Dagrin
Chief Executive Omo-Ita (CEO)
Remarkable rapper of YQ’s Efimile fame, Dagrin, has released yet another studio album. He must have furiously returned to the studio perhaps to assert his claim to the Nigerian Mic and air waves after the disappointing outing of his first effort.
A 10 track album with three bonus tracks, one being the instrumental of one of the previously featured song, Pon Pon Pon, this album is suffused with enough energy to power a clubhouse. The upbeat tempo of most of the tracks reminds one of youthful exuberance which is perhaps the only short-coming of this album.
Summarily on track six, the artist enunciate the purpose of this L.P—OWO, IGBO, ASHEWO, all remarkable articles of wild life often attributed to the young. But one can’t put this album down on this premise. Dagrin, as a lyricist, is witty, brave and very stylistic, although his offerings are reminiscent of the dimunitive Lord of Ajasa. Dagrin is taking dialectical rap beyond boundaries, his vocals are almost entirely in his mother tongue and his word plays are still on point. This puts him in the same realm with the likes of 9ice, fellow proponents of the Yoruba language.
The first four tracks are my favourites. They are filled with the energy that hip-pop seem to have lost to what is obtainable on the radios of late. These tracks are wholesome takes on his life, survival and hustle which characterize the “Nigerian dream”. “Everyday”, a pretty much short track thrives on gross experimentation and rather than bury Dagrin’s craft in the graveyard of Sampling, it exalts him as a quintessential rapper with an important voice.
Pon Pon Pon’s delivery is similar to 50cent’s Get rich or Die trying album. It’s perhaps the most Hip song of the year: real hard core stuff replete with gunshots and off-the-cliff word plays. Kondo is easily a Nigeria version of Magic stick but has the high-school charm of J-kwan’s Tipsy. Other remarkable tracks are Hola with Isolate, who sounds a lot like 9ice; the gospel- appeal song with West African idols’ Omawunmi and booty song with Lala, Nla.
This album is perhaps a remake of the typical Brooklyn rap album packaged as a Nigerian version with our definition of hustle and sensibilities. A good L.P!!!
