DREMO CV2 REVIEW

“SHUT THE FUCK UP” Dremo tells his haters and unnecessary competition on the first song of Codename Vol. 2, the second album of his career. On STFU, which is acronym for the phrase above, the DMW rapper discusses a couple of issues surrounding his career in an industry which isn’t so healthy for his genre of music, Rap. He raps about being compared to other rappers in the game, the distractions that come with the fame and not to forget, being called out for leaving the booth and jumping on the prevailing genre in the country, Afrobeat, from time to time. His reply to that accusation isn’t any different from that which we get from other rappers who have been accused of the same thing, “…leave me to focus on wetin dey put food for my mouth”. I think one of the major beauties of the project for me is that it’s split into two parts. This isn’t glaring on the album track list as there are no ‘Parts A & B’ to signify the spilt. But as everyone must have noticed, the rapper goes solo on the first six songs out of the 12 track album as he speaks mostly about his journey in the industry and a couple other things. On COLLECT, he warns about his zero tolerance to nonsense. We all should have known that since, he rolls with one of the hardest gangs in Lagos; the 30 Billion Gang. And we sure do know if anybody messes up around them, “…they must collect gbas gbos.” PEPPER talks about naysayers who don’t believe in him and also the fake people around him who show him love to his face but go behind his back to spew trash about his music out of jealousy. Regardless, he won’t stop and his success would continue to “Pepper” them. On WHO’S YOUR GUY? he tells a funny story about a guy who gets into trouble with the police and tries to involve him by claiming familiarity, in the end, Dremo denies him. PRAY sort of reminds me of the younger Olamide on his hit single ‘Voice of the Street.’ On this track, the clergy’s son takes us to church as preaches the importance of prayer in our daily hustle, no matter what it is. On ALASHEJU, Dremo tells the story about a very extra and ‘overdo’ person.

KONJINABA kicks off the second half of the album, it’s like the party starter. Dremo brings on his first guest on this one, and who better to kick off a party at the moment than leader of the No Belt Gang, Naira Marley. They talk drugs, sex and the crazy things people do when sexually aroused. On GUGUDEMAP, he invites three members of his squad, long time rapper formerly known as Saucekid – Sinzu, Lil Frosh, Idowest and Knucklez. They talk gang stuff on this one, walking around with a strap and pulling up on anyone who messes with them. For the first time on this project, he discusses emotions for the opposite sex on GHETTO LUV. He brings on label mate, talented singer and songwriter, Peruzzi, on this dancehall track. As the song title is sort of self-explanatory, Dremo discusses his love for a chick from the ghetto who he’ll go at any length to please. On MABEL, he teams up with label head and one of Nigeria’s biggest artistes, Davido. The song was one of the most anticipated tracks off the project prior to its release, due to the snippet posted by the label head on his twitter page a few weeks back. Once again, Dremo discusses his emotions on this one, it’s for a girl named “Mabel”. SWEET PAIN which features Flowolf, takes some sample off Fela’s ‘Water No Get Enemy’. He talks about the pleasure that comes with the pain on one of his many sexual escapades. On the closing song of the album, he teams up with fellow rapper, actor and social media comedian, Falz. The duo talk about getting fast money by any means and living the lush life on SHARP SHARP. This is something Falz has spoken about a couple of times over the years, so who better to have on this track than him?

All in all, Codename, Vol. 2 is a combination of Hip-Hop, Dancehall and Afrobeats sounds with some good bars here and there and good vocals as well. The rapper teaches life lessons and tells a couple of stories on this one. Good listen, a 6/10 for me.