style invasion of the residences of the number 3 and 5 citizens of the federal republic.President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo did absolutely nothing.Nothing concrete was adduced to wave off the accusing fingers pointed at them.

In as much as it sounds like a very good strategy to endear himself to the average nigerian; a testament to the improved handling of the Presidency's excess baggage,it is simply impossible for the Presidency to sit back and do nothing after Saraki 'staged' the first blockade at his residence by the DSS and police operatives.Buhari wouldn't stay mute while Daura and the IG of police,Ibrahim Idris helped him to hero status except of course,they were complicit.Anyone selling a 'Saraki witch-hunting Saraki' theory would have to tackle that extensively.

Having established that the powers at the very top have made him a marked man,then the next thing would be to fill in the blank spaces.Why was the invasion of the national assembly called off and why was Daura made a scape goat?.

The invasion is widely deemed an act of frustration against the senate leadership after they got wind of plans to impeach them and rallied their troops to check it.What the orchestrators did not expect was the amount of attention it would generate in the international community.Prominent foreign governments through their envoys,were said to have reached out to the Presidency and expressed grave concerns over what manner of threat against national security would necessitate the sealing off of the legislative arm of government by the DSS?.At that point,there would only be one scape goat,Lawal Daura.The aides who followed him to the villa to meet Osinbajo were summoned back to the office and he is presently said to be staying at a guest house of the police meant for high profile suspects.The presidency would really have to go the extra mile to disprove the notion that there weren't privy to his clandestine activities.

They would have to do much more than EFCC investigations that will not end in prosecutions or leaking false atrocities with no tangible proof.A strategically unverifiable report of him claiming to be taking orders from Adams Oshiomole,the APC chairman surfaced and got debunked.Another one claiming Abba Kyari,the President's chief of staff asked him to do it has also been planted.In this PR strategy,even the truth could be bandied and made unconfirmed in an attempt to lead everyone back to the official narrative.

The freezing of 3 bank accounts belonging to the Benue state government by the EFCC after it opened a case against Governor Ortom days after his defection to the PDP and one belonging to the Akwa-Ibom state government in what appears the first shot by the APC on behalf of its latest convert,Sen.Godswill Akpabio in an impending battle for supremacy between him and the PDP state government, all point to a renewed vigour in clamping down on political foes by the government.The foreign powers can't interfere in matters like these and the APC is having a ball going at its 'traitors'.

From where i stand,Lawal Daura is not an enemy of the government.As a matter of fact,he loves it enough to take a fall for it.What remains to be seen is whether he will stay fallen.

FALLOUT REVIEW: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE NEEDS TO STEP UP TO THE NEXT LEVEL

'Ethan Hunt and company eventually contain the threat at the last minute'.The outcome everyone already knew before Mission Impossible 6: Fallout was released.Its 2018 and a sixth instalment with a guaranteed outcome owed us a more robust story-telling with richer sub-plots but sadly,we didn't see that.It was all pretty too vintage to stir up as strong an adrenaline surge as it did back in the day.The intensity of the 2015 release; Mission Impossible 5: Rogue Nation coupled with the much more richer action scenes may have made it a quite decent watch but the lacklustre Fallout has more than anything proven the MI configuration needs to be revisited.

Mad technological effects in line with time and trends seemed a sure thing but some way some how,Fallout seems to fall short of even set MI standards.Benji Dunne (Simon Pegg)'s eye glass transmitter in the previous Rogue Nation outclasses everything on display here.That along with very ordinary fight scenes and a solely Ethan and gang V the bad guys plot all combine to make Fallout a very ordinary spectacle.

Ethan running into his ex-wife,Julia at a medical camp was just the type of twists needed to spice up the too direct outlay but in the end it was uneventful and did nothing for the story.When Henry Cavill (August Walker)'s good guy cover got blown,it seemed pretty convenient that the CIA director not in on his schemes,selected him to accompany Hunt on a chase of the stolen plutoniums.These,especially Julia's re-emergence were points the producers would have woven beautiful sub-plots round to add more glitter to an uninspiring fast-paced movie.MI has thrived over the years on the very direct route but it becomes a huge problem when there is an absence of some nail-biting suspense to cater for the predictability factor.The Solomon Lane break out scene was the most intense of the movie and the flaws therein were of the gaping kind.Notably Hunt starting his motorcycle late after closing down the alley with Walker in their van; how those shots by pursuing cops all miss Hunt at point blank range is incredible to say the least and having a man wear a black hood on the passenger seat of a speeding car during a man hunt with cops in the opposite side of the road not noticing was a pathetic watch.

