Album Review: D’Prince – Frenzy
In some recesses of D’Prince’s mind, I bet all
praise and adoration goes to Don Jazzy as far as his musical career is
concerned. Nonetheless, I maintain that their relationship is a symbiotic one
as the hit single ‘Omoba’ didn’t hurt their financial coffers at all!
Don Baba J definitely brought his A-game to the table of Frenzy, the long over-due debut of this
Mavin stalwart who we cannot help but remember to have started off as a
rapper. Da Prince does a good enough job with his singing- perhaps, he’s not
your typical vocalist, but truth be told, who listens to the high notes these
days? All the people seem to want is to be entertained! Regardless of becoming
famous for his sub par rhymes on songs like; wad up, Ooze, molowo and omoba, he
had no qualms repeating those same calibre of lines on Frenzy on occasions
where he tried rapping, but the fact that producers such as: Spellz, Baby Fresh
and Josh Beats enlisted on this project helped to mask those shortcomings. The
inspirational Journey of a Thousand Miles
had Wande Coal delivering a very sonorous and memorable hook with Don Jazzy
providing an adequate back up vocal to an already energetic song where listeners
were encouraged to never give up on their dreams. Another good one was ‘Bad girls’
Undoubtedly the album started on a promising note with his focus on the
afro pop genre. Getting the party started comes easily with Goody Bag while the Dr Sid assisted Amina maintains the tempo already
earmarked by the former.
The comfort he showed while singing is glaring on tracks like: the
standout Africa Zumba, believe, and call police which continue with the
party trends already laid from the start. He was left at a crossroad which left
him in a conundrum on whether to completely rap or sing somewhere along the
line.
These contributed to his shortcomings on Real G which has him spitting trademarked dope rhymes that lack
depth as well as being to be too soft to satiate the deep yearnings of the real
hip hop heads. Although they are primarily not his target audience, the fact
that MI was at his all time worse also tarnished the song. Painting the town red saw him doing the wrong thing at the right
time as he delivered a lethargic hook. He tried to recover on his verses, but
in the end it was Wizkid that brought the song to life. Makes you wonder if it
was a wise choice doing that collabo in the first place as no one really loves
to be out-shined.
A genuine mainstream album with much concentration on entertaining
audiences, Frenzy did not fall flat on this with its efficient blend of
contemporary African music with Pop. However, the fact that it made mockery of the
rap genre on songs like: Overdose and
Jonzing, Shower, and No more sleeping on ‘em and Wiz kid also not helping
matters in what looks like an improvised delivery, might raise listeners eyebrows against Omoba’s song writing
skills.
“Night would come, but day
must break/ nobody above mistake/ see for this life na give and take/that’s why
I’m grateful for every breathe I take/you don’t have to be told wetin you go
do/you just got to decode wetin you go do/don’t be waiting to be told/ there’s
a story to be told”.
Arguably, this 21 tracker is a bit too lengthy and some of the songs weren't worthy to make it there in the first place. If all you're after is mainstream entertainment, then you'd most likely love Frenzy, but if you're a sucker for artistic ingenuity and intellectual depth, i'm afraid you might not find that here. Better still, form your opinions by listening to some of the tracks. Please download below.
Ciao!
As always, these are just our own humble views on the matter, let the world know what you feel by dropping comments below. Thanks!
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