TOP 10 SONGS FOR THE FIRTS QUATER OF 2018 (JANUARY - APRIL)

Welcome back to The Odd Blog. Hope you’ve been good all the while I’ve been gone? Without further ado, let’s head to the business of the day. So for the past 4 months, our artistes have been dropping bangers on bangers, hits on hits and even peaking on world chats and based on these premises,  and also with the help of a few friends, it brings us to our top 10 songs of the first quarter of 2018 (January –April).

10.  Bobo (feat Davido): At the 10^th spot is the DMW superstar act Mayorkun who won the Headies ‘Next Rated’ award with the smashing hit of Bobo which features DMW CEO, Davido. The song was produced by Lush beats and Killertunes and ever since the release, the famous lyric from the song, “Na Money Be Fine Bobo” has been on the lips of most Nigerians which brings it to the number 10 spot.

9. Aje: The DMW acts in persons of Peruzzi, Fresh, Yonda and also the DMW boss, Davido, came together to put out this hit single which has a fresh tone which everyone likes and love. No doubt that the DMW just keeps getting stronger and better every day.

8. Assurance: Debuting on charts also our music playlist is this love song Davido made for his girlfriend which is a hit and which also had a million views on YouTube in a day. Before the song dropped, Davido said in an interview that this particular single was going to be the biggest song in Nigeria and this statement has been verified by the song itself with the way it’s peaking on different charts all around the world.

7. Ire: This song is by Adekunle Gold and just like the meaning, good. The song is powerful, the lyrics are also powerful and inspirational, the back up by Simi was awesome and the video speak volumes. ‘Ire’ by Adekunle Gold is a classic.

6. Mind: The DMW acts have dominated this year and no doubt, dominated this countdown. Mind was released back in February and since then, has been on most countdowns and has been getting plays by radio stations, djs and so on. Mind is a DMW classic.

5. Heaven’s Gate feat Lily Allen: Heaven’s gate by Burna Boy is a monster hit. I remember when it came out, My friends and I couldn’t get over it. Lily Allen also came through with the vocals and the beat has this reggae, ‘Pon Pon’ and Pop vibe at the same time. From the ‘Outside’ album by Burna Boy is Heaven’s gate at number .

4. Science Student: A countdown is never complete without a song for the streets. Science student by Olamide is a song which made most people loose their home training while doing the ‘Shaku Shaku’ dance. Science student was produced by 2 of YBNL’s in house producers Bbanks and Yung John and there is no doubt that the song has dominated the first quarter of this year air plays and this is what brings it to the number 4 spot on the countdown.

3. Soco: Starboy featuring Wizkid, Terry, Spotless 360 and Ceeza Milli is a hit. The song has this ‘shaku shaku’ vibe and calm vibe at the same time and the visuals are also lovely. This song was really anticipated by Nigerians on twitter because Wizkid kept tweeting about it and honestly, it was worth the wait and hype.

2. Nowo feat Wizkid: No doubt, DJ Spinall has dropped a lot of Jams and NOWO is not an exception. The song produced by The Cap music in house producer, Killertunes is another monster hit by the producer and wizkid really came through on this song.

And for the number 1 song for the first quarter of the year is by an artist who I felt should have taken most of the Headies awards, an artiste who has been neglected for too long and an artist who deserves all the possible accolades we could give to an artiste and the number 1 song is no other than ‘Ye’ by Burna Boy. This song is referred to by Nigerians as the National Pledge while Ojuelegba by Wizkid is referred to as the National anthem. In my opinion, this song is a classic, a hit and deserves to be on the number 1 spot.

That’s all we have for today’s post. You can also drop songs you felt should have been on the countdown but aren’t. Note they must be songs released from January – April 2018. Thank you for reading as always. See you on the next post.       

TOP 5 TIPS FOR UP AND COMING ARTISTES

If you are an artiste or you know an artiste, either popular or still up and coming, this post could be of help in making your music or their music known and acceptable to fans and the industry at large.

