From the look of his YouTube channel, the songs on his
debut project are products of more than 3years of
chasing the music dream. On one hand, Bman is full of
optimistic faith. On the other, there’s thought of him
accepting fate as it comes.
For decades, culture-defining Afrobeats arts – of FELA,
Lagbaja – has been inspiring the best of music in
Nigeria. Everyone from Burna to Wizkid, and Simi fetch
from the spring of the fore-bearers. The most self-
defining projects in the last decade lend from pre-
modern Afrobeats archive: Simisola, African Giant.
When the giant needs to go spiritual, he revisits the
source. Bman wisely follows this paved path and finds
a good substance for his chic art.
On its own, the extracts don’t feel sufficient. But coupled
with Bman’s street-taught philosophies, the music
resonates with realities of a struggling dreamer with an
interesting dash of conviviality. Striking lines are littered
across the records: “life go sweet for who go make am.”
“poor man no dey sit down for front bench.” On Quit, he
lets us in on questions on his hustle he strives to
resolve – “How many times you dey sleep? How many
times you dey work?” – alluding to the hang together of
the concepts of work, sleep, and success.
In some moments, Bman turns attention away from
dreams and nightmares. The singer turns to advocacy
on Emeka, again leaning on the sonic resonance of Nze Dan Orji’s classic, Edikwansa to spread the word
against drug abuse. The gist-styled storytelling on the
record makes the best case of his shared similarities
with Blackmagic. He sounds convincingly concerned in
his auto-tune-assisted vocals. Husband Material stylishly
critiques women who pick men by the size of their
pockets.
Overall, the album succeeds in impressing, doing as
much as showing Bman as a talent who gets the artistic
value of Afrobeats, although he is fused with other
genre accessories. Unfortunately, the keenness in the
opener diminishes down the list, creating a less than
a wholesome listening experience. Still, the project marks
a win for Bman whose new task is to build on the
substructure of his career. If there’s any takeout from the
album, – although, there are multiple takeouts – it is that
the Afrobeats greats left us a treasure trove.
Written by Oluwatobi Ibironke
Twitter: @ibironketweets
