Ice Prince - Fire Of Zamani! - Album Review -

I am not one for making comparisons
between artiste especially because
everyone seems to approach music from
the depths of who they are and the
influences of their immediate environment.
All I seek from listening to an artiste is to
get a grasp of wellspring from which such
music is coming from.
Ice Prince Zamani as he is popularly known
among his fans just gave the whole world a
piece from his wellspring of music titled
"Fire Of Zamani"; the name of the album is
said to be the name of his clothing line to;
so business wise, Ice Prince seems to be
doing well to expand his tentacles. The
album has tracks that have already received
wide air play as singles such as "Gimme
dat", "Aboki", and "More"..... and then
brand new additions like "Mercy",
"Whiskey", "N-word" etc. We have some
tracks produced by Sammy Gyang, and a
particular track produced by "Don Jazzy"
while the rest were produced by
"Chopstix".
Much for introduction, lets move on!!!
1. Stars and Light Ft Ruby Gyang
Lots of input by the Gyang family on this
track I must say. We have Sammy, then
Jeremiah and also Ruby. The album starts
with this track that kind of sounds like the
JayZ/Alicia Keys-Empire State of mind.
Great progression on the song itself and
the guitar gives it that rock feel as Ice
Prince introduces his album and gives
props to those that deserve it. (even
though I think it should come at the end )
Ruby delivers the hook with a good voice
but she could have done more with the
"ajasas" on the rap verses. 7/10
2. Skit by MC Long
Err........translation from English to Hausa,
the Hausa translation must have been very
funny because it got the audience
squeaking in laughter.
3. Aboki.
Do I need to say more about this track. It
has been around for a really long while as
it has even topped charts in Nigeria as the
first single from this album. The comical
lines from Ice Prince and the combination
of the "drums" with the "horns" makes this
track very groovy. lets not forget the
sounds from the traditional Hausa strings.
8/10
4. My Life
This is a very decent track. I think Ice Prince
has found that delight in rapping in
"pidgin" English and I appreciate the
delivery actually sounds slightly different;
for those of us that think his delivery of
Aboki and VIP were kind of similar. if you
listen to this song long enough, you begin
to sing it loud.......****my life**** 6/10
5. Mercy Ft Chip
Ice Prince tries to touch on every sub-genre
of modern hiphop....pop flavored,
dancehall flavored and even highlife
flavored. This falls in the dancehall flavored
division and chip delivers a decent verse on
the track too. 6/10
6. Whiskey Ft Sunny Neji
Horns and guitar usher in this highlife
flavored rap music, it would have been
lovely it was a love song and could be
played at weddings and things like that,
then that way Ice Prince can get wedding
performances too. the track is matured and
can easily be loved by older people. Sunny
Neji's voice would always stand out
anywhere, and on this track it does even
though his verse was not very long. 7/10
7. N-Word
Don Jazzy on the beats!!! southern style
hiphop, the kind you will find from
Rickross, DJ Khaled and their crew but
delivered in pidgin English. I am not sure if
it was my listening device but I kind of
thought the sound production was
oscillating a little bit too much, but maybe
that is how it is suppose to be.
7/10...****close your eyes and imagine it
was Olamide or Phyno or LordV rhyming to
this monstrous beat...choi!!
8. Jambo
Very dance-able track with similar delivery
with VIP and Aboki. Even when the beats is
utterly different, Ice Prince still brings us
back to that Aboki feel....5/10
9. No Die Tomorrow
I saw a tweet where someone said this was
his favorite track, I was looking forward to
hearing it. Well...it is okay! reggae/
dancehall feel though........uses one of its
verses to address some of the social issues
that plagues his home country.(Nigeria)
6/10... the strength of this track is the beat
IMO.
10. Gimme Dat Ft YungL, BurnaBoy and
Olamide
I am a big fan of collaborations because it
allows us to listen to same track from the
perspective of the different artiste on the
joint. I like this track and I think it is a good
one......Olamide however went in on the
track like it was a freestyle, his entry was
perfect but it dimmed out towards the end
of the verse. Nice one 8/10
11. Komotion ft Wizkid
Delivery was completely different on this
one from Ice Prince which got me on high
alert. The reggae feel to the entire song
makes it even more enticing. Beat was
correct! 7/10
12. Person Wey Sabi
You remember the track on ELI where he
featured Wizboyy? Here is something
similar....Highlife with all the horns and the
percussion. Decent track 6/10
13. Kpako Ft MI, Jesse
I like this track......I listened to it with a
smile on my face as I anticipated the
collabo of the "Jos boyz"; MI is freaking
talented......choi!! you need to listen to
this....his transition between voice
scenarios is fantastic; Jesse is good sha
ooo......7/10
14. Pray Ft Sound Sultan
Another "OK" track, typical entry by sound
sultan.....almost a "galala" feel to the song
too. 6/10
15. More
I heard more a long time ago, and I loved it
including its video. The beat was produced
by chopstix and I do think its decent.....a
rappers way of singing love! 7/10
16. On My Knees Ft Jeremiah Gyang
Where did Jeremiah Gyang go to since all
these days sef......he had such an
inspirational season with "Barka Zuchi
Allah"; ok this is about Ice Prince and not
Jerry.....its a Hausa track so a bunch of the
words I did not understand, that kind of
song you listen to in your car, sing aloud
and bump your head. 7/10
17. Tipsy Ft Wale and Morell
Pretty core hip hop on this track , this is
one rapheads would scream "fire".....
Iceprince still maintained his delivery style
but dang......But Wale probably pushed the
track to another level. The banging is
banging too with Morell on the hook. 7/10
18. I swear Ft French montana
This track has been on the airwaves way
before the album and it was one of those
tracks that made peoples expectation for
the FOZ album skyrocket. He had his typical
punch lines on the track, i however did not
know what to expect from "brother french
montana" on this track but i think he did
pretty well considering the fact that he
might not be very familiar with the nigerian
music audience. 8/10
I really did not know what to expect from
Ice Prince on this album so I kind of
opened my heart to its collaborations after
listening to pre-release tracks likes "I
swear", "Aboki Rmx"; and they all did a
good job; Olamide, Burnaboy, YungL, MI,
Jesse and co. If I was going to pick a
favorite, then it is going to be "Whiskey".
Let me mention that this evaluation is
indeed my opinion. You should all listen
and grade the music yourselves. Those
criticizing this album seem to forget that
Ice Prince is a commercial rapper, he is not
interested in throwing punchlines that will
make rapheads go "hooooooo", the album
cuts through modern sub-genres on
nigerian music and gives us something we
can relate and dance to.
http://www.infonubia.com/2013/10/album-
review-fire-of-zamani.html

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