So much more, so much more……
New generation artistes Eri Ife and Remy Baggins linked up on this brilliant EP, released on May 18th, 2018. .Eri Ife has an eponymous EP to his name, with tracks such as “Upside Down” and “Nobody” which garnered a lot of attention from the music world, while his partner, Remy Baggins, is an ace producer, rapper and singer best known for his work on Jinmi Abduls’ EP, JOLAG, and his own EP titled Eigengrau. Here is a track-by-track review of the nearly flawless collaboration.
Track 1: Yeah
This track begins with a smooth instrumental, followed by Eri Ife who is still relatively new on the scene, introducing himself via his verse, followed by Remy asserting his presence. You know that feeling when you just meet someone for the first time but you can already feel how much you’re going to like that person? This track is the musical version of that, a perfect introduction to the EP. It is one of those songs that you can’t help moving your body to, even if it’s just a gentle sway while you sit. The instrumental is the quintessential Eri Ife sound, but the song vibes are anything but.
Track 2: B’OriPe
The song opens with Remy speaking on leaving school for his music, a struggle which almost everyone with an alternative life plan can relate to. This track passes across a sincere, humbling message on nurturing one’s talent, a message which is especially necessary in present times. It is a definite pick-me-up any day, any time.
Track 3: Bastien’s Interlude
This track was performed entirely by Sir Bastien. It is airy and playful, the perfect follow-up to the heavy B’OriPe. On it, Bastien plays around with the Dice Ailes hit “Otedola”. If you’re not smiling at the end of this song, I’ll put you in my prayers.
Track 4: My City
This is my jam. Bryan the Mensah lends his voice, and his city Accra, to this song, which is essentially an ode to the artistes’ stomping grounds. This song sees the boys try to woo a girl with the sights and sounds of their cities. The track mentally teleports me home to Lagos via Remy’s verse, Eri Ifetakes me around my current location in Ibadan, and Bryan’s verse makes me reminiscent of a previous trip to Accra.
Track 5: YLLW
This is ultimate feel-good track. Everything about this joint, from the title, to the lyrics, to the melody, makes you feel like you’re floating on a ray of sunlight with rainbow coloured fairies as companions. It contains a good bit of humour as well. This brings to mind sugar, spice and everything nice. At the same time, they remind us all that there’s “so much more to me than some verses and a beat” and “so much more in store for me”.
THE EP AS A WHOLE
The 5-song, 15-minute EP is a collection of lyrical genius, production mastery, and motivation all wrapped in a blanket of summer vibes. Sorple, Ibukun, and Wale Ola deserve some accolades for the art direction. The cover art is just that, art. The tracks wonderfully segue into one another, and the vocal fusion between the artistes is nearly flawless. I say nearly because on most tracks, you can easily pick out one artiste totally overshadowing the other. However, this is to be expected with two such different singers as Eri Ife and Remy Baggins, where one exudes serenity and the other, barely restrained kinetic energy. In its totality, the EP seems to be a baby legend, the poster child for musical chemistry. So much more was promised, and so much more was delivered.
