Discovering 9ice

My good friend, Akinlabi, told me about 9ice when I went to see him in Ilorin some months ago. For some reasons (perhaps because I am some sort of snub?) I never really listened to it. I guess it is really because of the Gongo aso hype…. Anyway, I was in a friend’s car some weeks ago and he encouraged me to listen to Wedding Day. I immediately saw that there really was something I could like in it and I got him to lend me the CD. I was very not disappointed. Someone said that the tracks on the album all sound similar; I disagree with that, but I could see where that came from. Someone should tell Nigerian music producers that their jobs go beyond just making sure that the CD is recorded….

What I really like about his music is the ease with which he moves from things like – in Gongo aso for instance – ‘no be beanz talk’ to eni ba foju ana woku ebora a bo laso’, from everyday street talk to Yoruba – Akinlabi says Ogbomosho – folkloric tradition. And where does one get these lyrics these days?

Kelebe kelebe lo ma ma se bi tanwijin
Ife a gbokan re so bi eni to sinwin
Ko si oun t’Obi re maa so to ma wo e leti. (Wedding Day)

How many people even know what tanwinjin is?

I hope you get my drift. Check him out when you get the opportunity.