Last week, one of my favourite artistes of all time, Modenine released Insulin, his ninth official release; asides five notable mixtapes, collaborations and freebies.
As usual with any Modenine product, I was super excited and quite eager to buy and dive in for some good Hip Hop and lyricism. However, unlike most of his previous works, my excitement for Insulin was a bit dampened by a strange feeling of sadness and disappointment, not because of the product, but the audience and market receiving it.
SEE: Modenine releases new video titled ‘Insulin’ featuring DJ Jimmy Jatt
I must say, that I have always bought, and still own, ALL of Modenine’s released works bar one, and still consider him, like I’ve always done since first listening to him on 93.7 circa 1999/2000, as the greatest African rapper. No debates
From the wordplay on ‘Contradiction’, to the braggadocio of ‘Elbow Room’, the storytelling of ‘Cry’ and ‘Ogun Isoye’, the comedy of ‘Nigerian Girls’, to the social commentary on ‘Lagos State of Mind’, ‘Africa’ and ‘My Skin Is Black’, this man gave us classic after classic.
Now, for the kids born in this watered down era of rap, where sweetness of melody and noise making is rated over lyricism and wordplay, and to those Nigerian music fans of my generation who feel Modenine is ‘too Americanized’ and so they can’t relate, I felt it necessary to highlight some of Mode’s greatest works, which make him undisputed Nigerian rap god, as well as an African literary and art icon who deserves our collective praise, honour and respect.
Ride wit’ me …
Malcolm IX – The Lost Sessions (2004)
This was Modenine’s debut release on little known Ostrakon Records after a long time on the underground with PaybackTyme and his legendary crew, SWAT-ROOT (Solo Dee, ElDee XL, SixfootPlus, Mr Baron, Terry Tha Rapman, OD, Rule Clean, and more) in Abuja before his eventual return to Lagos.
It was a beastly hungry Mode on the mic, ready to bully any pretend rappers and show the people what real rap was all about.
In production and finishing, the album was quite raw, but at that time in Nigeria, there was absolutely nothing like it on radio or anywhere else. Clearly a genius had been unleashed on us.
READ: ‘I got no endorsement, no sponsorship’ – Modenine opens up in new jam
My Fave 3:
Elbow Room: Jeremiah Gyang (Callen) production and infectious catchy hook made this one a memorable track. Modo spazzed out with super lyrical bars, and even our notoriously Hip Hop-averse radio loved it!
Formidable: The DJ Premiere-style cuts and scratches from G-Lynx made this one a Hip Hop head’s favourite. And surely, Modo brought the bars!
419 State of Mind featuring OD: Mode9 telling stories about notorious Nigerian scammers and their foreign victims. Production by Mr Seth
Pentium IX – The Mixtape (2005)
Mode9 had just signed his deal with Kev Diggy’s Questionmark Entertainment, which also had on its impressive roster Cobhams Asuquo, Asa, Street Monks, Silver Saddih and others.
This was Modo’s most ‘lyrical’ release till date. He went all out to seal the deal as Africa’s best, unencumbered by any needs to ‘sell’ records or please the radio. He just rapped and rapped and rapped.
It was a beautiful time, because this mixtape (which sounded better than any rap album at the time) prepared our ears for what was to come next. Pentium IX till date is my favourite Mode9 mixtape. It also introduced us to Jonah the Monarch, who produced some classic stuff. They were Nigeria’s own GURU and Premo.
Album also featured Ill Bliss, Obiwon and Amaka of Thorobreds, who had just relocated to Lagos from Enugu, plus UK based Cashino NDT.
My Fave 3:
Spazmodic: Arguably Nigeria’s greatest rap collaboration, rivalled only by the likes of Trybesmen + Darey’s Young Man, and a few others. Modo and his brother from another mother, Terry tha Rapman dropped timeless bars on this joint, and the song is a classic forever.
Fun fact: The video, shot in Jos, features a very young M.I, Ice Prince and Jesse Jagz. How’s that for making history!?
Pentium IX: I used to harass my Computer Science roommates in Uni with this song. The knowledge Modo dropped in three verses was enough to earn him a BSc. Computer Science. ‘I peep the industry through my windows XP… Y’all wont forget me with your memory on low RAM…’
READ: American rapper, Awkword features Modenine, 8 others on new single, ‘I am’
Gentle Wind: My favourite Mode9 ‘love song’. I used to pray he and Amaka would hook up in real life, just because of how soulful and ‘real’ this song felt. The storytelling was relatable and you could feel Mode’s emotions through the bars and on Jonah’s soulful production.
