Mr Eazi, whose real name is Oluwatosin Ajibade is a 28 year old musician who is bringing his roots from Nigeria into mainstream music in the form of Banku, an afro fusion blend of modern hip hop and trap genres.

His latest release, and his first of 2020, is Kpalanga, which translates to go crazy, is inspired by his parents. In part it tells the story of his father, who was in the forces and his mother, and it is also dedicated to all people in who currently serving in the armed forces around the world. 

With a combination of Nigerian diction and English, the lyrics have a blend of repetition to create stickability, but at the same time sophistication in this multilingual format. Accompanying these lyrics is a really interesting blend of afro fusion and trap music that support a really nicely processed vocal line that delivers the words wonderfully well. The percussion keeps the movement of the song and the subtlety of the backing instruments and typical rhythm that we associate with this music makes it a completely refreshing song to listen to. It has its blends of hip hop, but these are set to a different beat structure and provides the ultimate in culture clashes that works wonderfully to put across the appreciation of this love story and is a fitting dedication to our serving military personnel around the world. 

The idea of Banku and its distinctive vocal effects is becoming more and more mainstream and it’s great to hear. It gives cultures a chance to thrive, but it also allows musicians to develop alternative rhythms in their music and move production to new levels with intricate vocal lines that carry distinctive reverb and EQ effects that make it stand out as completely unique. 

 Singer-songwriter 

Author: Phil Arnold

Phil Arnold is a musician, producer and music reviewer from Devon, in the South West of England. Whilst not writing music reviews, Phil also writes and records under the name of Ugbrooke.