UY Scuti: Olamide follows Wizkid’s formula of changing for a global audience

Each one’s mileage has differed. Burna pressed on with the warm reception accorded Outside over his next two albums, culminating in the Grammy earlier this year; Davido considered his change in direction a failure and more or less returned to his earlier strategy of Nigerian party hits, which led to the mega-hits ‘If’ and ‘Fall’’; with the release of last year’s Made in Lagos, it became clear that Wizkid has insisted on the strategy of deploying sounds different from his first two albums.

Olamide is an interesting case in this context. For years, he has been the most successful Nigerian artist without anything like international clout. Uy Scuti is his attempt at crossing over. Along with Reminisce and Phyno, he once proclaimed he was a “local rapper”. No longer, it seems. Back then, he asked if “international recognition would feed his mother”.

Of course, some of us had always thought that he was only saying that because he realised that his rap style and his preferred use of Yoruba was never going to find a heavy international market. Well, last year, his record label YBNL signed with the US distribution company Empire, and suddenly, the opportunity to do more, to be more, outside Nigeria and Africa became possible. One imagines that the deal with Empire came with notes on how to expand the appeal of Olamide and his signee Fireboy DML beyond Nigeria. But being a quasi-traditional R&B act, Fireboy already had something of the western DNA in his soul, so few would expect significant musical changes. The question mark was always on Olamide: how do you teach this old, super-successful Nigerian dog new global tricks?

The question has been answered. At least partly.

The first move: secure him media coverage in the west. All of his peers  – Wizkid, Davido, Tiwa Savage  – have it. That must be how he got a Guardian UK interview and mentions in Rolling Stone. On the music side, the most obvious move is located in the music’s tempo.

This means that Uy Scuti, which is predominantly about romance, is not really for the boys in Bariga who have always enjoyed fast-paced songs. You can’t even say it was made by a boy from Bariga (in the way Wizkid’s Made in Lagos wasn’t made by a boy from Ojuelegba). Olamide’s success has increased his net worth so much that his music, too, has been influenced. As a man with increasingly heavy pockets trudges, so has the tempo of Olamide’s music slowed on the new album. In fact, if you considered only tempo, you would hardly believe the same man who made Rapsodi in 2011 or his 2013 breakout album, Baddest Guy Ever Liveth, is the same man who released Uy Scuti this morning.

It is not precisely the same thing but the pattern here is Wizkid’s, down to a perceptible Caribbean vibe. So, Made in Lagos and Uy Scuti may yet receive the same results: albums that are inferior to their creator’s best work but will find success mostly because of an enormous fan base and a few crossover singles. Made in Lagos had ‘Essence’ with Tems and ‘Ginger’ with Burna Boy. Uy Scuti has ‘Rock’, the album’s first single, which has taken on an impressive life on social media in the weeks preceding the release of the album. ‘Cup of Tea’ might be the second track with hit potential. ‘PonPon’ might thrive, too.

That said, there is no track on Uy Scuti that would become 2021’s ‘Durosoke’ (although featured acts Jaywillz, Fave and Ladyydoe all have memorable contributions). For his core fans, it may be a fair bargain: their favourite artist is trading local mega-hits for a wider audience. For others, it might look too similar to musical gentrification for comfort. I am somewhere between both camps: I understand Olamide’s new impulse while lamenting its tricky politics, especially as he has now limited his chronicle of average Nigerian lives, which were always on his albums, to Uy Scuti’s intro track, ‘Need for Speed’. But I’ll admit I forget all about this when ‘Rock’ comes on.

Stream Uy Scuti here

Artist: Olamide
Album: Uy Scuti
Label: YBNL/ Empire