E’Pluribus Unum (2007)
This would officially be Mode9’s debut ALBUM and my favourite one till date. So many things came together to make this album a classic work of art, and I’ll need 8,000 words and a two-hour seminar to fully express that. Sigh.
With production from Cobhams, Jonah the Monarch, Kraftmatiks, Jahmix and guest appearances from diverse talents such as Mike Aremu, Cobhams, 2face, Nomoreloss (RIP), Nnenna, Amaka, Sage Hasson, Silver Saddih, Obiwon, Ruffman, and more, E’Pluribus Unum indeed is first amongst many.
My fave 3:
Cry: This is one of the greatest rap songs to ever come out of Nigeria. It’s also Mode9’s most successful single till date. ‘Cry’ didn’t only tell two very touching tragic stories with witty rhymes and emotion, it also produced (at the time) one of the most successful videos from Nigeria, which won three Channel O awards in South Africa. At the time, Channel O awards were the biggest in Africa. This was long before MTV’s MAMA.
Nnenna and Cobhams also added their magic, and the Q’mark machinery did a good job of pushing the single.
‘They were man and wife, but he hardly slept with her / Out late with his friends hurting his liver’
Contradiction: Mode9 does best when he’s telling stories or rapping about a concept. ‘Contradiction’ is all about wordplay. On the track, Modo uses several references and puns to explain how life is a paradox and the reality we see is sometimes all fiction. God bless Devyne for that out-of-the-world hook too.
The song earned Modenine one of his several Lyricist on the Roll wins at the Headies (Hip Hop World Awards).
‘I’ve got another concept y’all, y’all, y’all… Contradiction/ I’m smooth but I handles my friction’
Africa: This for me is 2face Idibia’s best performance as a guest feature on any song in his illustrious career. It is such a tragedy that 80% of his fans are not even aware of the song’s existence. Kraft did an amazing job with the production, while a laid back Modo told great, head-swelling stories about Africa and why we are a great people.
Singing in goosepimple-inducing Idoma dialect, 2face takes us to heaven screaming ‘Africa neh o, Africa neh o’.
One of those rare moments that you wanna climb the roof and beat your chest King Kong style that ‘yes! Africans are the greatest people on earth!’
My other favourites on this album include ‘Ogun Isoye‘ featuring the late Nomoreloss, another master storytelling performance by Modo (Song was inspired by Emma Ugolee, an unsung hero of the modern Nigerian music industry), and ‘Nigerian Girls’, one of Mode9’s most radio friendly, yet witty and interesting songs. I always wondered, what if Mode made more Nigerian Girls-type songs, how would his career have fared commercially?
Nigel Benn’s KraftWork (Modenine and Kraft) – The Soul Edition (2007)
This marked the height of Mode9-Kraft tag team that lasted a couple of years. In young Kraft, Modenine found his Just Blaze, his soul samples-crazy Kanye West, and his J-Dilla.
Kraft, who’s also a freestyle fanatic and songwriter, alongside Jonah the Monarch and Terry tha Rapman, remain for me, Mode9’s best collaborators. They always clicked anytime they worked together and brought out the best in one another.
This project is still the most soulful release out there from any Nigerian-based artiste and it was put out for free!
The Paradigm Shift (2008)
By this time, Q’mark was no more, and that well-oiled label machine Modenine enjoyed no longer existed, but Modo was still there for the fans, dropping another album that I regard as his second best after E’Pluribus Unum.
In my head, this album was a product of those Tuesday evenings at Bogobiri, Ikoyi where young art, poetry and music enthusiasts in Lagos gathered for Lydia Idakula’s (sister to Bez) Taruwa.
Most of the top names in Nigerian creative industry today honed their skills, networked, and got inspired at Taruwa – Tosyn Bucknor, Knighthouse, M.I, Iceprince, Jesse Jagz, Sage Hasson, Mai Atafo, Noble Igwe, Bez, Efe Paul Azino, Jeffrey Plumbline, Andre Blaze, and lots more. Bez and his sister appeared on at least three songs on this album.
Modenine was a regular feature at Taruwa and it was there I first met him and had a one-on-one chat with my hero. You can imagine how thrilling that was for me, to be around all that, and I even got to witness the origins and creation of my favourite track on the album during this period.
