Wizkid: “Made in Lagos” Album Review – An Emotional StarBoy Experience

Forum 3 years ago

Wizkid: “Made in Lagos” Album Review – An Emotional StarBoy Experience

With a solid performance on core afrobeat tracks with soothing melodies from Jamaica, Canada, London, Nigeria, and America, Wizkid shows off the amazing attributes he has as a Lagos bred singer. “Made in Lagos” album according to Wizkid is a project meant to tell the beautiful story of what growing up in Lagos (Africa’s most populous city) feels like.

The RCA/Sony Music recording artiste who launched his own imprint, Starboy Entertainment in March 2013 drops his second studio album under a major label. “Made in Lagos” album by Ayo "Wizkid" Balogun is a 14-track album featuring Damian Marley, Ella Mai, Terri, Tems, Burna Boy, H.E.R, Tay Iwar, and Projexx. It is a well-crafted body of work. Listening to the tracks on this album gave me goosebumps, made me remember the Afrobeat of the 2000s when 2Baba, Faze and the rest dominated the Nigerian music space with cool and slow-paced jams.

For the record, I wrote most of this review while listening to “True Love” featuring Tay Iwar and Projexx. I couldn’t resist playing this song over and over again so while you go through my honest review of Wizkid’s fourth studio album, show him some ‘True love’ by playing this track in the background.

Ayo must have been in a state of mind that required him to listen to slow or mid-tempo beats with enough melody to appease his soul. The criticism his previous works suffered holds no ground on this one. “Made in Lagos” is not just another ‘Baby-fied’ Wizkid album. It has awesome lyrics with unique melodies. The feelings could be felt. Wizkid indeed gave us a masterclass performance.

From the heavy drum kicks in “True Love” to the trumpets in “Reckless”, we could catch a glimpse of the Starboy Experience in an emotion-filled album.

Aside from the wonderful performances by these beautiful creatives who played an outstanding role on “Made in Lagos”, Wizkid might have failed in giving his fans a conscious sound to further expose the hardship that surrounds those living in Lagos and the poor state the leaders has kept the city. This I believe will hinder so many from connecting to this Wizkid’s “Made in Lagos” novel.

• Taking a look at the songs, “Grace” takes us right into a deep mood. The track has some soul touching lyrics. “…They No Fit Run My Race..” hook line got me screaming. I just felt like I should keep listening to this track. The vibe is extraordinarily magical.

• London and Wizkid teams up again in “Gyrate”. This is their second track together. The first one was a fire tune tagged “Electric” off Starboy Entertainment & Wizkid’s “Soundman Vol. 1 EP”.

• In “True Love”, Wizkid, Tay Iwar, and Projexx ruggedly marry reggae melodies in an emotional R&B track produced by Julz. The union gives us a spiritual vibe that explains just how mysterious love is.

• One of my favourites tracks off this album is Wizkid’s joint with Tems tagged “Essence”. Wizkid’s lovely voice is obviously a perfect match for Tems’ magical tone.

• Wizkid talks about pressure and blessings and the beauty of living a clout-free life in this wonderful pice tagged "Blessed" featuring Damian Marley.

• "Mighty Wine" comes with a different feeling. The danceable tune comes with a lovely vibe.

• Even though many will argue Wizkid tracks off the Made in Lagos album sounds alike, "Sweet One" could be spared. The instrumentation and Wizkid's vocals are just too sweet.

• "Smile" featuring American songstress, H.E.R is the first single from this project. It's a reggae inspired R&B track.

• A Wizkid, Ella Mai collaboration couldn't have been doper. The synergy in these two is something to be studied. They attacked the beat as if they were having a romantic session. "Piece of Me" is fire!

• The second Made in Lagos single "No Stress" is an explicit track that got Wizkid talking love, sex and pretty girls.

• A Starboy joint is finally here. Wizkid collaborates with his artist, Terri in "Roma".

• Wizkid links up with his British friend Joseph Junior Adenuga mostly known as Skepta in an electrifying sound tagged "Longtime".

• "Reckless" served more like the Intro to this project. Wizkid once more talks about not being a clout chasing artist who has so much to offer. "Reckless" is a pure vibe.

• Burna Boy joins Wizkid in what happens to be their first track together titled "Ginger".

RATING

Lyrics – 4/5

Production – 5/5

Performance – 4/5

AVERAGE RATING – 4/5