During a stop at Cool FM 96.9, in support of his then newly-released album Yxng Dxnzl, last year, M.I Abaga was asked to list his current favourite Nigerian rappers. In descending order, The Chairman listed Ghost, A-Q, Loose Kaynon, Blaqbonez and Alpha as his preferred top 5 at the moment. Apart from Ghost, one half of Show Dem Camp, every other rapper on the list is affiliated to M.I—even the fast-rising, independent Alpha is connected via his extensive work with Blaqbonez—so the sentiment is understandable.

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While this short roll call of rappers makes for a solid list—in fact, all of them made our best 10 rappers of 2018 list—there’s a glaring omission, almost unforgivable if you ask me, each time M.I’s list pops into my head: the omission of Tec, the other half of Show Dem Camp.

With all due respect to the skill level of the four other rappers on that list, I’m positing that none of them can do what Tec has been doing for over a decade and a half: hang with Ghost on multiple projects, as well as standout on far more occasions than many are willing to admit. Tec and Ghost were always meant to make music together; it’s apparent in the serendipitous first meeting between the pair, a rap duel where a shared, chuckle-inducing moniker, “Golden Child,” was the issue at stake; and it remains apparent in how they’ve been able to push one another as artists on the way to becoming the most cheered entity of Nigerian hip-hop these days.

In recent years, Show Dem Camp’s stock has risen significantly, and with it, the respect for their blinding abilities as highly skilled, consistent and dynamic rappers has shot up as well. But, as is often common to any music endeavour consisting more than one party, respect is rarely split even, and in SDC’s case, made even clearer by the aforementioned M.I list, it tends to slope in favour of the burlier-voiced half of the duo.

This popular opinion, leading to the high level of veneration accrued to Ghost, is not ill-gotten, as he’s proven over time to wield a pen mightier than any lightsabre. Completed by a naturally commanding voice, the allure is magnified even further. Considering the sheer amount of great music Show Dem Camp has supplied since their official entry at the beginning of the decade, which is the primary ground from which Ghost has gathered his clout, the fact remains that the brilliance of SDC has been a two-man job, and Tec’s skill level deserves nothing less than the same amount of adulation that is currently accorded his partner.

As much as Rap music is extolled for its competitive edge, it is easy to lose half the plot when it comes to a group like SDC. While the group was birthed and forged in the crucibles of competitiveness, looking at their music solely through that formative lens, instead of their shared struggles, collective but ultimately idiosyncratic approach, and their mutual love for music and one another which colours the ensuing music, is a guaranteed means to underappreciating one side of what is a wholesome equation.

To be very clear, my conceit, doesn’t solely hinge on the rub-off that his partner in crime to a supremely talented rapper like Ghost—that would be foolishly reductive—it’s because Tec is also a supremely talented rapper who’s shown time and again that his pen is as potent as the levelling power of his moniker. Over the course of seven projects, Tec has not only proven to be a capable rapper and worthy sparring buddy, which really should be enough to get him every due accolade, but he’s also outright established himself as one of “the best to ever do it.”

Tec’s best asset is that he has continued to remain himself over the years. Constantly rapping alongside someone who I recently referred to as Nigerian rap’s version of the Meg, it would be tempting for Tec to approach every song and album with the overwhelming mentality of outdoing his partner. Instead, his performances over the years bear the hallmark of a rapper who is certain of himself and his abilities. While being on the same track as another rapper who will always bring his A-game acts as an incentive to spur him on to bring his own A-game as well, every Tec verse rings with a volition that is ultimately his. This doesn’t mean he’s accepted being limited, like someone recently suggested to me on Twitter, it means he’s confident in the level of his expertise. And confidence, as they say, is sexy.

In trying to draw a distinct line between both rappers, critics are often quick to praise Ghost for his wordplay, and Tec for his flow/delivery. Again, this discernment is understandable, but it unintentionally and unceremoniously fragments the scope of Tec’s abilities. Of course, Tec has a nice variety of flows—his ability to massage and milk pockets is premium—and he also sits at the pinnacle of enunciation, but he’s also a wordsmith par excellence, with competence in being the listener’s rapper and the rapper’s rapper, on the same verse, as is often required.

While tidy rhyme schemes, metaphors, vividness and other technical rap terms are present in his verses, Tec’s winning quality as a lyricist lies in the stained richness of his lyrics. As earlier stated, Tec’s confidence is omnipresent, but this trait colours the fact that he is disarmingly self-aware and highly perceptive of his environment. With these attributes masterfully distilled into his bars over the years, Tec has garnered something of a philosopher’s rep, because of the manner with which he casually dishes out knowledge sans the haughtiness common to many conscious rappers. In complementing and being complemented by Ghost, this marked quality can be appreciated even better; in contrast to Ghost’s authoritative, street preacher gait, Tec comes across as conversational, letting out intelligible nuggets without the need for embellishments, giving him the wherewithal to be the more accessible counterpoint to his counterpart’s heady excesses, while remaining virtuosic, equally rewarding and delightful to listen to. Regardless of when and how each bar strikes you, Tec’s ruminative verses never lose their potency, his combination of skill and an affecting personality is always durable.

