‘Connect’, ‘Fada Fada’ ‘E Sure For Me’, ‘Pino Pino’….these are songs that will make any pop singer worth their salt look on with envy. They have all the makings of hit tracks and the first three have connected with the Nigerian public and are current being celebrated.
But they are not from a singer. They are from one of Nigeria’s respected Hip-hop generals, Phyno, the King from the East.
Phyno’s career has been one of experimentation and progress. From producing and rapping in English to discovering the power of indigenous rap, the musician has always moved with what works. Last year he found new life with the superhit jam, ‘Connect’ and he has not looked back.
‘Connect’ came from a familiar place – Igbo Highlife. Many artistes in Nigeria have made a living by drawing ‘inspiration’ from music made an enjoyed by an earlier generation. In reality, they take more than just inspiration, with various elements of the sounds drawn extracted and utilized in the creation of new sounds.
Eastern Highlife has been a very rich ground for many of these acts to delve into and extract sonic material from. The late MC Loph scored a national hit from remixing Osita Osadebe’s ‘Osondi Onwendi’. Flavour’s entire career has had him reaching back to the East for inspiration to make new music. Nigga Raw and many others have at one point in their careers availed themselves of the discography of the Eastern greats.
Phyno who has done that in the past too, struck real gold with ‘Connect’, and he hasn’t looked back. ‘Connect’ threw Phyno into a path of aspirational music, and gave him a formula
Phyno’s formulaic approach can be laid thus: Grab a traditional melody, with deep highlife cuts and Afrobeat leanings from a masterful producer. The subject involves the acquisition of wealth, displays of success, and gratitude to God.
These are the elements of what Nigerian term as true ‘happiness’. A country which prides itself for sing the hustle as a virtue, the gaining of money is huge driving force for everyone. The pursuit of it has become the sole purpose of a country that elevates wealth above everything else. Phyno struck that ubiquitous nerve in ‘Connect’, a song about money-making via business. His next single ‘Fada fada’ featuring Olamide, turned out to be an even bigger hit song. On ‘Fada fada’, he connects via the conveyance of enjoying that wealth, and giving gratitude to God. That struck another nerve. ‘E sure for me’ was in a way, rinse and repeat, and now he is out with a new single ‘Pino Pino’.
This new single maintains the same formula of sound, but changes the theme to love. Just as the three singles before it, ‘Pino Pino’ distils the sonic magic of old Eastern Highlife music, and places it in a contemporary context. The song is produced by Benjamz, with the guitars being the most prominent of all the percussions on it. Played by Soularge, it carries the song effortless, complimenting every vocal from the singer. This fits in perfectly as a ‘wedding’ song template.
With ‘Pino Pino’, Phyno further strengthens his foray into singing, as each song brings a new dimension to his singing prowess. This makes it four straight singles without a rap line shared or a bar destroyed. What’s being killed are vocals and notes. As with the previous singles, Phyno is cherry-picking the best parts of the vibrant old Highlife movement of the east and turning these elements into fresh song. He even shouts out the Oriental Brothers at the end of this one.
With his next full-length album set to arrive in November, Phyno seems more focused and polished on pop music than his original Hip-hop. And as waves go ‘Pino Pino’ is likely to be just one of many 2016 pop singles from the Enugu-bred superstar.
He is not alone in this. Every rapper in the country that has tasted mainstream success, and known the highs and trappings of commercialization of art, is no longer a rapper. They are all searching for that pop record. Every year, as our music leans further towards pop music, we have had many rap acts adapt to the trend and stay relevant. This has affected the growth of many other genres, who have lost purist acts to the lure and lucre of pop music.
Hip-hop has been the worst hit, with many decamping to the pop style for a hit record. Vector has been trying out a balancing act to little effect. M.I Abaga still lacks a hit song, but Olamide and Phyno are killing it. The duo who are regarded as the best acts in the genre, came together for a collaboration that gave Nigeria ‘Fada Fada’, an urban Highlife single with no sliver of rap attached. This will only get worse, as subgenre listenership drops and pop music keeps up its expansion with each new release.
