Mr Eazi drops Evil Genius album

The Evil Genius comes on the back of Mr Eazi’s seven-year career as a key name within Afrobeats circles, a catalogue from that boasts over four billion global streams, and international collaborations with the likes of Beyoncé, J Balvin, Bad Bunny and Nicki Minaj.

Recorded over the past two years across Accra, Cotonou, Lagos, London, Los Angeles, and New York, The Evil Genius blends Afrobeats, Afropop, gospel, hiplife, highlife and folklore into a pan-African fusion.

The album sees Eazi collaborating with an international cast of producers, including Kel-P (Nigeria), Michaël Brun (Haiti), Knucks (UK) and Nonso Amadi (Canada), as well as guest artists such as Grammy Award-winning legend Angélique Kidjo, Nigerian star Joeboy, and South African group Soweto Gospel Choir, to bring the 16-track project to life.

According to a statement, The Evil Genius is Mr Eazi’s most personal work by far, and it sees him diving deeply into strong themes around love, betrayal, loneliness and family, expressed through three distinctive movements or acts. The first of these three chapters finds Mr Eazi unburdening himself of the weight of success and fame, followed by a five-song movement about love, with the album ending on a suite of spiritual and deeply resonant anthems that capture Eazi in thanksgiving mode.

The most ambitious aspect of The Evil Genius is its visual art component, with the album birthing 16 art pieces to accompany each track on the album. Every track on The Evil Genius is represented by a unique physical art piece that Mr Eazi has commissioned from different contemporary visual artists he encountered while travelling across Africa to record the album. Noting a lack of alignment and collaboration between Africa’s exploding pop music industry and the continent’s fine art creators, Mr Eazi is highlighting the power of such collaboration by incorporating the work of these artists, representing eight African nations and a continent of aesthetics, into The Evil Genius.

Ahead of the album’s release, Mr Eazi held multi-sensory exhibition listening experiences. The exhibition debuted at Gallery 1957 in Ghana from 13 to 18 September. Following this inaugural presentation, the exhibition moved to London as part of the renowned 1–54 Contemporary African Art Fair at Somerset House from 12 to 15 October. Additional exhibition announcements in other cities are forthcoming.

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Evil Genius Tracklist
1. Olúwa Jọ̀
2. Advice
3. Òròkórò (ft. Angélique Kidjo)
4. Chop Time, No Friend
5. Notorious
6. Panadol
7. Jamboree (ft. Tekno)
8. Good Lovin’ (ft. Efya)
9. Lack of Communication
10. Fefe Ne Fefe
11. Legalize
12. Show Dem (ft. Whoisakin)
13. We Dey
14. Zuzulakate (ft. Joeboy)
15. Mandela
16. Exit (ft. Soweto Gospel Choir)