Prolific rapper M.I Abaga finally dropped his long awaited album after years of teasing and eluding. On the album he experiments with a lot of new sounds that the casual Nigerian music fan might not be familiar with. There’s been a mixed bag of reactions from fans and industry experts, some calling it his best work, others calling it his worst work.
What do the amped contributors think? After listening to the album we had them fill out a short survey.
1. What’s your tweet length review of Yxng Dxnzl
Not by any chance M.I’s best work (even though it's getting really difficult picking his worst) I understand his chat with the psychologist but it might have taken away something from the work. It was more of a distraction from the fact that there’s so little rapping done on really great beats – Paterson
I have listened to so many good hip-hop albums this year and was hoping M.I’s album would join the list but sadly it was a deep disappointment – Amechi
On this project, M.I was just trying to stake a claim on his superiority in the music making space and was not really looking for commercial success with the release of this album. This album is about him alone; being Jude Abaga and Also M.I of chocolate city – Femi
I truly believe this is some of the best rapping I’ve heard from M.I in a while, its all coming from a very personal place and you can hear his emotions when he spits those bars. But I’ll say this though; M.I needs to get out of his own way sometimes, the therapy sessions after every song took away from the album - Uzo
2. Best part of the album?
The production. The production was flawless; I can’t talk enough about how great the beats on the album are. –Amechi
Another Thing! Do Not Be a Groupie. For once he actually talks about what he’s done in the music scene, people he’s put on. Pretty much taking the acclaim he deserves which is usually just his lyrical ability. He reminded us that he’s a proven label executive – Paterson
The best part has to be Another Thing! Do Not Be a Groupie. The song is the heart and soul of the album. M.I went all out and spoke about realistic things that were bothering him as a rapper and his sanity as a human being- Femi
Another Thing! Do Not Be a Groupie is meant to be the one right? It’s the best beat on the album and he’s taking shots and name calling guys. It has all the ingredients, for me it’s the +- song, the best song on the album - Uzo
3. Worst part of the album?
Forming deep shit, the album would have been a lot better if he wasn’t trying so hard to be deep. – Amechi
I think his therapy sessions were really not necessary, it was an overkill on the message he was trying to pass across and it did more harm than good to the album. I also disliked the way the track listing was done, its another example of M.I over indulging himself in a bid to be “creative” – Uzo
Without a doubt it’s the track titles. This isn’t really a bad thing but what were those? Those aren’t titles. They’re full sentences. I tried to read them all at once to see if there was some meaning but nothing. It just makes the album difficult to reference – Paterson
All decent and acceptable tracks on the album . I think easily, the worst part of the project will have to be execution. I think it would have worked better as a visual album so we could fully understand it. It became like a seminar and I struggled to pay attention. Visuals tend to keep the attention more - Femi
4. Direction of the album?
Introspection: M.I wanted to bear it all out to the people and give them a peak into what he is dealing with, the burden of success and how it’s not all glamorous. -Uzo
M.I came to prove he’s still the best rapper around while exploring different sounds with the aid and influence of new age music acts, while touching on a myriad of subjects. – Paterson
Releasing two albums in a calendar year, M.I was just trying to gather clout among the hip-hop and rap heads and to show he is miles ahead of the current state in terms of wok ethic and his creative direction in recording new material. Speaking volumes as to him being the regular rapper but also a maestro in his craftsmanship. - Femi
5. M.I Tweeted that this album is career suicide, what do you make of that ?
I agree with him it is a career wrecking album. - Amechi
I really paid no mind to that, there’s nothing that can ruin M.I’s legacy or his career. So the tweet came off as mellowdramatic to me - Uzo
Honestly I thought that was just “one of those things” artistes tweet when they are not sure. It's all to get us to listen but we didn’t need that tweet, we were going to listen anyway. – Paterson
You can stream the album here:
Is this not what they (the good rappers) are doing now, forming too deep. it is a decent album for me tho 7/10, but I miss the classic M.I., just the way I miss the classic jcole.
Yomi