We all love MI and Fallout may have opened to a franchise-high $61.5M from 4,300 theatres in the US but it will have to go down as one of the worst (if not the worst) screenplay(s) of the series.

WIKE: LEADING THE PDP AWAY FROM THE WEST

Hate it or love it,the PDP represents our best hope of ridding ourselves of unarguably the worst government we have ever had and as such,its affairs are of paramount importance to a lot of us.If President Buhari packs and heads back to Daura in 2019,it is most likely they made that happen.

It was inevitable that the North and South West lose considerable influence in the party due to their dismal outing at the last general elections to the South South and South East who would not only produce the new big players but also become the major financiers of the party.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state had the added advantage of being a very key member of the Jonathan administration who was reportedly handed a mandate by the then first lady,Dame Patience Jonathan to wrestle back her home state by any means necessary from Rotimi Amaechi.Wike,fresh off an epic battle and being a prominent member of the party in the previous dispensation,assumed leadership status after Jonathan's semi-retirement from party affairs.He has succeeded on foisting Uche Secondus on the party when it made logical sense to zone it to the South West not only because it has never held the position but also to enhance chances of making a major break through into a region that has proven to be the most decisive in our electoral structure especially in these crucial times.

Wike may be apt to bulldozing down opposition and the employment of brute force but leadership of a vast number of people with divergent political and ethnic interests cloaked in the guise of a common goal takes a special kind of skill he hasn't displayed.

Secondus is heavily reliant on his dictates and so far,he hasn't blown him towards galvanizing the troops especially in the South West as efficiently as possible.

The most prized asset the PDP had was Olusegun Mimiko before his defection back to the Labour Party.Mimiko was the best Vice-Presidential candidate in the land and one who would have been pivotal to winning over the South West electorate; a region swayed more by competence and credibility than ethnic or religious sentiments.That Wike and his gang would make a man like that feel under-appreciated tells a lot about the job they are doing.

A reconciliation committee headed by Bayelsa state governor,Seriake Dickson was hurriedly put in place after Secondus' emergence as chairman with a very narrow and myopic objective-pacifying the aggrieved chairmanship candidates instead of the entire South West PDP.It goes without saying that the region is the most strategic going into next year's general elections.With Buhari still enjoying a large followership in the core northern states and only the central ones seemingly switching allegiance,the PDP would need a chunk of the South West votes to complement those of the South-South and South East to guarantee victory.

As things stand,its major players are content with moving solo or as parts of a caucus and that will not augur well.How else can one explain a mega rally in Ekiti state; the only place the party controls in the region without Chief Bode George,Otunba Gbenga Daniel or Alhaji Rasheed Ladoja?.

There is no clearer depiction of the woeful job the PDP has done in rallying its members in the South West than the very notable absences from the region at the Ekiti mega rally.

There is a very important need for the South West members to be brought under the umbrella and not only made to feel special but also to operate as a formidable entity.

As things stand,the only thing anyone who is discontented with the Buhari government has to be hopeful for as far as the South West electorate goes is their tendency to vote purely on the strength of candidates presented and nothing else.

Wike must learn to lead.He,having seized the party machinery,must ensure it is up and fully running.

ADEOSUN, BABACHIR, OBASANJO: THE BUHARI 'SHABALE' POSTURE

If you played or watched 'active' soccer  in the ghetto or the very middle-class neighbourhoods in the late '90s and early 2000s,you should be familiar with the term 'shabale'.It basically means passing or controlling the ball with your face in the opposite direction; what in formal parlance is referred to as the no-look pass.The 'shabale' is classy but if it doesn't go well,the player is chastised by just about everyone from the coach and his colleagues down to the spectators for messing up a very simple task.One he chose to want to feign blind to.

