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Asake, you will forever be great. The first time I heard of this young man was when he released Lady. The up-tempo record was swimming around popularity and was always “quarter to blowing.”
Many players in the music space thought that’d be the record to take him to the mainstream, and thought the same again when he dropped Mr Money. Those weren’t the records destined to take Asake to the summit of the mainstream industry, and many started to fear that he would forever be one of those who dance around the ‘next to blow ‘ category.
However, there’s nothing a Baddo feature can not do, as Omo Ope would mark the beginning of one of the most impressive runs ever seen in Afrobeats.
From that point (2022) till now, Asake has dropped three albums and risen to the very top of the game, selling out shows and breaking records around the globe. His recently released third studio album Lungu Boy has been received with mixed reviews and feelings.
You see, I love Asake, so much. A bit too much, if you ask me. Calling him a genius feels like you’re reducing his abilities. My people will call it whining. I like to describe him as ethereal. He’s a spirit. I love what he stands for a bit more because he brings us back home.
With all the sampling, watering down, and commercializing that’s going on with our music right now, he calls us to order, resetting the soundscape with each release. He’s an apt description of African music, and it’s only right he’s one of those at the forefront of it.
I have no business reminding you about MMWTV and Work Of Art. We all were witnesses to it. Lungu Boy, however, is a Rubik’s cube. It’s special, complex, and a hard nut to find your way around.
Coming off two successful albums, a world tour, being a flagbearer for the genre on the positive side and having everything you do scrutinized and trash talked, being accused of warming the same Eba on two albums, a couple of releases that didn’t have the same Landlord effect as the typical Asake type song does have and the pressure of having to make the perfect third studio album to seal the trifecta, Lungu Boy was destined to be different.
He opens the album with Asa’s voice, a rendition of her classic Eiye Adaba. She prepares the floor for the ghetto youth, giving thanks and rendering chants of appreciation, in a way solemn enough for Mr Money to debut his voice with an aggressive energy. He’s spazzing, talking his shit. To the fans, To God, he’s making sure to give a piece of his mind. It all rolls into the next song MMS, where in usual Asake fashion, he gives all glory to God on the first track of his Album.
Isn’t he a proper Yoruba boy? Isn’t this how we were raised? Greet those above you, then get to business. You see why I love him now? He says God understands everything. We as humans didn’t bring anything here, and we most definitely are not taking anything with us. And who does he enlist on the opener to buttress his point? Another blessed Yoruba king in the person of Mr Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun AKA Wizkid. Poetic if you ask me, but don’t. You should know that by now.
He goes on to talk about his Mood as the album unfolds. He says
“Some days I’m feeling jovi
Some days I’m feeling gloomy
Some days I’m feeling like I no wan chill with anybody
What I’m saying is not funny
Real life shit, what a feeling
Sometimes I pick my key and drive around, they think I’m cruising
DND no disturbance
Take a new ink to feel normal
Losing my mind with a G face
Ọmọ no reflex when I feel pain
Life is a race, keep it running
Face my fears, keep it solid
Allahu akbar to my maker
Bow my head, I feel so grateful”
I personally think the last person who was this real was Llona when he said Another will always bring another problem. On the second verse of Mood, Asake flexes by delivering the entire second verse in Spanish.
While this is artistically beautiful, to deliver a song in a language that’s not in any way related to your mother tongue with impeccable delivery, stupendous flow and top-level rhyme scheme, I think the genius here is that he’s making a statement.
He has no boundaries. He could go to a Latin market he’s already making waves in and dominate. He could do a Spanish album someday. Another genius thing was he didn’t speak Yoruba on the entire song. Like I said, tactical genius.
He doesn’t dwell in his soliloquy for long, he pours out My Heart on the next delivery. Still, in his Latino bag, he speaks of a Spanish lover who has mesmerized him to the point where he sounds like a drunk lover. Beautiful melodies decorate this record, and one can almost get lost in it. Asake has a knack for bounces, and the calypso groove on this is love, to say the least. One can only imagine how the woman he wrote this for felt or is feeling.
