MIXTAPE REVIEW: Griot XL – The Soul Therapy EP
The development of rap in Nigeria
has taken another turn with the South-south gearing up for a takeover with the
constant cropping up of artistes in enviable positions in the hierarchy of rap
such as: Cyrus Tha Virus, Erigga, AQ, and Boogey alongside numerous other
upcoming rappers like; Mo’ Fame, Full ish Movement, ReDkaD, Juzt Courage and
recently Griot XL who has just recently submitted his own offering for
listeners with his EP- The Soul Therapy.
Albeit, before the release of this
mix tape, he apparently dropped an unofficial remix of Iyanya’s Kukere which
somewhat lacks the cohesion the original version possesses coupled with a
remake of an Otis Redding song “happy song”. Presumably this then triggered his
ride through the soul world.
A poetic and experimental-like
piece, The Soul Therapy EP featured the sublime songwriting ability of Griot,
but in some instances also displayed his weak ear for beat selection. Like the
meaning of his name (Griot means oral historian) he took up the arms in his
arsenal with numerous poetic tales, socio-political criticisms and his views on
our now saturated music industry. The production is really nice, but the sound
engineering seems to be poor, irrespective of the fact that the trio of Michael
Excel, Choco jay and Sugar King jointly created numerous appreciable joints off
the board of amazing soul samples. It should be noted that Michael Excel has a
retinue of wonderful beats to his name as he produced Courage or Fame.
Amidst the not-too-perfect mixing,
the Soul Therapy EP is an epitome of lyricism, counter to that was his
inability to wrap his verses around the beat to produce a fluid transmission
whilst making quite a number of unintentional stops on tracks like; “slow
down” and “as we begin”. On the latter he featured Mo’ Fame where he made the
Michael Excels beat his own with a smooth delivery and perfect narrative.
A very personal track that is basically concerned with the
reception of the mix tape with Fame on the hook, “how e go be” is a rhetorical
track where Griot upped his delivery an inch with very good transitions
alongside some rhetorical questions to which he provided answers to accentuate
the personal outburst of emotions on it: “I spit it how I see it/ am just try
to be real”.
The constructive criticism bit plays in on “good music” and
“vibrate” with the former taking jabs at the repertoires of some mainstream
artists, while on “vibrate” he narrates a story about his presumed early days
crush with a very memorable hook sung and produced by Choco Jay. Michael Excel
once again displayed his skills on the board with “slow down” with the combination
of boom bap married with synchronized
guitar strings on a very poignant delivery taking listeners through the bitter
road of his hustle, freedom, and the political instability while also giving a
shout out to hustlers who care to listen.
The 9-track Soul Therapy EP is an objective body of work which
fulfilled its promise of lucid storytelling and poetic inclinations. Hopefully,
an improved production would greatly help him in building his own niche in an
industry which he attests is already saturated.
Feel free to visit my hulkshare account to download some of the songs mentioned above. Just click on the link below.
Thots.
Tha Watcha
P.S: Perhaps you've listened to the mixtape and have different views altogether, feel free to drop comments below, they would be greatly appreciated. If you don't have a google account, you can click on anonymous; name/url to drop comment and include your name in the body of comments. From the homepage, you can also 'Follow by email' to get fresh posts on the blog delivered straight to your inbox. Ciao!
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