Update from Qudus' blog

Jan 25, 2009

THE UNSTOPPABLE - ENTERTAINER Remix

Track 1 - Dbanj vs 2face... DONT TOUCH IT! FILEEEE !

I've been to different forums and gatherings where people get talking about who is Hotter between Dbanj and 2face, but i tend to quickly get out of such assembly, because if HOT in that sense is to mean lustful, amorous, or erotic, then i shouldn't even be arguing. However, i found it really interesting to give a thorough account of my own remix of both superstars based on their present albums and, in this six track album, i will refuse the contrast between "High" and "Low" art. it is a below average reasoning to begin to place 2face beside Dbanj on a competition for supremacy, they both exist in their space that exhibits particular modalities, sounds, harmonics and relations to sensorial experience that produce particular effects on the listener, and the meaning of musical beauty they both brought to our hearing is not about catgorization. It Is also unreasonable to compare an album which is less than two month old to an album that is already rocking the mic for half a year, an album from someone who just want to groove, which is club inspired, primarily directed towards Nigerians at home and in the diaspora, with an album that is not really for the party hoppers but a carefully rustle up LP. Not a Nigerian material but for a larger audience. It's really illogical comparing. However i don't need a whole year to wait before i can sum up my own "merix" of both albums, since its not much about the word on the street, but the words that passes through my head each time i listen to both CDs. On this 6 track remix album, i am not going to waste my time going into past glories or yet to come glories, i am talking strictly about the Entertainer and the Unstoppable, let's pieces these master pieces, and of course that will surely bring us to the makers of both works, lyrics and beats. Feel me flow.
Track 2 - KOKO MASTER

What D'banj is today is exactly what OlaDapo Oyebanjo and the whole Mo Hits crew wants him to be, a musical brand who has found a solid ground called NIGERIAN AUDIENCE to build his platform, (for the sake of those who are yet to realize the power of the Nigerian audience, go check out what Nollywood is to the world now) and with a Don Jazzy as partner and manager they have already made history, so it is only left for history to jugde them, but for most of us alive now, we get so angry with this guy because we can't just do without him, he has become another billboard, but this time not on the road, but in our cars, clubs, carnivals, parties, shows and grabbing every award, you hate him until you respect the man, respect the movement. And unlike many, i totally disagree that he says nothing, he says what many are too scared to say, he say a lot to give us a clear notion of what most of our young girls and ladies are worth, enough to get the feminists offended, however that is the "Koko" he is yet to tell us, how in the midst of these controversy he has been extremely pop, not just for his easy to sell vulgarity but also for his understanding of music as a tool to keep you on your feet, his melody could get even the priest dancing and the sisters swearing, his energetic larger than live attitude which one don't even need to be in the studio with him to feel, these will however get the attention of the Youth and will generate controversy and, whatever we like say about it. DBanj is a flash and the entire explicit and offensive reference to sex or bodily functions would never wear off with our hypocritical society, his kind of music will catch a fire, but will it burn for long? No, but is he willing to relent? No, he is going to be like cigarette for the addicted, it will take time to stop the Dbanj habit and this the point where one take a second look at 2face's musical genius.

Track 3 - JUNGLE DON MATURE remix 

With a careful examination of the 2face journey as a musical symbol for the Nigerian music industry, one will but agree with his utterance, "when you see me passing through, let me be, because i don pay my due, look at me as your mallam, plus a soldier and a player in this industry...". With this present album, despite the bias of over expectation, 2face has proven to be an Artiste that in any case can be defended on whatever fora, as an embodiment of Fela Kuti, Bob Marly, R.Kelly and Wyclef rolled up into one, with the stage at which he is now, he is a leading voice not just in Nigeria but also part of the leading league of world class Africans taking the locale to a different level, when you mention the likes of K'naan, Nneka, Keziah Jones, Patrice, Didier Awadi, you won't stop without mentioning 2 baba. 2face becoming the number one export and representative of contemporary Nigerian music is in fact a truth that we all need to get used to. He is not trying to access a market and pay the price of compromising his art for the sake of being accepted, but here is a guy that authoritatively says "make i tell you about the place where we been dey come from..." he is not here to terrorize but to revolutionize, and universalize naija music as it is. The 19 track LP, that marks 2face's third album has sincerely made a huge statement for all of us who still have some elements of doubt hidden somewhere in our hearth, not in the history of Nigerian urban music, has any artiste dropped an hour, sixteen minute and two seconds of non-stop good music, fine lyrics, deep thoughts and inspiration for his listeners, delivered with a very matured sense of self esteem. His discourse in the Unstoppable ranges from racial discrimination, Love in the widest range of it, cross boarder policies, war, message for the haters and other undertone messages for those who ponders. The array of quality artistes featured in the album confirms his level of intelligence, with major collabos with the likes of Chakademus and Pliers, Wyre as well as R.kelly proved that he has realized a fan base that is not just limited to Africa, but across the Carribean island and northern America in general. for our information 2face is UNSTOPPABLE, if you want to try to stop the unstoppable...

