Most of us almost ran out of patience while waiting
endlessly for another 2face Idibia album and now, the ‘less talked
about’ album is out. There was not much hype and expectation befitting
of 2baba’s status, adding to the fact that he was not able to come up
with a popular single. The duet with Bridget Kelly and Machel Montano
tried to pull the stunt to no avail. Released under Hypertek Digital and
960 Music Group, here is an in-depth review of the 17 track album by
Nigeria’s finest 2face Ujah Idibia. As a loyal 2face fan, I would try as
much as possible to be objective in the assessment of this album.
ALBUM TITLEHow
2face and his advisers arrived at Ascension is unclear to me. For
Ascension is the process of an upward movement. Perhaps, 2baba still has
somewhere higher to be after christening his last album Away and
Beyond.
ALBUM COVER Just like the album title,
this album picture is similar to the picture used on his last album Away
and Beyond. In fact, one might think both pictures were taken on the
same day. The difference is that in the previous album, he buried both
hands in his tuxedo, but on the Ascension album, he decided to leave one
out and throw it in the air to make a salute to his fans. He also
decides to look up straight in Ascension rather than sideways in Away
and Beyond. Also on the front cover is a faded picture of an old-school
unknown car, perhaps, his vehicle to make the upward movement. On the
album design, it is one of the pros of the album; the album cover looks
beautiful on the front and back.
The design is impressive and
completely banishes the ugly album covers churned out for 2face under
Kennis Music. The tracks are well listed in a simple layout as well as
nice choice of colours. The logo of Hypertek Digital and 960 Music Group
also sits beautifully at the bottom right corner of the back cover. But
the cons of this design is that, the list of producers and sound
engineers are not linked to the tracks they worked on, which makes it
hard to pin point who produced what track. In this age where
intellectual property is significant in the growth of the music
industry, I never expected to meet this error and it has also made my
job harder when it comes to ascribing praise or blame. Who gets the
blame for that? I’ll blame 960 Music Group.
PRODUCTION/MIXING AND MASTERINGGone
are those days when J.Sleek held the monopoly over 2face’s album,
things have really changed now. Although it appears a discord exists
between both, that explains why both of them don’t work like they used
to (This is a topic for another day). Femi Ojetunde makes a comeback on
Ascension, alongside Jay Sleek, Leriq and others, while Foster Zeeno
leads the pack of mastering engineers.
Like I stated earlier,
Producers and engineers are not properly credited with their works. Thus
any individual assessment is almost impossible.
With all due
respect to the talents that worked on this album, I still don’t
understand why 2baba can’t employ the services of top producers like Don
Jazzy and Cobhams. These guys are Africa’s best music producers with
impressive resume and experience required to add a perfect and unique
style to the 2face brand.
They also have the real music
qualities to help bring out the best of 2face Idibia and help write
songs just like OJB Jezreel did back in the days. All the same, I still
hail 2baba for working with Masterkraft and Leriq, two of the best ‘new
generation’ producers, but the fact is both have produced far better
beats than they delivered on this album. Listen to Masterkraft’s beats
for Banky, EME, Timaya and co and check what Leriq did with Burna Boy,
then you’ll understand my point.
Likewise the mixing and
mastering, it could have been better. An artist like 2face Idibia who is
regarded as the leading artist in Nigeria should offer his fans the
best of the best sounds. A minor blemish on the mixing of this album
appears on track 4 which features Vector. It appears that Vector’s part
was not properly mixed in the studio. How this was not noticed before
the album was released is unclear to me. Apart from that, the rest
sounds good.
LYRICS/STYLE/CONCEPT2face Idibia has
won a lot of fans with his afro-pop/reggae style over the years, but it
appears there is a deliberate ‘upward movement’ towards other genre.
Ascension contains songs with less 2face reggae style, but rather, he
toed the path of Caribbean soca, afro beat and high life. While this
can’t be counted as a success yet, 2face did well in the fusion. Some
fans might be disappointed for not having much of the ‘traditional’
2baba style but their love for the musician will override.
I have
never known 2face to be the type that struggles with lyrics, but in
this album, 2face obviously searched words to fill up some tracks. We
all know 2face has his flaws as a musician, just like every individual,
but Kennis Music had a way of concealing his weaknesses, which somehow
shows again on this album.
TRACK BY TRACK ANALYSIS 1.
Go
ft Machel : This is the second single from the album, this song was
expected to raise the awareness of the coming album and give the waiting
fans something to cheer about. An up tempo dance track for the club.
2face with help from Machel Montano, a super star soca musician from
Trinidad & Tobago, deliver this nice music.
2.
#Aproko: Hashtag aproko is the track dedicated to gossipers and busy bodies, like Linda Ikeji.
3.
Holiday: Holiday is another tracks that’s just there, nothing much to talk about it.
4.
Can’t Hear You
ft Vector: This is one of the few tracks that got 2baba spitting his
mind. Vector in usual way, dropped his lyrics in a metaphoric fashion.
Vector tried unsuccessfully, to replicate his performance in Banky W’s
‘Africa and proud’, but this is a dissimilar terrain, and the mixing of
his voice didn’t help either. I won’t be surprised if Vector signs for
Hypertek Digital. He seems to have a good bond with 2face and I will
advise both parties to work towards making something happen. It will be
mutually beneficial.
