By Ayomide Tayo
G.R.A is the other half of 9ice’s latest double album. Standing for Galvanizing Right Ahead, Adigun drops his seventh studio album six years from his sophomore Gongo Aso.
After the outstanding success of his second effort, 9ice has shied away from the formula that made him a household name. Instead of creating pop and urban songs, he has concentrated more on contemporary highlife tracks. This strategy has created more miss than hits. Yet he persists with this formula.
9ice starts G.R.A sadly with a contemporary highlife track called ‘Possible’. There is nothing new and exciting about this opener. It is filled with standard prayers and praises to God. ‘Boluwatife’ is one of those highlife songs that 9ice really hasn’t been able to score a national hit from. The market is flooded with enough contemporary highlife songs and 9ice doesn’t seem to have what it takes to drop a song to separate him from the pack. ‘HBD’ comes off as boring- a birthday song, which he has touched on in ‘No Be Mistake‘ from 2009’s Tradition album.
Fortunately, on ‘Daily Bread’, which is more urban, he gets it right. ‘Daily Bread’ should be the next video from the G.R.A project if 9ice is keen on getting a huge hit from this album. It’s danceable; it features his deep Yoruba lines, and has potential crossover appeal. This is more of what one expects from the truly gifted singer.
On ‘Oke Odo’, 9ice enters his elements here. The slow song is littered with deep Yoruba phrases and proverbs. When 9ice plays to some of his strengths, he is pleasurable to listen to. 9ice is reflective and conscious on the way his career has gone when he sings ‘so many things I don learn from. I don go up, come down before I rise up’. This is a sentiment he reveals on ‘Sombori‘ as he sings, ‘that somebody still exists so I no go be old timer, bad memories mo ti cross over‘.
‘Omoluabi’ is the centerpiece of the album. It starts with a Yoruba flute on the intro. He hits the nail on the head on this urban track. This is where 9ice’s redemption lies. As he sings ‘Omoluabi- jeje mo n lo- jeje mo n bo’, you can imagine him climbing the pop charts once again.
Sadly moments like these are fleeting on the album. ‘New Money’ is ordinary and forgettable. When he sings, ‘the world is mine’, it raises more questions than answers. ‘Juicy For Me‘ suffers from a lazy hook. Luckily his collaboration with Oritsefemi, ‘On The Beat’ fares much better. Oritsefemi’s high-pitched voice and flow helps this song from being a random track in 9ice’s discography.
With each album, it is very clear 9ice needs innovative A&R to help him re-direct his career. There are moments on this LP that will want to make you believe in him again. Sadly they are not that many, they are just enough to remind who he once was.
Rating- 3/5
9ice heads the wrong way on G.R.A [Album Review]
