IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT

I could remember when I first heard this guy flows then on sound city I was like what was this guy trying to do, he must be a joker. Probably because there was no beat it was just like a freestyle that was why I discarded it because when I finally got to hear the real song I was moved.

I mean who didn’t love crowd mentality when the song came out but that was only the beginning of the short black boy called M.I.

After Anoti there was Safe then right there I knew this guy was the real deal of new generation rap in Nigeria. As people started to talk about him wondering where this guy came from, he drop the album TALK ABOUT IT and we all talked about it. Two year later M.I ABAGA had become a household name in Nigeria music industry and the front runner when it came to new school rap. Just like a movie we all anticipated his second album M.I 2 THE MOVIE and just like we expected the short black boy didn’t disappoint though some will argue that it wasn’t up to the first album but I will say he gave us what was needed at the time.

With his second album he made rap have a new dimension, a storyline that people could relate with. Who could ever think that rap will go with high life? Well we have M.I to thank for that as he provided us with African rapper which featured the talented Mr. Flavour. This was a new chapter in the rap industry as other rappers now saw new possibilities in the way rap could be done. But just when the whole world thought we were going to see a third album the story went cold as the short black boy drastically kept quiet and nothing was heard from him just one or two collabo’s but no personal single. People started talking and asking “where is M.I?” “What happened to M.I” “he don make too much money abi him no won sing again?” Many stuff was said about the absent of the king of rap music in Nigeria as fans began to worry that he has lost his magical touch or probably he was afraid of the competition from the new rappers.

One morning after three years of waiting we heard the chairman of rap music had resurfaced as M.I decided to drop a new single called CHAIRMAN. Fans were happy as everyone wanted to hear what he had to offer and just like what we know him for, he didn’t disappoint but then the noise about his return was questioned again as he had gone back on his promise to release an album that year. The song was suppose to be the song that was going to promote his third studio album but he disappointed his fans yet again as that was the only single that was released and also he didn’t release any album that year. Entering into the fourth year since he dropped M.I 2 THE MOVIE he fans started to lose patience in him even though they still believe the chairman was going to come around. Some tweeted at him wanting to know why he has left them alone, some were always begging and requesting for something new to be done but the chairman turned deaf ears. But one day the chairman to me did what I saw as the best marketing strategy a king like him could use to stage his comeback by announcing on twitter that he was official done with rap. This move got the rap lovers talking people started tweeting and before you knew it everybody was talk about M.I again. And just as we were all trying to comprehend what would have made the Undisputed Champion bail on us he hit us real hard with a song titled KING JAMES then his fans knew M.I was back for real.

This time M.I was for real as he told us the stunt he pulled about him retiring was just a publicity stunt to get back into the heart of people and as we were all enjoying his KING JAMES he announced the date of his third studio album titled “THE CHAIRMAN” and this time there was no disappointment as he fulfilled his promise. Now let talk about the CHAIRMAN, from the way the songs were arranged you could see that it would only take a short black boy to do that. The seventeen track album with featured close to seventeen artiste had a very unique arrangement like this;

1. The beginning/nobody                     10. The end/chairman

2.  Monkey                                          11. Human being

3. Rich                                                12. Beg

4. Mine                                               13. Yours

5. Shekpe                                           14. Billionaire Champagne        

6. Bad Belle                                       15. Always love

7. Wheel barrow                                16. Bullion van

8. Brother                                          17.  Enemy

                               9. The middle.

Now can you all see the creativity behind the arrangement of the song it was like the chairman was trying to do a song and opposite thing with the arrangement of the songs? This is will be the second album(Jesse Jagz Royal Niger Company was the first) I have listened to this year without skipping any track in fact I played some tracks like three times before moving to the next one. Don’t expect me to start explaining to you how interesting the songs on this album are but I will tell that if you have waited four years to hear from M.I then getting four copies of the #CHAIRMANALBUM is totally worth it.