Eyan Mayweather is Olamide’s most enjoyable disc in a long time
Olamide’s fifth studio album in as many years is a subtle ode to his second and perhaps first mainstream collective, the aptly named Yahoo Boy No Laptop that began his unprecedented dominance of an industry that once considered him an outsider.
It begins with the title track, a haunting but forceful expression that sounds like it was put together with the aid of celestial bodies. In many ways, it reflects Voice of the streets from YBNL and Olamide drags the levitating back to earth with his expressive freestyle-ish rhymes that boast of his achievements, not the least of which is shutting down Eko hotel for 2 years in a row.
When Eyan Mayweather’s album art and track listing hit the Internet prior to release late last year, , and with it, the announcement that his 5th solo studio record would be without any guest appearances, the palpable fear was the same from Bariga to Badagry. Olamide is an artiste not exactly revered for his discipline. Even with the help of other artistes, he tends to come across as unchecked and unwilling to be a team player. Would a full album consisting only of his huffing and puffing make for time well spent?
WATCH: VIDEO: Olamide – Eyan Mayweather
With Eyan Mayweather, Olamide has managed to alleviate all those fears. At an untidy 21 tracks, the record is still as superfluous as anything he has ever done, and left to his own devices, Olamide proves he is one of the most arresting and interesting artistes working today.
He shifts between shiny pop, traditional highlife and street anthems nimbly and does all three with aplomb. Olamide does not break new grounds in terms of the material that he chooses to tackle. It is still all about the hood, the hustle, the hoes and the hours put in but his charisma, tied to Pheelz’s back breaking work behind the scenes elevates everything to aspirational, pop culture phenomena.
The pop songs here are addictive and sure to shut down top 10 radio. Mega hits like Bobo, Lagos Boys and Don’t stop sit side by side with trado-highlife highlights like Say something, Arara and Toriomo. Add to this interesting mix, hip hop stompers like Boom Boom Boom, and Igara Chicken. Also included is the afrobeat styling of Inferiority complex where Olamide stretches his voice hoarse while attempting to sing.
Eyan Mayweather is really a movement and Olamide’s infectious energy is the force that propels the record forward, making it possible for you to look past flaws in the production process as well as the deficiencies of his song writing and rhyming. A local rapper to the core, Olamide is strongest and most confident when he raps in his dialect but he takes the occasional plunge into murky waters on songs like Where the man and wherever else it is that he decides to rap in English, or bite Phyno’s style as he does on the Connect wannabe, Sold out.
DOWNLOAD: Music: Olamide – Sold Out
Compared to his last solo effort, Street OT, Eyan Mayweather is definitely more accessible and aims for a commercial appeal that goes down easy. It is the most enjoyable piece of work Olamide has put out in a while, maybe even since his debut, Rhapsodi.
Olamide’s insistence on sticking with a then untested Pheelz following his cleavage from ID Cabasa has paid off handsomely and their partnership approaches iconic levels on this record.
Eyan Mayweather still cannot gloss over Olamide’s flaws and shortcoming. He is taking on more responsibilities as he grows career wise but it is nice to know that he has not lost his first calling, hit maker extraordinary. In spite of his excesses and a now going on chronic refusal to tighten his word play, it is still really Olamides’s world and we are all just living in it.
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