Is M.I still Nigeria or Africa’s king of rap?
Editor’s note: NAIJ.com contributor Udochukwu Ikwuagwu analyses ace rapper M.I’s latest work and third set of “illegal music”. The rapper first gained fans with his game changing album Illegal Music back in 2008. Since then he has remained somewhere at the top of the rap game in Nigeria, although not consistently at the forefront.
The run up to Illegal Music 3 has been interesting with the Choc City head honcho promoting the project in an unusual, sensational manner. First, M.I Abaga dropped the Chairman cypher (strange for a rapper not known for his freestyle prowess), a triple-edge sword to cut awareness for the liquor brand he serves as ambassador, push his Chairman album, and whet appetite for the third offering in the Illegal Music series—uttering from his throne: This is comeback!
Notifying his fan base of his next project which he termed “labour of love” on social media, M.I took promotion a notch higher. Considering the delay in Illegal Music 2 and the Chairman album, some fans and critics were not ready to hold their breath—but, still, kept faith in the man whom hip hop in Nigeria’s grateful. In Kanye-esque style, M.I took to twitter to self-declare the greatness of his yet-to-be released mixtape, urging critics to trumpet his genius over albums of American rhymers. Before making that bold statement, he had had a prior Kanye moment in the fashion which the tracklist was presented.
“With all humility I am as great or greater than 95 percent of them (sic),” one of M.I’s tweets read. In hip hop, Mr. Incredible is allowed to make bold statements as he wishes; say, for instance, I am greater than Rakim, Biggie, Em, Hov, Pac, Esco, 3 Stacks—and it’s fine! It’s hip hop! Debates will pop up from every corner, dissecting his claims, stacking his bold statement against his discography to find truth or discard as empty talk—it’s also fine because that’s hip hop! To backup that mouth with material is the least hip hop community expects from M.I. He tries to prove naysayers wrong when he jumps on Pusha T’s Numbers on the Boards for Numbers after tweeting I respectfully decline that Push will go there with me bar wise, the only problem: this track falls flat and can’t match Pusha T’s matchless wordplay, rhyme scheme, and bars on the sampled track. When Pusha T sampled Jay-Z on Numbers on the Boards, it fit the story told unlike M.I’s attempt which felt like throwing samples hoping one sticks. Using Kendrick Lamar’s flow on The Blacker The Berry for the third verse proves this theory. Throwing any and every sample shows up on Head of the Family, the track dedicated to his CC family. Head of the Family starts properly with Jay Z’s La Familia then devolves into unlikely territory with Kanye West’s Never Let Me Down, Vin Diesel on Fast & Furious, then Beyoncé’s Halo sung in autotune similar to Kanye West’s last minutes on Runaway. One would have thought the last samples would end the confusing theme till Rudy Francisco’s A Lot Like You about his future wife clocks in. A recurring sample on Illegal Music 3 is the annoying coin drop sound.
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The M.I on The Illegal Music 3 contradicts himself to the point one can say he isn’t as confident as the M.I that gave four back-to-back classic projects, with Illegal Music 2 his magnum opus and springboard for 10 rappers. In the same breath he utters if J Cole made IM2…We would be having a different convo he uses J. Cole’s #LoveYours to promote The Box, a track off Illegal Music 3 featuring protégés Pryse and C.Kay, and the entire project. On the aforementioned track, pitched-down vocals of Tay open for M.I to kick rhymes in an unorthodox style, not flowing with the sample’s cadence. Things get noisy as the track switches for punchline queen, Pryse, and C.Kay’s interpolation of M.I’s Rich and Tay’s The Box. M.I’s intention to egg on young rappers ends up an ego wax for the CC CEO.
On NotJustOk/Savage, M.I spits: “Will there be anybody greater it’s yet to be known…scientists are saying ‘Mehn, it’s yet to be cloned’…There’s nobody on my level just let it be known/You wanna talk comparison, let it be Mode or better be eLDee.”
Unlike the cocksure M.I that rapped: “I’m not saying I’m the best just asking who’s better” on Area, this M.I needs more people. Hip Hop has been competitive since day one so it begs the question: Why would M.I contradict himself on the same track? Why would M.I call Rihanna over to label him a savage only to sound like a drama queen on a diss towards NotJustOK? Why would he sample Greg Hardy’s “no comment, next question” on a commentary on awards, acclaim and respect? He talks about weapon of choice and ready to burst but doesn’t take his ammo to go ham on Ovie and Demola and the whole NotJustOk enterprise, and Ayo Animashaun and The Headies. Though how he makes pitched-down Rihanna sound like Tory Lanez offers the highlight. Another contradiction happens on the MLK-sampled opener The Finale rapping: “Allegations of discrimination/Local versus punchline versus imitation/You have to realise that there’s no limitation/Just turn your inspiration into innovation.”
Same M.I that took to snapchat moments after carting the gong for Best Rap Album at the Headies, throwing shots at Olamide, Phyno and Reminisce (local rappers/street-ti-takeover movement), now dismissing the local versus punchline dichotomy?
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On Illegal Music 3, M.I in torn between sitting on the throne (Your highness, are you low enough to one day face rejection? on Everything I Have Seen, Head of the Family), going to battle with other rappers for the lost crown (I earned the crown and then returned to sit among the peasants on Everything I Have Seen, No matter how high, we all fall down on All Fall Down, Remember Me) and accepting that there are other thrones and hip hop kings (The Box, NotJustOk/Savage, The Finale). And surprisingly, to solve this conflict, he recruits label mate Ruby and Lynyrd Skynyrd to offer final thoughts on the chest-thumping, achievement-dropping Remember Me, which manages to sound like a dirge for a departed great.
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