Contemplative Tec is undoubtedly the best Tec, but he can just be as punishing as rappers are often expected to be. A major part of SDC’s Clone Wars franchise, built on a foundation of bruising, gra-gra raps, is dedicated to showing how ballistic both rappers can go on beats, and it goes without saying that Tec has had his fair share of nuclear moments. If, like me, you have an obsession with SDC and have gone through every inch of the CW tapes just to annotate and internally, unhealthily debate which of the duo had a better verse on what song, Tec’s brilliance gets clearer with every listen, earmarked by the more than handful of times he’s been able to leave his partner in the figurative dust (“Music” “Won Lenu Gan” “Temi Yato” “F.Y.I” etc.)

After the career-defining Clone Wars 3: Recession was released to the masses on the final day of 2016, it was impossible to navigate conversations about the tape without extensive comments concerning Ghost’s rapping prowess. In his review, FilterFree Oga at the Top Chiagoziem expressed his disbelief at Ghost not being regarded as one of the best in his class at the time. All these opinions hold water since it’s undeniable that Ghost, in blistering form, unequivocally led the way on the CW3—it’s been related that Ghost conceived most of the tape, with his partner working with already laid out precedents. Already in a handicapped position, sort of, it would be very misleading to say Tec wasn’t in sublime form as well on the tape. On CW3, there’s no point at which Tec doesn’t pull out a splendid performance, even delivering what is arguably the most striking, memorable lyric of the entire tape: “This is what you get when you mix Fela with the blueprint”­—a lesser rapper could not have come up with such a beautifully menacing bar, nor delivered it with such impervious conviction.

As an emphatic return, CW3 re-established Tec and Ghost as two of Nigeria’s nicest rappers. Two years later, SDC has become a tour de force on the Nigerian hip-hop scene, and, this time around, it directly traces back to Tec. In 2013, SDC released their biggest song yet, “Feel Alright,” a colourful party starter with an infectious hook by BOJ, a deftly delivered guest verse by frequent collaborator LadiPoe, and glittering production from Ghanaian producer Juls. As the story goes, Tec laid down the framework for “Feel Alright,” selecting the earworm of a beat and recruiting BOJ for the hook as well.

SDC went on to try their hands at other songs aimed at ubiquity in following years, but “Feel Alright” continued to eclipse every single release in success and quality. Leaning into the sound of their hit song, reupholstering it significantly as well, the recent, widely received Palmwine Music franchise is primarily responsible for the Camp’s new pinnacle, and, again, Tec is credited as the half of the duo responsible for fostering this innovative step.

Initially put together as a one-off single, the Funbi-assisted “Up to You” was the first song recorded for Palmwine Music, Vol. 1, with Tec bringing to life the chosen, jolly direction of the music, while Ghost plugged in some ways later. In its entirety, it’s palpable that Tec took point on PM1, a role which he seemingly reprised for last year’s highly anticipated, critically acclaimed sequel, Palmwine Music 2.

It doesn’t seem far-fetched to posit that there’d be no Palmwine Music without Tec—he clearly possesses the superior pop sensibility—which directly affects the current trajectory of SDC’s career, a turn that has seen them curate pop-up shows and consecutive editions of the Palmwine Fest, snag a coveted spot on the last edition of the increasingly influential Gidifest, and capture their first nomination at the previous edition of the Headies for best rap song with “Up to You.”

Beyond making music, Tec is responsible for nearly all of SDC’s music videos. Directed under an alternate moniker, King Davies, the Tec-directed videos for PM1 standouts “Up to You” and “Popping” convey the communal, camaraderie-driven core of these songs, employing colourful and crisp cinematography to applaudable results. Rapper/videomaker is an unusual but highly enviable combo.

That Tec, with all of the credentials and accomplishments listed thus far, doesn’t get his praises sung in the same high decibel and with the same veneration of skill accorded Ghost is unfair, and quite nuts if you ask me. The disrespect—that’s what it is, to be honest—seems to be ongoing, gauging conversations surrounding SDC’s newest release, Clone Wars 4: These Buhari Times. Like clockwork, one of the more prominent reactions on Twitter from many Nigerian hip-hop fans revolves around Ghost’s lyrical genius, even with certain rappers asking for a showdown and fans tossing the idea of a solo Ghost album around, leaving unequal room to extol Tec’s glaring brilliance in these discussions.

In my review of CW4, I likened the operative mode of Tec and Ghost to two pilots directing a Jaegar, and that observation has continued and will continue to prove true with subsequent listens. As much as my unhealthy tradition of deciphering who did better on what song, similar to many rap fans, still pervades—this is where I’d like to submit that Tec absolutely went off on “Packaging” and “4TH Republic”—the poignancy and effectiveness of CW4 undeniably thrives on the joint powers of both sides of SDC. On Tec’s part, right from his decisive verse on “(Intro) Center of Excellence,” he sounds like a man on a mission, and it is impossible to argue that he emphatically achieves what he set out to do, delivering superb verse after superb verse, and also dropping arguably the most striking quotable on the whole tape: “stop calling that thing rap; we won’t have it”—patiently waiting for a line to top this in the whole of Nigerian hip-hop in 2019.

For fans who have Ghost as the favourite of the MCs comprising Show Dem Camp, it is totally fine sentiment to harbour. What is, however, wrong is not acknowledging the prowess and importance of Tec, he’s earned every ounce of respect as his partner. If your list of best Nigerian rap acts features Ghost as a private entity, best believe Tec is right beside him on that table. Regardless of what anyone or their favourite rapper thinks, that’s facts, no cap.