By Chiagoziem Onyekwena
ARTISTE – 2face Idibia
TITLE – The Ascension
LEAD SINGLE – Let Somebody Love You
PRODUCTION – Leriq, Alton Berti, Bolji Beats, Dezay, Dnyce, Fabio Litto, Femdouble, G$Ol, JaySleek, Kodjo, Masterkraft, Rolly
GUEST ARTISTES – Bridget Kelly, Dammy Krane, Fally Pupa, Iceberg Slim, Kim Almarcha, Machel Montano, Rocksteady, Shurwayne, Sir Victor Uwaifa, Tony Oneweek, Vector
RECORD LABEL – Hypertek Digital/960 Music Group
DURATION – 65 minutes
It’s been 10 years since 2face’s debut album Face2Face and no, it doesn’t feel ‘just like yesterday’, to my mind that album feels like every day of the decade-old masterpiece that it is. The music on the actual CD may be timeless but so much of what has been good sonically and profitable financially about Nigerian music since then can be linked to that seminal album; so much so that you feel like 2baba has been Nigeria’s premier solo artiste for longer than 10 years.
The last few of those 10 years have probably been the trickiest for musicians – yes, social media makes you more visible to lovers of your music than ever before but it also leaves you equally more vulnerable to those who don’t love it. 2face give us an insight into what his Twitter mentions look like on the electro house-themed ‘#Aproko’ and speaks on his indifference to either side. If this were 2004, this song would have easily birthed a new street slang in a similar way that ‘no shaking’ and ‘no be small thing’ became back then. But alas its 2014 and more subtlety is required to get things to trend today. Speaking of which, there’s also precious little subtlety on the Fela-esque Jeje, laced with Afrika ’70-sounding backup singers and loosely sampling African China’s ‘Mr. President‘, this song pays homage to Afrobeat and is a good addition to 2face’s already amazing performance catalogue.
Another possible addition to that catalogue is ‘Holiday’, a high energy effort readymade for aerobic playlists. Truth be told, there’s a lot of energy on this album, sultry ballads such as ‘Kiss of Life‘ are a rarity. Ascension’s diversity is more in who it contains than what it contains; guests from as many as four continents were featured, while the same CD that has a 73-year-old music veteran on his last hurrah also has a fast-rising 21-year-old without an album to his name. The results range from the splendid ‘Lesse Passe‘ to the hollow ‘Confessions‘ but both artistes are signed to 2face anyway, so the collaborations need not make great musical sense to make sound business sense. Absurdly, as questionable as some of the collaborations here may be, the choice of Bridget Kelly as a guest on the lead single Let Somebody Love You makes all of them sound ingenious. No disrespect to the former Roc Nation bright up-and-comer, and you know when people lead with that line that they are about to say the most disrespectful thing, but this placement will potentially do twice more for her career than it will for 2face’s. From Wyclef, to T-Pain to… Bridget Kelly? I thought the plan was to keep ascending?
In another 10 years, we could look back at the defining moments in 2face’s discography and his 6th album – Ascension just might be one of them. However, as it stands today, in a career so rich in pioneering things, it’s hard to see that happening. Ellen Glasgow once said ‘all change is not growth, as all movement is not forward’ – I know 2Face set out to make a forward or upward moving album on Ascension but what he really has done is move sideways, at best. That isn’t bad in itself, just not the genre-bending, boundary-crossing, revolutionary album it had the potential to be.
8 comments
I disagree with the rating…. 4.95/5 … That is a mature album for the mature minds. Different genres of music. 2BABA is Nigeria’s timeless A-Class artist.. The album is SOLID…2BABA , u too much
I agree with this review, we know 2Face is an A-Class, timeless artiste (and the reviewer acknowledged that) but I was let down by the album. In my mind, 2Face seems to have stopped making “complete” and cohesive albums, in the same vein as Grass 2 Grace and Face 2 Face. His albums of late have been unbalanced. That takes nothing away from his talent though.
I fucking disagree with u.. That album is the Shit!! 2BABA For LIFE!….. FUCK U THENET!!
I think this review was done by one of the shallow minded journalist in ayeni’s pay roll. Let Ayeni himself do a review of somebody of his generation(2face) and not allow kids like you to further rubbish Nigeria music seen that is already soaked with shallow songs.
You glide over a very solid musical work like this in the name of review,you called jeje a sampled work!treated let somebody love you like a trash and didn’t even bother to mention hate what u do to me and close to where you are and u rubbish confession,infact you don’t deserve to be with a genius I respect like ayeni great. People like you celebrate poor musics and make people that a really tanlented feel out of place.
One word to the person who rated 2face”s album….You are a fool…..( Yea I said one word but u r so foolish I had to stretch it). The album is for mature music lovers….and it obvious u r nt 1…
@TheRealSEEKO.you are very correct and I think Billboard is proofing this too.
@sola. What more can I say you are on point.
Only a fool doubts the proof
the 12th selling album in the world presently .. is been criticized by a fool here …. you must be very pathetic who ever you are by writing this nonsense review… tubaba didnt feature rihanna or jay z or akon for his album to go world wide ask yourself these question those other nigerian artist that are signed in kanye west good music .. or those that are featuring rick ross and co what have they really achieved on the international scene all these days.. tubaba was the first nigerian artist to be featured on an american song ..Tpain featured him and Akon.. he is also the first nigerian artist to be on the billboard charts of the top selling album .. i think you need to sit and think before you criticize ..the song APROKO is for people like you
@therealSEEKO @Jide @Sola… I see all of una! Your heads are there.