When I picked up Banky W’s latest album R&BW, I wasn’t thinking of a review or any form of assessment but after playing the first track I realized something must be written.
Ever since Banky W arrived in the Nigerian music scene, I have always applauded his penchant for excellence, from his janded vocals to carefully laced beats; he has high taste for hottest producers around. His debut single Ebute Mettagot us asking for more, with all the yankee swag and accent (Na packaging sure pass 4 naija) plus that look of a Casanova, it didn’t take long before Banky doublee-you became a household name,and he hasn’t looked back ever since.
As an appetizer of sort, Banky dropped two official singles in 2012 Low Key and one other track, then Yes/No, when Banky dropped Yes/No a low tempo love song produced by visually impaired talented music producer Cobhams Asuquo, I was on the verge of giving my love life a facelift, then Banky dropped this strong worded track, it became a natural hit for me, the video sef make sense.
I’m not gonna review the tracks one after the other but I’d rather focus on the ones that caught my attention in no particular order. The album starts on a ragga tune with The Way produced by Spellz, this track puts the listener on a groovy mood, not bad for a start.
I can’t remember the last time I was moved to tears courtesy of a 9ja song, but Banky W’s To My Unborn Child just did that, I’ve never seen a joint that got me so emotionally connected,To My Unborn Child shows the two sides to Banky’s coin: Singer cum Rapper. Banky is fast becoming our own version of Drake; he also showed his rap skills in Bad Guy P remix with L.O.P.
Banky W features Lynxxx utunu on the track, trust the Syndik8 rapper, he dropped his lines perfectly and both artistes show why they belong to the A class,Banky prays for his unborn daughter to find a man that will not treat her the way he treated some girlfriends, my favorite lines in the track are Greener on the other side some say so// Make sure you cut the grass low so the snake show. A promise is easy to make and easy to break// just be a man of your words whatever it takes. With this track mehn… I can’t wait to be a father. Lol
Be my lover (Yes/No part 2) is another groovy track with the touch of highlife (you remember the J Martins and Bracket style)with the help of his suave label mate Niyola, Mr. W didn’t disappoint on this, but Niyola has to do more to give us reasons why we should ditch Tiwa Savage because Niyola sounds like a Savage wannabe. Good track but part one remains my favourite.
Banky W features Sammy, Shaydee and Rotimi in Say, produced by Masterkraft, I guess he is trying to replicate Follow Go House from the EME album, nice cool track though but I don’t really like it.
No 9ja album is complete without an up-tempo party track, Banky chose Spellz to deliver the beats of this song titled Never Let You Go (Spellz produced Chuddy K’s Go Gaga) there is nothing spectacular about the song. It’s just ok.
And now to the biggest track in the album African & Proud, Banky W has lived abroad for a good number of years and he still appreciates the motherland especially when the land is filled with milk and honey, Mr. W called in artistes from every angle of the continent. South African fine boy rapper L Tido delivers his ajebutter style punch lines on this joint, Banky also features Kenyan hip-hop group Camp Mulla which consists of Taio Tripper, Shappa Man, K’cous and Miss Karun. The joint was carefully packaged, I love the beat because the producer shows class and style,and the track also features our very own Vector Tha Viper and Sarkodie from Ghana.
At last!!! (Sigh of relief) seems we now have someone to challenge Sarkodie in rap, VEC made Sarkodie sweat to impress, Well… I have a beat for both of them in case they wanna flex their muscles (yeah! If you don’t know…I’m a music producer*winks*) I salute Banky’s talent for this one.
Track 13 Good Good Loving(remix) is not something you’d be expecting from a Banky W-2baba collabo, Tuface is my number one guy in Nigeria but I don’t really like his flow on this remix, he can do better than this, this track is just there for me sha.
The last track I will be talking about is More featuring eLDee and M.I, produced by the short black boy from Jos, once again Banky W did his rap thing on this mid-tempo joint, M.I bounced back after the rubbish he did in Aboki remix. eLDee mr lau lau spending didn’t sound different but he sounded good, I like his verse and Banky’s rap too.
So bad I can’t talk about all the tracks but I have tried my best, Generally R&BW is a top class album with quality production, mixing and mastering, it will take some time to know how the album fared commercially and I also feel Banky W is underrated in Nigeria and I am also proud to say W and I share same birth date, March 27 things, Leggo!!!
However, It is not a surprise that W didn’t feature Star boy on any of the tracks, I’m very sure they did stuffs together prior to the animosity that now exists between them.
I don’t wanna take sides on this issue but I feel Banky should acknowledge the fact that EME has parted ways with Wizkid, the earlier the better and ehmm…did I hear you say EME will struggle to survive without wizzy? Please don’t say that again, soldier go soldier come Barrack remain, EME will remain and grow stronger as long as Banky and the Demurens don’t relent but I have to admit that Star boy is a big loss.
My advice for up and coming stars is this: “Thou shall not rush to put pen to paper for any record label without proper guidance from a trusted oga at the top” so contractual disagreements will not unfold in future.
Written by LanreEttiJr