"shine your eye make u no high, 
make u no dey see double, to con dey cause trouble. 
Shine your eye make u no high, 
make e no be you wey dem go use koboko humble,
because when dem finish with you, 
e go do you like you and kamala fight royal rumble. 
Because when dem finish with you 
e go do you like you and hulk hogan enter one jungle".


Track 4 - THE ENTERTAINER real mix

'The Entertainer' Album is great Period, but my new found respect for DBanj as a 'music businessman' is not based on the fact that i'm beginning to consider him an artist, but my respect for him is drawn from his talent, cleverness and willingness to try other tunes, there is a great infusion of highlife into his style, his lyrical compositions in this album is delivered in a quite poetic way that is not trying to do more than itself, Unlike those artistes who will just want to rhyme by force, but here Dbanj as usual delivers his lyrics in a very playful manner, certainly, we do not have to speak in proverbs or rave philosophically to make sense, sometimes, even the deepest songs wouldn't have done what Dbanj's lyrics does to his listeners, our disagreement with his flippancy, does not justify his lack of intensity, although he confirms himself as a mere entertainer and "don't have to make sense, you don't have to sing anything at all... ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? ARE YOU NOT? PAY ME MY MONEY". I for one enjoy so much this present album but I'm not just in the position to defend it on an intellectual fora. During my visit to Lagos, at a carnival, which was the first venue where i got the feel of the entertainer, it was "Fall in love", the first feeler tune Don Jazzy breezed the listener with was a shock when i listened to what the streets has translated it to, "o nfoko sere! o ntami o nro mi !" (please don't ask for translation) not just one or few people but everybody present was reciting that, i was left mouth opened, so how can i defend that on a moral ground, when the next day was my niece's 10th year birthday, from a share guess, the oldest there will be around 12/13 years of age, same song was played and exactly same reaction, then i realized at what level the Dbanj syndrome had gone beyond articles.

Track 5 - THE UNSTOPPABLE PARASITES

Contemporary Nigerian urban musicians seeks to establish a balance between melody, slogans and club jams, because the music is produced in an environment that is strongly embedded and shaped by omnipresence of oscillating movement and energy, so automatically, because the music producers are also part of this vibrancy and has realized a means of easing themselves of the excessive spell, finally passing it on to us the listeners and the positive reaction they get put them in the position of recycling this same oscillating energy, since contemporary Nigerian musicians has made us get so much addicted to club jams and well mastered our desires, they therefore create this sexual machine to satisfy our nymphomaniac attitude towards music.
Words in every form, commonly reference a plurality of meanings, the things they designate are multiple and their signification structurally ambivalent. Intrinsically they demonstrate an extraordinary capacity not only to tell a story, but also to represent. In Lagos, Music renders visible the multiple juxtaposition that shape daily life, in the process, it unconsciously become an archive, a relic of our experiences on the streets of Lagos. Signifying an experience that is constantly on the the move, accounting for the instability of reality and its dependance on the sound that domesticates it, such domestication is possible only through combination of images and lyrics, words, sounds, melodies, dances, social codes and slogans that is locally accepted during a particular era. Now, if the instant desire of the audience has made a music maker fall to the lure of such demands, by the time we will want to review the happenings of our past, it is then that we will realize how empty some of our archives are, cos the most useful element to us then will be lyrics and good music for all time - the evergreen. To tell the story of life in the Nigerian cities, music calls on and produces heterogeneity of representation.

Track 6 - NOBODY HOLY PASS

These two paragons are of course unstoppable, if Dbanj is presently satisfying his purpose as the "Koko master" of the Nigerian market, sure you can't stop him, and if 2face's aim is to take territories and be a world icon tomorrow, he is as well on the right track and surely unstoppable. Both Album shows that they both listens and responds to their audience and critics, so let's say i am one of their audience, not at all a critic, here are two "big boys" of a whole industry, those who have fully understood the benefit of hard work in a society like Nigeria, these guys have been to places and they've seen the way its being done the "right way", it is understandable that like most Lagosians there is a livelihood to make, so now that they've made that living out of hardworking and the support of the Almighty, what else do they make out of that life? Yes, we will agree that we Nigerian audience, to a certain degree are killers as much as we make our super stars, we get satisfied too soon. However these are guys who see themselves as role models for the generation next and they ought to be pace setters. I will not deliberately dig out hidden fact about their private public life that is to a certain level a bit below expected, that's not the point, my point is, when will the D'banj and the 2face realize that no serious minded concert, (note the wordCONCERT) will await them if they still come to do shows with a copy of their demo stuck in their back pocket, haven't they gotten to the point where they can stand up before a crowd and say "people, here is my band and we are here to rock the show, its not Don jazzy again, its my band this time, nothing dey happen - feel us flow".

VOTE FOR TANKS.

First of all, i want to thank the Almighty for giving me one more chance to say my mind without stammering and being the executive producer of this plate, I want to thank my woman, my love and best friend, for being my manager and first to read and correct my mind, if further award comes out of this, i shall dedicate it to all of you who will comment on this note. But please as you comment remember that nobody holy pass. we all just dey try.

SO GRAB YOUR COPY NOOOOOOWWWW !