No one can ever accuse Yemi Alade of lacking self-confidence.
There’s just something about a person who dares to christen themselves the “King of Queens” even when their position on the pawn’s square isn’t a given.
The bold titles don’t stop on her second album either. “Mama Africa” is an ambitious, pan-African musical journey, the kind that artistes usually embark on when they’ve conquered their immediate surroundings and not when their stronghold on home territory is still being contested. However, if this album is as solid as its predecessor, Ms. Alade might then earn the right to come for any throne she wants and not have to ask any of us for a seat.
The buzz around “Johnny” is long gone but the songstress keeps revisiting its talking points. A man who’s having a hard time deciding which lover to leave and which to love, a lover who’s having an equally hard time making that decision for him and a frenetic beat from Selebobo to distract us from how sad the situation actually is. “Tumbum” is Johnny’s unofficial part 2, while “Dorcas” is a more aggressive third installment. Yemi has had enough and has singled out one of his lovers for a nearly 4 minute diatribe. If Yemi’s music is a reflection of her personal life, then some of the men she’s been meeting must have commitment issues.
Yemi has no problem committing though, to her trusted producers at least. 4 producers from KoQ reappear on MA, but if there is something Yemi left behind, it’s her moving ballads.
We’ve seen this time and time again, artistes with R&B backgrounds progressively narrowing their sound to fit a more commercially viable format. Traditional R&B is struggling as a standalone genre both locally and globally, it now relies on fusions with other art forms such as hip-hop and house to survive.
Yemi tries that fusion on “Nakupenda” bringing soul and African guitars, as she puts it, artfully together. Nakupenda is Swahili for “I love you”, so you can expect Yemi and her team are angling for spins on East Africa Radio 88.1FM, Dar es Salaam and Milele 93.6FM, Nairobi. There are similar reaches for airplay on Accra and Abidjan radio with “Ego” and “Do as I Do” respectively.
So in one album, Yemi has managed to craft a collection of songs that has the potential to appeal to fans in every African country close to the equator.
Nigeria obviously isn’t big enough for the Anglophone Angélique Kidjo, in the making, but it is important to note that Yemi hasn’t made it yet.
What she has made however is a project that demands you pay attention to her right now – it is rude to look away when your mama is talking.