Phyno plays it safe on Deal With It

8 Oct 2019 - 13:15

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

Since his emergence onto the Nigerian music scene around 2011, Chibuzor Nelson Azubuike, or Phyno, has proven himself to be a producer, rapper and singer.

Phyno.

His 2014 debut album No Guts No Glory, a gritty yet stylistically and lyrically accomplished effort, birthed monster hits such as ‘Alobam’, ‘Man of the Year (Obago)’, ‘Parcel’ and ‘Ghost Mode’. In Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin, Phyno’s raps captured the ears and hearts of every Nigerian and set the artist on a path of success.

Phyno’s 2016 sophomore album The Playmaker brought out his softer side. There was the aggressive ‘Abulo’, but aside that, Phyno stuck to rap-singing: the Olamide-assisted call to worship ‘Fada Fada’ the earworm ‘Connect’ as well as the Oriental Brothers-sampled ‘Pino Pino’.

Those songs rocked the airwaves, but hip hop purists frowned. Where did the Phyno of heavy wordplay and lyrical dexterity go to? The answer is stuck in 2015 when Phyno and Olamide released the collaborative album 2 Kings. Phyno understood he had to adapt to the ever-changing clime that is the Nigerian music scene, or die trying. A lot can happen, or change, in two years.

Enter 2019. Phyno still rap-sings and, as if a shot aimed at critics, releases his new album comprising 21 tracks plus a bonus track titled 'Deal With It'.

The album kicks off with an intro of the same title. On the song, Phyno is declarative and unassuming in what he can’t tolerate. It’s the Phyno early fans grew to love. ‘Oso Ga Ene’ is another feather in the cap of his street cred. ‘Ma Chi’ pays homage to Igbo highlife musician Celestine Ukwu.

Moral instructor Falz, alongside once-upon-a-time Knight House affiliate Phenom, are recruited to urge the Nigerian masses to ‘Get the Info’ about the government’s appalling inability to provide electricity, security and jobs, all culminating in the predicament that country is in. It’s one of the few thematically accomplished songs on the album.

Davido’s verse on the love tune ‘Ride for You’ is a worthy atonement for the sins of Olamide on ‘Carry Me Go’ off the 2 Kings project.

Elsewhere, Olamide and Don Jazzy fail to reproduce the magic of ‘Fada Fada’ on ‘Blessings’. But Teni, who makes her debut on a Phyno project, scores a winner with ‘Ka Anyi Na Ayo’, a prayer-filled song that she sweetens with her honeyed voice.

Phyno is also an in-house shopper. His PentHauze Music signees Cheque, Nuno and Rhatti all get their time in the spotlight. On ‘Recognize’, a Ghanaian highlife tune, Cheque provides a serviceable hook that garnishes Phyno’s sexual requests to a love interest. Nuno and Rhatti inject ‘Fuwa Sewa (Refix)’ with new life.

Phyno has broken no new ground with Deal With It. It’s an understandably safe, no-risk project, because why upset the apple cart anyway?