President Buhari's anti-corruption war is a 'shabale' situation as far as his close friends and cronies are concerned.He looks the other way and when the citizenry mounts pressure on him to take action,he lays a pass pre-meditated to go no where.

As it is,Buhari's face is in the other direction regarding allegations his finance minister, Kemi Adeosun is using a forged NYSC certificate and most likely,we will watch this one fizzle out unattended to because nigerians have simply grown tired of forcing this government do the needful.Everything points to the fact that the woman is not sincere.

The NYSC,perhaps in a bid to leave feathers high up unruffled,only issued a statement saying she applied for an exemption certificate.They neglected to tell us whether or not it was granted.

What is more disgusting is the presidency's silence amidst such a grave criminal allegation against a key member of its cabinet.Adeosun has stayed mute and Buhari has not deemed it wise to do anything other than adopt the NYSC's statement as his.He has not set up a committee to probe the allegations or at least promise to look into them with a view to arriving at the truth.It would be interesting to see what he would have done if he was under immense pressure by Nigerians.Not that anyone expects her to be prosecuted and that is largely down to Buhari's woeful 'shabale' antecedents.When he looks the other side,it makes no difference forcing him to do what he should.

Nigerians had to pile up pressure on President Buhari to deal decisively with his former SGF, Babachir Lawal for his role in the embezzlement of funds meant for the IDPs in what is more popularly referred to as the grass-cutter scandal.There was no will whatsoever on the part of the government to make Babachir pay for his sins.Nigerians forced him to hurriedly refer the matter to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation; a law officer, for a 'negative' probe and despatch of a clean bill of health to the senate by none other than Buhari himself.Nigerians forced him to ditch the AGF report for a more elaborate look into the allegations by a committee headed by the Vice-President whose report ended up having Babachir sacked.

As it is today,Babachir is on administrative bail pending further investigation by the EFCC.A man already probed at 3 different levels, each presumably having reached its conclusion after a good look at available evidence.What is the 'further' that has taken the EFCC so long to find out?.How on earth does Buhari expect his war on corruption to be taken seriously?.

While he is busy celebrating as his achievements the conviction of governors in cases filed by other governments,he should bear in mind that a lot of people still remember how the Chairman of his inauguration committee and former Bayelsa governor,Timipre Sylva was discharged and acquitted in controversial circumstances.He was never tried due to a 'programmed' incompetence on the part of the authorities and eventually had his 48 houses (yes,48 houses) handed back to him.The controversy started with Festus Keyamo withdrawing as prosecutor and today,he has been rewarded by being appointed the spokesman of the Buhari 2019 campaign.Most Nigerians did the 'shabale' then in 2015 because they were blind in the desperation to see Buhari succeed and hardly remember this as part of Buhari's hypocritical anti-corruption sins but unlike Keyamo,they have been rewarded with hardship and untold suffering.

It is nobody's fault that Buhari limited the scope of his anti-corruption fight to only the Jonathan administration when he and his cohorts were dispraising a 16 year rule before theirs.He never expected the public outcry that greeted his comments on a 'previous administration' having spent $16b on power.As it turns out,Buhari had known all along President Obasanjo spent that much on power without a commensurate improvement in power supply but he had kept a 'shabale' posture to Obasanjo's outrageous deed and only mentioned it after OBJ criticized his performance and condemned his re-election bid.That was when he chose to let us know he knew.And again,it was only after public outcry became deafening that he called for a probe and till date,the EFCC is yet to make an arrest or even as much as intimate the public on the latest regarding the probe.There have been a lot of stories bandied around about how the ex-presidents that rallied round PMB when he came into office negotiated a deal to keep the Jonathans free from prosecution.A pointer to how true that may be is how despite seizing her money and properties,Patience Jonathan is the one taking the government to court and not the other way round.If Buhari does not lack the balls to probe and prosecute his friend then it may be that he is scared of what OBJ might reveal if pushed to the wall.

Taking things as we see them,it is very obvious that whenever voluntary will power is lacking,the Buhari administration hardly ever takes a corruption battle to the finish line.It succumbs to public discontent and moves to douse it with a-little-something for the cameras before allowing the matter wither away.Forcing the man to make a move still feels no different from his 'shabale' posture.