Mr Eazi drops Advice single ahead of Evil Genius album

‘Advice’, with its dark, grimy tones, was conceived during a heavy moment in the artist’s life, as he watched some of his long relationships crumble under the weight of his success. “When you first come up [as an artist], everybody is in love with you,” Mr Eazi said. “Then they want to pull you down. People begin to betray you. If you’re able to survive this stage, you go untouchable. But this is the hardest stage.”

The song namechecks a number of fallen African human rights champions, including Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian writer and activist whose 1995 hanging inspired domestic and international outrage. “I was coming from a place of having that energy,” Mr Eazi added.

Evil Genius is Mr Eazi’s decade-in-the-making debut solo album recorded over two years. The 16-track project features some of his most personal work, as he dives deeply into subjects like love, betrayal, loneliness and family, expressed through three distinctive acts.

According to a statement, the album’s title is Mr Eazi’s way of embracing a perception that his business smarts and ambitions disguise some sort of devious intentions. “There’s been this low-key notion that Eazi is this calculated bad guy,” the artist said. “I started to fight this narrative. Then it hit me: I’m no longer going to explain myself. This album is me accepting that image. By the time you listen from beginning to end, you will have met ‘The Evil Genius’. If you still think I’m the bad guy, so be it.”

In a first-of-its-kind fusion of African music and art, Mr Eazi commissioned visual artists from across the continent to create a unique, physical art piece to represent each of the album’s 16 tracks. For ‘Advice’, he recruited Kenyan artist Alpha Odh whose acrylic painting speaks to the track’s defiant lyrics.

Ahead of the album’s release on 27 October, Mr Eazi will hold several multi-sensory exhibition listening experiences. The exhibition debuts at Gallery 1957 in Accra, Ghana, during Accra Cultural Week from 13 to 18 September before moving to London, UK, as part of the 1–54 Contemporary African Art Fair from 12 to 15 October at Somerset House. Additional cities will be announced in due course.

Meanwhile, Mr Eazi is the latest artist to be featured in Vevo’s original content series Ctrl in support of the release of ‘Advice’.