     

      The very first tip is to have a very catchy or beautiful album art. As little as this detail maybe, it is also very important and key. Most people that don’t know you as an artiste might just come across your music and see your album art and on seeing it, they like it and they download your music. I personally do this sometimes so in summary make your album art very catchy, relatable and beautiful. 

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     Secondly, your beat. Pay for that expensive producer who would give you quality in sound and don’t go for that your guy who produces in his room and uses earphones to listen to his beats. Also know your producer and let your producer know you. Take a look at “Davido”, when he was still up and coming, He worked with “Shizzi” (a producer) for all his singles and even his first album “Omo Baba Olowo The Genesis” why, because “shizzi” knew his art and he knew “shizzi”."Wizkid"too also worked with "Samklef" for his first studio album, "Star Boy".

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          Furthermore, Understand Yourself and Your art. Most up and coming artistes believe the concept of the more you drop a song, the more popular you become forgetting that what works for artiste “A” might not work for Artiste “B”. Know what you are good at. Know the genre that is your strong point. Maybe it’s “Hip-Hop”, “RnB”, “Alternative” and so on. You might not even be a good singer but a good writer and make a lot of money from writing songs for artistes. So therefore, discover your art and let it take you places.

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           In addition to understanding yourself and your art, the fourth tip is that you should understand your fans. As an artiste, know what your fans want because you are not just an artiste, you are like a brand who has competitors who are also competing for your fans. So therefore, you must always make sure you deliver quality to them. If “Shaku Shaku” is the new wave, give them, If it’s a love season, give them something about love, If it’s a season of self growth give them songs that will make them appreciate themselves and if you keep doing this, you are gradually winning the heart of your fans.

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          Lastly the 5^th tip is a major advice to you as an artiste. Don’t be a one way artiste. Be relatable. The reason why people love “Maleek Berry”, “Simi” and “Adekunle Gold” is because they sing songs that people can relate to. Don’t let all your songs be about money or girls and assets. Don’t sing that you have 1 million somewhere when you begged the producer to give you the beat for free. Sing songs that affect the everyday person. You could sing about happiness, peace, success, love, God, heart break, everyday suffering and many more.

      

     That would be all for now. I hope my tips were able to help you in one way or the other. See you on the next post. 

THE GAME OF SOUNDS.

To kick off, I would like to wish all readers of The Odd Blog a happy new year.

So we all know that in modern day music in Nigeria, there are two types of sound, The “Pon pon” sound and the “New School” sound. Now for those who don’t know what this sound is, I’m going to give you a short list of artistes who fall under these categories. Under the “Pon Pon” sound we have artistes like; “Davido”, “Wizkid”, “Olamide”, “Wandecoal”, “Mayorkun”, “Reekardo Banks” and so on. While in the “New school” sound we have artistes like; “Odunsi”, “Santi”, “Nonso Amadi”, “Wavy the Creator”, “Ajebuter 22”, “Maleek Berry” and so on.

If you are true fan of the Nigerian music, you would have noticed that, hardly do you hear these artistes on a song together. What I’m saying in essence is that, artistes that fall under the “pon pon” category hardly feature artistes under the “new school” category. Hardly will you hear a song that has “Wizkid” and “Wavy the creator” on it or “Olamide” featuring “Odunsi”. It even goes to the extent that each category has its own producers and video directors.” Sarz”, “Yung Jon”, “Spellz”, “Legendury beatz” and so on fall under the “pon pon” category of producers while “spax”, “studio magic”, “ODH”, “Odunsi” and the likes fall under the producers of the New school category. Hardly will you hear “yung jon” producing for “Nonso Amadi”.

I am not saying that these artistes are beefing each other. What I am just trying to say is that, these artistes should learn to work together and not cause a division or categorization which might hinder their creativity levels as artistes. Who knows if once they start working together, they might take the Nigerian music industry to the next level.