It’s almost been 2 months since Poe was unveiled as a member of Mavin 3.0. In that time, his label mates Johnny Drille and DNA have hit the ground running with new singles but the former SDC-affiliate has kept his fans in suspense, only featuring on a record on Iyanya’s Signature EP towards the end of last month.
The short wait is over. Poe – the lyrical phenom – has just released his debut single on Mavin Records “Man Already” and it was produced by Altims. Listen to the heavy jam below:
Before signing to Mavin, Poe was seen as one of Nigerian hip-hop’s best-kept secrets. Cut from the same ‘cool kid’, word play-heavy, lyric-driven, cerebral rap cloth as the great MI Abaga, Poe has long been hyped up to be next up – now is the time.
The most obvious question about the MC getting a record deal with the biggest label in the land is how much of the DNA of his sound will change to align with theirs’. We’ve seen this play out in Mo Hits/Mavin with Dr. Sid, D’Prince, K-Switch and Ikechukwu before him transitioning from hip-hop to Afropop – hip-hop fans are curious to know if one of their brightest prospects is going to follow suit.
On the second verse of “Man Already”, he addresses those concerns. Poe seems determined to show that he is his own man in every way imaginable. The rapper sounds sharp and focused on his first Mavin showing but a new record deal did not make Poe the man, he was the “Man Already”.
This is for the man dem thinking now that Poe is on a platform, abi the jams go heavy
We need the man dem know, there’s nothing to transform, I be the man already
As confident as ever, as lyrical as ever, “Man Already” is a statement of intent from Poe. He has taken a step forward in his career but he hasn’t lost a lyrical step.