My fave 3:
Big Boy Rap: Lucky me. I was ‘there’ during the making of this one. My good pal and later flatmate, Ernest Bisong, a superbly talented professional violinist had been inviting me to Taruwa, and I was already hooked, most especially to the art of spoken word, freestyle rap and poetry.
Ernest would perform with Bez on stage, as Bez played his Taruwa ‘hits’, some of which would eventually appear on his debut album many years later. He was already a ‘star’ in that small gathering, and the girls so loooooved him.
Anyways, Kraft, who was Mode9’s main producer/muse/collaborator at the time, hooked up with my guy Ernest and they started working on a track that later became ‘Big Boy Rap’ … which Modenine perfectly executed.
Proud moment for me, because I remember pushing and encouraging Ernest to finish that song, even when he almost lost interest. Also was there to prod him to go talk with Modo, one night after the gig ended. * pats self on back *
The violins and guitar solo at the end … just pure sweetness!
‘Big boys move like organized criminals / Big boys rock subliminals…/ Big boys pack demicals, play squash / Miss Worlds scrub their backs when they wash/ Big Boys, No stress, living so plush’
Spartans: The genius of this song is not just the brilliant sample, but the attitude and Mode9’s bullish delivery. This was soon after the movie 300 became a global hit, and to have that ‘Spartans! What is your profession!?’ pre-war chant sampled so gloriously gets everyone’s blood pumping like raaaah!!! Awwwoooooh!!!
Talking To You: One line of Mode9 on this song, knocked Ruggedman off his high horse, and generously contributed to Ruggedybaba’s sharp decline on the Nigerian rap scene. #FactsOnly
It also showed Nigerians that Banky W wasn’t here to play.
Worthy of mention on this album are incredible songs like ‘My Skin Is Black’ featuring Sage Hasson, ‘A Hero Comes Home’ (shout out @Supersanusi), ‘Nine’ (produced by Jesse Jagz, and another Lyricist on the Roll award winner at the Headies), and ‘Death Blow’, top three in the greatest Nigerian diss songs list – Please argue with your mirror.
Pardon me, all the songs on this album qualify for ‘faves’, but I’ll just stop here.
Da Vinci Mode (2010)
By this time, Nigerian audiences were beginning to falter, distracted by whatever version of ‘Tungba’ was on the radio and in the clubs at the time. Only a few wanted to listen deep, and I was one of them.
Trust Modo not to conform – he kept rapping the best way he knew how to. Although, he indeed experimented with some radio friendly tracks like ‘Bad Man’, which didn’t do too badly at all.
This was also a good album and it does bring back some nostalgia. Good ol’ days.
My fave 3:
Okokomaiko: Mode 9 again, telling stories of his days growing up in one of Lagos’ most notorious neighbourhoods – Okokomaiko. This song got that extra Lagos ‘tout’ feel from Jafextra’s comical performance. A very ‘Lagos’ song that should be an anthem for all residents of the Ajegunle-Okoko axis of Lagos, and an ode to the life we all lived as ‘Pako’ boys growing up in Nigeria’s cities.
‘Back in the days when we dey Okokomaiko / Boys just dey psycho… Mile 2 Orile… Okokomaiko’
Rhyme Tight: This spurred one of Modo’s best videos ever, featuring Ill Bliss playing ‘Biggie’ and directed by Clarence Peter. The beat also has that hardcore rap roll to it, and one could tell ‘Nine was really enjoying himself on the track. A well sampled Biggie voice will always be a winner with rap fans. Ask J. Cole.
Badman: This was the lead single. A rare radio song for Modo, that got very good crowd reactions anytime it was performed live. It had that sing-along feel to it and I think will still do well anywhere it’s performed even today.
Modenine & XYZ – Alphabetical Order (2013)
Since Kraft, this was the next time Mode9 found that perfect producer to lay the perfect boom bap beat for his perfect lyrics. God bless XYZ. I still enjoy this mixtape/album to this day.
My fave 3:
Let It Go: Great beat, catchy hook, simple but smart rhymes… an all round memorable song. XYZ also directed a very colourful, masterfully edited video for the song.
Flow For The Street: This one was for the true heads like the rest of the album. Nas samples always win too. Ask Jay Z.
Black Rap Messsiah:
Above Ground Level (2014)
By this point, even fanatics like me would admit Mode was past his prime or at least appeared to be. However, he still rapped better than all the rappers out there, so what could we do, but stay loyal.
I suspect Modo got tired of the industry games, the drama, and probably felt underappreciated. Who knows? But this surely was a low point in his amazing run.
