[Album Review]: Reminisce is high chief of indigenous rap with ‘Alaga Ibile’

Album- Alaga Ibile
Artiste- Reminisce
Guest Artistes- Sossick, Endia, Olamide,
Obadice, Naeto C, Wizkid, Davido, Burna
Boy
Producers- Sossick , Shizzi, Chopstix, Sarz,
Dee Vee, Jospo
Record Label- Edge Records (2013)
Duration- 55 minutes
Indigenous rap is the in thing now with
Olamide and Phyno being the poster boys
of the new rap movement. While they may
hug the headlines an equally talented
indigenous rapper by the name of
Reminisce serves as the lord of the
underground. Having struggled to gain
recognition early on his career, Reminisce
embraced his indigenous side and released
the hit single ‘Kako Bi Chicken’.
It’s been two years and some months since
the release of the single that finally put
Reminisce on the spotlight. Within that
period he dropped his debut album Book
of Rap Stories which largely went
unnoticed. This time around with a better
understanding of his abilities as a bilingual
rapper Reminisce drops his second album
Alaga Ibile.
On this project majority of the production
is handled by Sossick who is best known for
his work on Da Grin’s classic sophomore
rap album C.E.O which is also regarded as
the greatest Yoruba rap album ever. With
additional production from wonder boy
Sarz , Alaga Ibile is Reminisce’s most
impressive work so far.
Remilekun Safaru starts his album with
‘ Intro ’ which features menacing piano keys
similar to that of a Dr. Dre production.
Reminisce shows his unique bilingual
qualities when he spits ‘ wanna know the
truth/mi o ki n se butter/ spent most of
my youth chilling in the gutter/smoke a
lot of kush that’s why I stutter/but mi o
le nowo lori jewels got to take care of
my daughter’ . The thumping street
influenced production continues on
‘Government’ featuring Endia and Olamide.
On the Chopstix instrumental Reminisce
and Olamide go hard with their Odua bars
before Endia cleans it up with his rap/
dancehall mash up verse.
The chemistry between Reminisce and
Sossick is spot on. The tracks ‘3rd World
Thug Freestyle’ and ‘Pimp by Blood’ are
decent tracks featuring Reminisce dropping
his flashy bars over Sossick ’s banging
production. Going a step further, Sossick
helps Reminisce bring out his introspective
side on ‘ Turn It Around’ . The rapper
forsakes his showy style to chronicle his
rise to the top while Sossick delivers the
gloomy chorus he is known for. This is the
centre piece of the album and it is
encouraging to see Reminisce showing a
new side to himself even though it is only
on a track.
The Reminisce and Sossick combination
fails on two songs. The fault is more of
production than rapping with Sossick
choosing to ape American rap beats for
Rem’ to rap on. ‘Swagu’ featuring Oba Dice
and ‘Buga’ featuring Naeto C sound
disconnected and disjointed.
You don’t have to go far on the album
before you know that Reminisce has other
ambitions apart from dropping rhymes for
the streets. The next track ‘Sunkere’ reveals
Reminisce’s talent of mixing rap with Fuji.
The Sarz produced ‘Fantasi’ is the perfect
example of this merger with Reminisce
becoming a full time Fuji artiste. Hip Hop
purists might balk at the transformation but
at the end of the day the song is a crowd
mover which is all that matters. The pop
star Wizkid donates a hook on ‘Eleniyan’
which sees Reminisce dishing his patent
rhyme style of mentioning fashion brands
and street lingo.
Not all the mainstream experiments work
on this album. ‘Ife’ is just too much singing
for Reminisce. In his attempt to deliver a
love song the rapper goes too far. His
collaboration with Davido on ‘Daddy’ is
album filler at best. Luckily the humorous
‘Agidigbo’ which name checks several joints
where runs girls hustle comes off well and
‘Rude Girl’ featuring Burna Boy is an
impressive dancehall track.
Most indigenous rappers get very
uncomfortable when rapping in English.
Reminisce is an exception. He switches
from English to Yoruba and vice-versa well.
With such an exceptional gift it is strange
to hear him only rap about a limited range
of topics. With such a deep voice and
bilingual flow one would have expected
Reminisce to touch on several topics that
will push his brand further.
However despite his limited range,
Reminisce has dropped a solid album that
should see him in the top spot with his
contemporaries.
Sossick who is no stranger to producing
solid albums has helped Reminisce
orchestrate a solid piece of work that is
part Hip Hop and part pop. Reminisce
should no longer be regarded as the chief
of indigenous rap (alaga ibile) but the high
chief.
Rating- 3.5

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