Written By Mr Starks

The new P Square album is out and the superfans are nuts (nobody can boast of having more Superfans than P Square -except D’banj). Even the Okoye twins made a song for them called – Superfans. If there is anything I would commend the twins on, it would be their marketing machine. They have improved progressively on the marketing for each album. Improving their appearance (One of the P is sporting a fresh haircut), the album cover is very nice, distribution of their album (album can be picked up on Katlego Africa ~ http://www.katlegoafrica.com and local outlets near you) and their wallet size. Sadly there has been a minimal improvement in their sound. On Danger, the sound remains largely the same – hardly dangerous now is it. They have stuck to the safe formula that has led to them being one of the most successful acts out of Africa. You have the love songs like I Love You(I wonder how many weddings are going to use this), I Like Dat etc, to send the female and some males crazy – pretty sure there are some guys out there that would be breaking out the Square chat up lines. You have the party songs like Danger, Trowey and Break It which would make djing for Naija parties that much easier for DJs. I can tell you now, nothing like a P Square jam to eject that electric feel into a party. All in all a standard P Square album as expected.

The major gripe I have is the selection of beat and this is a constant gripe music lovers pick up on most P Square albums. Listening to a P Square album might as well be a “Guess Whos Beat is That?” experience. You listen to it and some part of your brain immediately lights up because the beat sounds familiar. Everytime. Lets take the first track on the album “I Love You“, you press play, you vibing , you like the beat and you think wow wow, this was the beat to one of the most popular bashment songs of the year, Mavado – Im So Special. Now there is absolutely no problem in reinterpreting songs or sampling them, but it becomes a problem when a song sounds like it should be on a mixtape when you just stick your vocals on to the track. Other artistes do it but they do not put it on their final album. The J Martins collaboration, a stellar track, but is let down by this same problem as it could easily have been another J Martins track that was left on the studio cutting floor. Same goes for the 2face collaboration. That song sounds like it could have been on any of 2face’s last three albums but again never did. Another track “Who Dey Here” could easily pass as a P Square remix of Faze’s super “Originality” track. This issue makes you angrily want to label P-Square talentless without their own staple sound but you stop short of doing that when you listen to the whole album in its entirety and realise it is just a case of a few bad eggs and this album really is not that bad. Luckily on this album, there are only about 4 tracks lacking said originality and this is extremely commendable as you get more insight to what P Square sounds like. Even the bad eggs taste good and I guess that is what matters to the broader fan base.

Overall this is a solid offering from the Okoye twins; in fact this might be my favourite of all their offerings. It serves up what we have come to know P Square for. A square offering – in which you know exactly what four sides you are going to get and this album, is exactly that. No extra dimension. A safe haven for everyone from the lover to the partygoer. A paradise for the fans. Musically, definitely not a danger.

- Mr Starks

Kel whose real names are Kelechi Ohia is a female Nigerian rapper. She is an Economics student of the Lagos State University. Kel who started rapping about eight years ago is currently signed to Capital Hill Music, the record label under which she released her debut album.

DISCOGRAPHY:
The Investment is Kel’s debut album. From the sleeve design to the content, no other album title could be more appropriate. The album boasts of a total of19 tracks- 15 songs and 4 skits.

1.Intro
2. Waa Wa Alright
3. Nobody Else
4.Turn by Turn
5.Beautiful Life
6.Jeun Soke
7.Too Fine
8.Omo Yapayask
9.Love Hour Skit
10.Need U In My Life
11.Boy Meets Girl
12.Love
13.Area Mama Skit
14.Dem Don Dey Move
15.Die Hustling
16.Push
17.Waa Wa Alright Rmx
18.Sitting On Top
19. Outro

Vocal Assistances:
Skin, Shank, Tha Suspekt, Wizkid, Y.Q, Aique, Alaye, May D, Durella, Shola Thompson, Six, Darey, SLK, M.I, O.C, Tosyn Bucknor, Illbliss, Uchie, Nyore, Ice Prince, Waje, Jesse Jagz

