THE NIGERIA MUSIC INDUSTRY AND THE UPCOMING ARTISTS.

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Music talents have been refining their craft making a lot of mistakes along the way and now they are well better than it used to be. But that's not really the case for the business side of music and that's why very few artists are consistent with hits, most hits are relatively not as big as in the American Music Industry and most labels lives are very short. And also, this is the reason why there are law suits between labels and artists everywhere. This is because the business side has been slow to develop. It takes talent and grooming to be a manager or label head. Passion and love is not enough. You have to have a good ear for music. You need good understanding of the art, creative and business parts. Added advantage is having good understanding in macro economics and politics. A good example of this is Clive Davis that brought us Whitney Houston and many big names. He was so good that at 85years of age was Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Entertainment. So we hav...
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ALBUM REVIEW: BURNA BOY'S 'OUTSIDE'

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Since Burna boy has been on entertainment news a lot these days, I think it's a good time to do a review of his music especially recent ones. When it comes to talent I don't think there is anyone as promising as Burna boy, that is, looking from an A&R/talent basis only. I mean his versatility and flexibility makes your investment safer and he is the one that has the most talent to do us proud in the American Music Industry while still being outstanding on the home front. And I don't mean him being able to do what they do only. Nah. With proper A&R, he can do anything. And if you are expecting me to go into the controversies then I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm just considering talent and A&R here. I mean, he can go from black American to ajebutter to ghetto to Jamaican and also infuse Yoruba accent and can even do all this within one song. He can comfortably move from R&B to ragga to Ajegunle styled ragga to reggae to rap to afrobeat to Yoruba music. And in an industry where not much attention is given to vocal prowess, which shouldn't be the case, he also delivers well on that front, with a rich, baritone. And he is certainly among the best lyricists in the game. I mean someone that can rap and does ragga in English, pidgin and Yoruba. What would you expect. And when it comes to performance, he's also there. I'm not saying he's a great dancer (I've not seen any evidence of that) but he entertains well with his body movements. Now, people think the chameleon is best at disguising but no it isn't. The octopus is. So if artists were to be animals, Burna boy would be an octopus. I'm blown away by how much music talent God has blessed him with.



There are 13 tracks in the "Outside" album but honestly, if not for "Gbona" and "On the low", that aren't part of the album, the album would have been one of those, just little above average album, from a commercial angle. "Ye" was the only clearly commercial track. But with a good manager or label head, using good A&R skills, I see more hits. And no, it's not the singles he used to support the album (''Rock Your Body"
Released: April 28, 2017"Streets of Africa"
Released: November 24, 2017"Koni Baje"
Released: December 8, 2017"Sekkle Down"
Released: December 11, 2017"Heaven's Gate"
Released: January 19, 2018"Ye"
Released: August 6, 2018). To me, singles that would have been used as follow up to "Ye" are "Giddem" (a nice sing along song with nice melody and simple and fun chorus that has that naija thang) and then "Devil in California" (beautiful contemporary alternative R&B with soul and kind of reminds people that, hey, I can be posh also). And they would be hits. Another notable mention is "City Vibration". But this would just be used as tribute to where he is from. And although I know that at times it is necessary to re-introduce the artist (not that he wasn't famous already) when a new album is on its way, they were too many. For me, I would have used "Heaven's gate" (shows lyrical prowess and musical competence) alone for that. And if not enough then I would add "Street of Africa" (shows musical competence and him being contemporary and fun). It can't be more than this. And I would shoot videos for them before "Ye" and then start rolling in the money from then on. "Gbona" and "On the low" would continue the run of hits after "Devil in California".
As for the beats and production, I'd say, nothing special, just average.

All this is from a commercial angle. But from a critical angle, the album is well above the average Nigerian album because of his musical prowess that I stated earlier, that he brought to bare.

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