5.
The Best I can Be ft Rock Steady and
Ice berg slim: This could have been the best track in the Ascension
album but for the laziness and poor lines of Rock Steady. Ice berg slim
is superb with his lines. I’ll advice he (Ice berg Slim) ride on this
and ‘re-launch’ his career that has somehow failed to begin.
6.
Let Somebody Love You ft Bridget Kelly: This is the first single from the album and happens to be the best song in the album.
7.
Kiss of Life: Kinda sounds like Rainbow, but it’s cool though, a Tiwa Savage would have made the song better.
8.
I Hate What You Do To Me:
This song is somehow needless. Ascension without this track could have
even made the album better. The first four lines are not expected from a
musician of 2face’s status. “We arrange the place and then we scatter
it again” No 2face… ‘I never experrerit.’
9.
Confessions ft
Rocksteady and Dammy krane: Probably the worst track in the album. When
the track starts you might think it’s a track from the days of Daniel
Wilson and Blacky. Dammy Krane did his best and Rocksteady, lazy as
usual. His stay on Hypertek Digital seems to be more of a friendship
obligation on the part of 2face than a professional relationship.
Rocksteady is a shadow of himself. You hear Rocksteady on the ascension
album and you are like, is this the same Rocksteady of Trybunal days
with blackface? I think a Sound Sultan or Burna Boy would have done
better on this track. Lest I forget, the beat sucks.
10.
Close to Where You Are:
Akon Style rnb, it’s just there. No artiste does this style anymore; I
just don’t understand why 2baba would record this song in 2014.
11.
International Loving ft Kim Almarcha: One of the best tracks of the album. 2baba features Kim Almarcha, a French singer. This one is for the club.
12.
Bourlay Bourlay ft Shurwayne: Featuring another Soca singer from Trinidad & Tobago.
13.
Diaspora woman
ft Fally Ipupa: Another attempt to diversify the style of his album
leads Tubaba to Fally Ipupa, this makossa song sounds good and it’s a
song for the clubs. I expected more from two superstars of African
music.
14.
Jeje: Jeje is an afro beat that brings back the
memories of Fela Kuti. A street anthem, this is surely gonna be the
biggest song in the album. The only track I have played more than 20
times. What I love most about this song is the Fela-style-female backup
singers. I give him high five for this.
15.
Lesse Passe ft Sir
Victor Uwaifo: 2face teams up with elderly highlife veteran and label
mate, Sir Victor Uwaifo to deliver this highlife genre. The song make
sense and will be good for all age groups. Sir Victor blended well too.
16.
Ife Dinma
ft Tony Week: It’s like 2face is fast gaining reputation for making
attempts to resuscitate fellow musicians’ career. Featuring Terry Tha
Rapman in his last album surprised a lot of people, and here he comes
again featuring Tony One week in another highlife/dance music produced
by Masterkraft. With all due respect to Tony One Week, I believe
featuring Flavour Nabania, Timaya or Phyno instead would have been
better and given the song a wider outreach. However, Tony one week
proved critics like me wrong and gave the music a gyration feeling. The
track is not bad.
17.
Not a Surprise: The last track on the
album is a typical 2face style music, reggae and street music. This is
surely gonna be a hit track. 2face on his usual motivational self
delivers this amazing short track directly from his heart.
VERDICT
From afro beat, afro-pop, rnb, soca to highlife and reggae, 2face
Idibia has delivered his 6th studio album. This is no mean feat; so he
deserves all the applause and support. After paying $9.99 to purchase
the album on iTunes, I can’t really say I am satisfied or disappointed.
All I know is that the album is below par. His foray into other genre
and international outlook seems to be his priority, which somehow brings
something new to the industry. But there’s no cause for alarm, 2face is
the only one that can get away with such ‘musical experiments’.
Another
observation is that 2face’s best songs have come from his true feelings
and life stories, when he sings from the heart- he sings perfectly.
This explains how he struggled with words in track 8 ‘I Hate What You Do
To Me’. After getting married to his long time lover, Annie Macaulay
(who inspired many songs in the past) I was hoping for a song detailing
how sweet and interesting his marriage to her has been.
Moreover,
I was also expecting a track in the mould of ‘E Be Like Say’ or ‘4
Instance’, due to the current challenges facing us in Nigeria. Recently,
2face Idibia has been lending support to calls for better living
conditions and he arranged an all star collabo on the missing girls. How
he missed this historic opportunity to become a vibrant voice, at a
defining moment in our nation’s history is unclear to me. Music, they
say, is the opium of the masses.
How this album will fare
commercially is yet to be known. However, a massive marketing strategy
could do the magic and perhaps, an international release on a later date
might boost album sales.
Finally, like 2face Idibia’s
post-Kennis Music albums, there’s the probability that you might not
feel it at first, for it takes time to get into a listener’s system,
which leaves his true fans with the patience to keep the tracks on
replay. At this time of many skelewus and dorobuccis, it remains to be
seen how the album will appeal to local fans. I’ll suggest you grab a
copy of the album, just don’t expect to come across evergreen songs like
‘Higher - Spiritual Healing’, ‘Rain Drops’ or highly inspiring music
like ‘Dance in the Rain’ and ‘Only you’.
Lanre Etti Jr
@EttiJr
@BeatsArena
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