The album kick starts with the club banger Waa Wa Alright. Ever since this joint dropped a year ago, it has become the favourite of radio hosts and has received mad rotations from outdoor deejays alike. What makes this song spectacular is the hook. The delivery was down to earth, something the streets can relate to.
Kel takes it to the guys on Nobody Else, the first love song on the album. With a nice beat and a vital appearance from Shank, this song is an appetizer to what’s coming up next.
If you loved J Martins’ Good or Bad, you would definitely love the “…tinini tanana…” Turn by Turn. Kel tells of her journey to fame. With lines like “…Now it’s the time to take whats mine…2009…mine…shine!” she relates her migration from the proverbial ‘back then’ to the succesful now.
All my R&B cats stand up! Beautiful Life is for you. A perfect sample of R&B on a rather Hiphop album.Here Kel goes a lil proverbial dropping quotes and cliches like bomb shells.
We get back into the groove with Jeun Soke. The highlight of this joint was the beat left to fade out.After listening to this joint, you might wanna take your time before you “…break it down”.
Too Fine, the 7th wonder of The Investment boasts of tightly packaged lyrical verses from the duo of Kel and Alaye. With lines like “…I give it to them raw…exactly what they asking for…they keep on coming back for more…oh no…they aint ready for a flipping encore…” , this joint deserves a good listen.
Omo Yapayasi…”Kel Yapayaski…Durella yapayaski”, what else do you expect on a collabo with Durella. He kinda murdered the joint though.
Need You In My Life gets us back to the blue paradise. A creative joint done in the R.Kelly conversational style. For all y’all ‘free night calls’ subscribers, whenever you go short of gist, you might wanna take a listen to this joint.
Boy Meets Girl is one song most fans would want to listen to not just because of its beautiful high pitched chorus from SLK but also because of its story line. Kel tells us the explicit details of events that took place before ‘you’ got hooked and of course after then.
Mr. Incredible delivers a nice first verse on Love, another song for the heart and the heartbroken. With her “…heart broken more than twice…”, Kel is “…not saying all love is sad…”.
Another of my favs – Dem don dey move? With ” Illbliss, Kel on a Suspekt track…”, another radio friendly joint is borne. This joint is simply “…lyrical head bashing…gate crashing… thumb smashing!” You better check it out.
Die hustling is a Hiphop banger! With an appearance by Hiphop veteran Illbliss, the lyrical mass of this song is better weighed than described. “…got my damn self…can’t stop chasing this wealth…Kel…finally we’re ringing the bell…Alaba can go to hell!” . This joint is butter!
A lil Jamaican feel won’t kill on Push. With a tint of sexuality, Kel comes hard and Nyore delivers like never before.
Some crunk beats on the album please? Yeah, you got it on Sitting On Top. With vocal assistances from the talented Waje and Jesse Jagz, this joint is simply magnificient. A good wrap up for the album.
The Investment is a 64-minute ride into the anticipated world of Kel, the new rap diva on the block. Taking a listen across the album, it would be easily noticed that the album was divided into 3 parts. The first part was the Commercial Section then the Lovesongs Section and then the Hardcore section.
Big ups on the album:
The beats were dope.
The general mixing/audio quality of the CD is also commendable.
Kel has got flow and appeal.
Lyrically, for a female rapper, the album was ok.
Creative skits too.
Downsides of the album:
There was too much dependency on collaborations.There was barely a song without one or more guests appearances. Jeun Soke which is an exception turned out to be boring with frequent listening. An emcee should be able to prove mastery over her own songs.
Secondly, most of the songs were structured in a verse-hook-verse-maybe bridge-hook pattern. Nothing like freestyle sessions, songs without choruses, these are a few of what you need to get an endorsement from Hiphop heads.
Thirdly, the lyrical content of the album were just average. Less punchlines, weak metaphors, infact, almost no wordplay.
AUTHOR’S RATING: 3/5
Good value for money though. Go cop yours!
- Buchi Steve