Since his shocking elimination from Project Fame West Africa in much to the dissatisfaction of many fans who had come to see him as one with a voice for the future, Chike Ezekpeazu Osebuka has lived up to those expectations.
The Onitsha-born singer has never stopped committing to the perspiration of his craft; he has remained true to the passion that enlivened the hearts of many as they watched him wow with mind-blowing performances in his early days as a contestant on a reality TV show.
Four years after his debut album, Boo of the Booless, no one will deny the fact that the 31-year-old artist has successfully carved a niche for himself, a path only a few can comfortably tread without slipping off the slope.
Chike has garnered 11 nominations at the country’s finest and most anticipated music award show, The Headies. Last year, his sophomore album, The Brother’s Keeper, won in the Best RnB Album category. A consideration of the number of shows, nominations, and work put in will convince the skeptic that Chike Ezekpeazu Osebuka’s rise to the top is not a coupon of happenstance.
His latest offering, Son of Chike, leans into past experiences and varied musical aesthetics, to emerge as a bildungsroman with a precise reflection of the sonic and thematic concerns Chike has developed over the years. It is an apotheosis and what it does is to apprise fans and listeners of Chike’s ever-growing stature as an artist, reflected in his ability to churn out hit songs year-in, year-out.
Son of Chike is in that sense, the announcement of a legend in the making. To make a timeless song in your debut year might be considered sheer luck. But to repeat such a feat consecutively is a marker of virtuosity— this is what we have in Son of Chike: an effortless display of delightful techniques by a skilled technician.
Almost every decibel of sound in the album is well-placed, well-founded and well-versed. There are only 12 songs in Son of Chike, two and four songs less than his debut and sophomore respectively. This helps put in proper context his coming of age as a musical superstar.
The opening track, “Unto You”, is a collaborative tune featuring Mavin Records’ Ladi Poe, which proceeds along witty and antithetical lines; when you give me hate/ i go show you love/ me i rather get eye/ wey no fit see/ me rather get ear/ wey no fit hear/ me i rather get tongue/ wey no fit taste/ than to get heart/ wey no fit low/ unto you/ show me low.
Tellingly, this lyricism elicits Chike’s tenderness and vulnerability with love always at the core of his nuanced and sublime artistry.
He doubles on this pathos with “Egwu”, a song with the late Mohbad; which has blossomed into an unintended tribute to the deceased.” Egwu” is pure Afropop and an accomplished song on every level.
“Apple”, produced by Akybeats, is a delectable love ditty floating on waves of the Igbo language. In the song, he reminds his lover of the genuine intimacy they share as he warns in pidgin, “come make we reconcile/ nothing dey outside”.
The club-bound banger, “Not Your Daddy”, is a testament to Chike’s range. There is enough insouciance to unpack as the song unspools, rousing listeners to an intriguing discovery that is Chike’s willingness to be experimental.
Chike’s immense pride in his cultural heritage is palpable from the album cover to the title which if translated from Igbo to English loosely approximates to Son of the God of Strength
With featured appearances from Olamide, Qing Ming, Ladi Poe, Amaeya, and the late Mohbad, Chike manages to create an album that further consolidates the strength of his exciting discography while announcing without equivocation the arrival of a legend in the making.
***Adeniyi Odukoya is a Nigerian Poet, Essayist and Journalist. He’s the author of the poetry chapbook, Preserve This Light.