Worldwide sees Asake flex a perfect blend of trap and Afrobeats, he goes on and on about the life he’s living now. He’s on god level, he says. He’s worldwide, dominating and conquering. Fancy cars, money, women, all of it. He remains grateful, however, to the ones supporting him, and to the ones who aren’t willing to listen to him, he tells them to stand up, and I love it.
Worldwide raises his energy and gets him Active. Not just him, Travis Scott too. They come together to form one of the best synergies we have seen from Afrobeats crossovers. A personal favourite on the project, Asake returns to more of what we know him for but is still very different.
He finds new pockets to explore, and new spaces to operate from. He’s brought us here before, but it feels like a new journey. Like Joey Akan said “Inside that Amapiano, another Amapiano dey inside. A blend of Amapiano, Fuji, Funk and Hip-Hop, the up-tempo record is a guaranteed party starter embodying his unique thumbprint.
Suru with Stormzy has him reminiscing on life and resting in the assurance that the works and ways of God are not known to man. A valid statement considering how he rose to fame. Known for his extravagant and daring lifestyle, it’s no surprise that the next record has him Skating (may God bless the engineer who panned the drums and instruments rolling in the intro of this song).
On the journey to the top of life, it’s only normal to pick up new likes and habits, and skating is now a part of our money man. It puts him on a Wave, a place where he doesn’t like to be stressed. Here, he combines brilliantly with Central Cee to deliver a household anthem.
Mentally speaks to the fighter in me, like a call to battle. It reminds me of a memory I do not have anymore. It’s peace and chaos at the same time. Reassuring is what I call it. I say again, Asake you will forever be great. Uhh Yeah makes me say it again. Mr Money, you will forever be great, even though you almost lost me at I Swear, and the rest of the album. For this, we bless God for our bonus track Fuji Vibe.
Final thoughts on Asake’s Lungu Boy
While many argue that the Afro-Fusion novelty has worn off and that he made a mistake not attempting the trifecta with his usual collaborators Olamide (on the pen) and Magicsticks (on production), I think it is bold of him. Though the singing and delivery feel flat on some records, and the argument that he over-experimented on this project (a belief I also once shared), I think it necessary.
Though some argue that fatigue has set in and he’s worn out and tired from two albums back to back and touring coupled with him having about five features on the album compared to the usual one, I think it is important, due to demand and international appeal.
I’m a big fan of adventure, and I identify it to be very important in music, especially if you’re playing the long game. He already has two successful albums by any standard in the bag. One thing people fail to factor in is that Asake’s music entered and connected at a time when our industry was heavily relying on a trend. Amapiano. He’s known for making Amapiano bangers.
What happens if and when Amapiano disappears tomorrow? Want him to go with it? want him to become the artist trying to come back on the shoulders of past glory? It’s not a coincidence the first track on the album is titled Mr Money Sound. He’s making his way. It might sound different from what you expected, but it’s still good, great, undeniably. He’s on a journey to advancing his music.
He’s trying things we’ve never seen him do. Creative courage is actively present, regardless of whatever you say. He says on Fuji Vibe that “he’s finding his way, so bad belle won’t stop his reign.”
He’s at the top of the game, how does he remain there? All the cues are on the album. He says on Mentally that he’s thinking mentally, on how to stay ahead. He says he knows it’s a turn-by-turn business, but he still considers himself to be next in line, after all he’s done. He’s not going to get there by rewarming Eba every time.
The irony of the listeners we make music for. Keep doing the same thing, they say you’re not good and versatile enough. Show range, they slander you for experimenting. They accuse you of fixing what’s not broken. Luckily, Asake seems to be ahead of the curve. On Lungu Boy, it’s a bit obvious that a lot has gotten to him.
The creative demand of making three classic albums in three years, the fatigue from touring the world, and the pressure from coming to your phone and seeing critics talking trash about what’s making a name of you, accusing you of being a one-way road. The desire to address it all is inevitable.
Experimentation, versatility and dynamism are the biggest indicators of longevity. I take three shots in respect of Asake doing it on this level. Mr Money, breathe, calm down, you will be here for a long.
You’re one of those chosen by God, so you will forever be great.