One of the highlights of AGL was ‘Super Human’, featuring Canibus.
I must admit, this is my least liked Mode9 work, so I’m gonna pretend it never happened … not cos it’s bad, but because I missed it and didn’t really digest the album mostly due to personal issues I was dealing with at the time.
Will have to go on iTunes and get it now after writing this.
Insulin (2016)
With Insulin, Mode9 proves he’s the proverbial cat with nine lives (pun intended), dropping a 21-track album full of top quality rap in an era where the average Nigerian listener can’t even tell good rap from garbage and many Hip Hop heads are beginning to give up the fight and let Tungba win.
READ: Modenine finds the right ‘Insulin’ to keep going
The African god emcee shows the kids once again how it’s done and what great Hip Hop should sound like, even in the modern era of 4G and driver-less cars, codeine and dabbing.
My fave 3:
‘Open Your Eyes’ featuring Jeremiah Gyang: Another storytelling Modo – in his best form, with a haunting hook by an ever impressive Jeremiah Gyang. Story of two brothers and their life struggles.
‘Bye Felicia’ featuring Amuta: Finally, for late-comers like myself, we can now get the real meaning and use of the slang ‘bye Felicia’, recently made popular on social media.
Police: Modenine tells a great story of his experience with police brutality and harassment from back home in Nigeria to UK, South Africa and other places abroad.
‘Years ago shooting a video in UK with Lambo/ …Police appeared from every angle /
We kept calm, nobody scrambled / I’m like officer I’m an artiste, I’m not a vandal’
Other notable works:
The IX Files (Unreleased PaybackTyme Records 2000-2003)
09.09.09 The Mix Tape (2009)
Occupy The Throne (2012)
Modenine & Alias – Pay At-10-Shun (2010)
Modenine & Mills The Producer – Golden Era Guevara New Era Mandela –(2011)
‘Modenine and DJ Papercutt’ – Look What I Found EP (2016 )
So, What Next For Modenine?
Even though something in me wants him to go out on a high, retiring as undisputed champ of rap, another side of me still wants him on the mic, spitting bars like he’s still in his 20s.
Whatever he chooses to do post-Insulin, this man, Olusegun Babatunde, remains a Nigerian legend. In my opinion, Modenine deserves as much respect for his art as we currently give other Nigerians who have excelled in their chosen fields, such as the likes of Chimamanda in literature, John Mikel Obi in football and Kunle Afolayan in film.
Why not?
Respect for someone’s skills should have nothing to do with the cars they drive, the language they use, the way they dress or how many endorsements they have. Why can’t we respect an artiste for his art? Is it that we don’t understand that his work is Grade A brilliant or we just got used to it that we are no longer impressed?
For me, the best move for Modenine from here on would be to transcend from being just an artist, to him taking up a more ‘fatherly’ role in Nigerian Hip Hop, music and pop culture – as a Grandmaster, an adviser… a historian. Sort of like how we no longer pressure Soyinka to ‘drop a book that Babcock kids can relate with’, but we are okay with honouring his past efforts and regularly seeking his wisdom in matters of art, literature and national affairs.
Beyond this well deserved place of honour, there are business opportunities for someone of Modenine’s calibre, experience and influence in the media. For example, radio is lacking deep, well-informed, eloquent OAPs (Modo once worked as a host on Rhythm FM Abuja). The bulk of voices we hear on air are uninformed, faux foreign-accent peddling pretenders who know nothing about pop culture, urban art and music.
Modenine is an encyclopedia of general knowledge and music, asides being a connoisseur of Hip Hop history, as well as an amazing communicator. Beyond the radio, there is also room for Modenine to function in other sections of media – TV/ documentaries, digital, advertising (jingles and voice over), podcasts, etc.
Hopefully, someone out there with more access than little me will wake up and see the opportunities in the personality that is Modenine. Hopefully, Hip Hop heads and rap fiends who have found professional success and those in business will look back and find creative ways to both honour a man who has giving us so much joy and pleasure with his art, while also taking advantage of the value embedded in this heavyweight.
Modenine is in his 40s, and has been top of his game for about 15 years. If life truly begins at 40, then I think it’s about time we start putting some ‘respeck’ on his good name and opening doors to the new life that Modenine should live from here on.
If you agree with me, or think I’ve been saying rubbish since, do holler.
Let’s talk about it.
Femi Falodun, a poet and Hip Hop head, is Chief Operating Officer of ID Africa, a Lagos-based digital marketing & communication agency.
He is @Hephef on Twitter
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