Skales Mr Love Album Review
One of the die-hard Nigerian Musician of this present day just released his new album few days back. Unlike many Nigerian artists who burst into the music high places, many people didn’t really believe this dude could make it this far. He has been turning out good music and he released this album titled “Mr Love”.
THE THEME
According to Skales he feels loved hence the new album; having his mama in the album art and featuring a trailer load of artist from Nigeria, Africa and Caribbean. The song is characterized by song telling stories of road to hustle, enjoyment, problems associated with success and making it in life. This album will have DJs having a good time because he has some real party jam that can be used in any party especially in Africa and the Caribbean. The most evident genre of music in this album is the Nigerian “Koto sound” sub-genre of Afro-pop with some Caribbean sound. Although “Good” featuring Neza has some elements of RnB, this album is still dominated by afro-pop.
I have a serious problem with the album tittle because after listening to sixteen tracks. I observed that it talks more of making it when no one gave him a chance. This album lacks the right tittle because it does not really preach love or potray Raoul John Njeng-Njeng (Skales) as a lover of his fans, women, cars or whatever. This album has only one third of the songs in it talking about love. Songs like “Gbe”, “sawa”, “more”, “body” and my personal best song in this album which is fast wyhne are love songs.
In the songs above, the major topic sang about are ladies but that is five songs out of sixteen with a love theme. But looking at “Pile up”, “Pressure”, “Resemble your father”, “leg up, good”, “no regrets”, “senrere”, “balance”, “pass” and “gbagbe”, it is clear that they are song talking about hustle, money, success and partying. They are nice songs but when you download or buy the album because of the name then please you are going to be disappointed.
THE PRODUCTION
Eight percent of the songs in this album are “konto sound” a sub-gerne of afro-pop originating from the street of Lagos. An album produced by eight different producers is a massive collection of beat makers and producers. Although chopstix has a higher number of songs produced in the album, I can say that the one song produced by Krisbeats, Egar Boi, Tuc, Echo and Nessim respectively are up there if you want to rate the best seven songs on the album.
Chopstix did some good job on “Pass” featuring Yung L and Endia. If you were in a party and you hear pass, you will jump up and dance. Same can be said of the song “Fast Whyne” featuring Afro B and produced by Egar Boi. I believe any song with a good intro is a mad song and that is what fast whyne has. I feel Skales did an uphill work trying to keep all his producers in check so that they don’t leave the konto sound.
In terms of instrument selection, there is high use of hard and vintage kicks with lots of bongo and congas in the percussion. To mix very well there is a good addition of hats and gungs of different pitch with a blend of few snares, toms and crash. This album is a party album and anyone will always want to dance when he or she hears the songs. The percussions are the evident elements of the songs in this albums as all the other elements were made to sound in unity with the drumlines.
POSSIBLE HITS AND FLAWS
Songs like “balance” and “pressure” which features Tiwa savage may have few plays in very few parties but does not have what it takes to make it up there in the market especially with the competition from songs like “anymore”, “pass”, “fire waist” and “fast whyne”. For songs like “body” and “gbage” which features Sarkodie and Phyno respectively, I will say having those stars in those songs does not make much difference. “Body” has the potentials to make it as a solo song without a featured artist because it has a good beat and chorus. “Gbagbe” is just a regular song with a rapper putting in few lines. Phyno did not light up the song with fire vocals which is not cool.
Songs like “No regrets”, “Sawa”and “gbe” are songs that will last for a long time on the play list of many people because of the message and the slow tempo of the songs. These songs are drive time songs and drive time songs never die. “More” featuring Vanessa and Tenie is a regular song which can be used in events and people will feel it any day anytime. Having two ladies in one song is a smart move for commercial purposes.
Finally I feel Balance and Pressure are the only unmanageable songs in this album. I feel for Skales who maybe have paid a lot to the featured artist to make this songs because this song lack anything many things especially melody and sweetness of music. This two song should not have made this album.
Skales Mr Love Album Review
