By Ayomide Tayo
So the mantra around town is Everybody Loves Ice Prince. The third rapper in the Choc Boy collective has finally dropped his much anticipated debut album popularly abbreviated as ELI. In exactly a year Ice Prince Zamani has gone from obscurity to national fame after he dropped his colossal single ‘Oleku’ followed by a less successful but equally commercial follow up single ‘Super Star’
So what does this pop star’s debut album sound like? Well for one thing, Ice Prince is ambitious. Being one of today’s pop acts, Ice constructs records that lean towards the popular demographic than the rap crowd where he sprouted from. When his stars align the songs hit their mark. ‘Juju’ orchestrated by label mate and singer/producer Jesse Jagz has a tinge of Afrobeat in it and sees Ice rhyming about fake friends. ‘Wassup Wassup’ feat 2face is another of these songs as Ice Prince borrows Wizkid’s flow on the track. ‘By This Time’ featuring highlife favourite Wizboyy is a track concocted with Eastern Nigerian in mind with its heavy highlife influence.
It’s not all of Ice Prince’s experiments that work. ‘Baby’ is a deliberate attempt to cash in on the new highlife fever in the country and not a very good one at that. ‘Olofofo’ featuring pop sensation Wizkid is paper weight at best and ‘End of Story’ featuring Samklef gives off the ‘been there-heard that’ feel that now lurks in his rehashed beats.
Another ‘Achilles heel’ of Ice Prince is his might I say ‘cheesy lines’. In a bid to impress with his wordplay he goofs by kicking some head-scratching lines. While this can be noticed in the album, the major culprit of this is Magician featuring Yung L & J Milla.
Despite these flaws, ELI is an LP with some solid tracks to its name. ‘Find You’ is a sober track dedicated to his dead parents. Ice’s youngest sister talks at the end of the song which makes it very gripping and emotional. ‘Somebody Lied’ speaks on his determination to make it in Lagos and the broken promises of the democratic government.
Overall Ice Prince has ended up delivering a debut that shoots for the stars. While not reaching its target he has however placed himself in the galaxy Nigeria’s rising pop stars.
Rating 3/5.
50 comments
4 d ist tym,il disagree a lil bit wiv u.dint u listen 2 dat dude,raindrops n d choc boiz song.dey re sick.di album should be rated 4/5.am out
I GIVE IT 2.5/5.
He raps in similar ways.MI first introduced this style.HE cant beat MI to it.
He tried but didnt meet my expectation.
Pls watch out for Brymo.He is the my star of the moment.ARA single was a bomb.Keep it up bro.
Totally agree with your review…
The album didn’t cut it for me…
I love the Choc Boi anthem though….
Yet 2 get mine.
I totally disagree wit u, beta listin 2 dat album again.
I rate it 10/10. ice prince kills it anytime anyday. ELI(everybody loves iceprince) 4 me it’s ILI (i love iceprince) kip up ice prince
Not an Ice Prince fan at all…But i think the only reason people might not give this album its deserved rating (Which i think is a 3.5/5 Or a(4/5)…for “Imperfection”Sake) is that expectations were far too Massive…My Stand Out tracks on the album Have to be 1)Remember
2)By This Time(With Wizboy)
3)Find You
4)End of Story(With Samklef)
another thing that did it for me on this album was the fact that,though well gifted with Star collaborations..he didn’t rely on His “Choc-City Militia”which was what i earlier thought the plan would be…all in all i think Ice Prince did a pretty good Job… Thumbs Up…
i love choc boiz
I fink ice prince is d next M.I…..Wat Y’all fink?
Well Una try for review…. See correct and detailed review of the E.L.I album here
E.L.I is jst mixtape quality, he can do better, he needs a talent Manager
its beyound my expectation. Worst of al choc boiz album eva. Bt i gv it up 2 jst 2 songs ‘magician nd baby’ dats al. Cn’t wait 4 my boi brymo 2 dish hs out
Ice is d bomb,ppl talkin shit shuld knw dat expectatn was way 2 high 4 d guy,so I don’t c anyfin wrong in d album,I still luv him wif d last drop of blood in my vein,big ups 2 u icepeince.
Lest I 4get,dose sayin d album is nt tight shuld llisten again,or mayb dey av serious hearin problems,if u r 1 of dem nd u r listnin,fuck u!!!!!!
i luv u bro 4 now u are my best
i luv u bro 4 now u are my best rapper
The album hasn’t reached expectations so far and that’s only because it has not stayed long in the Music market. Give it a short time and E.L.I will soon be on everyone’s lips. Rating for now: 3.5/5.0
leave them they no get ear
the album tight toooo sweat
i luv u iceprince kepp it on
luv u
i rate the ablum 4/5; virtually all d tracks are good, my favoutites are olofofo, find u, wassup wassap, see myself n magician.
ice prince, u are d man, keep up d good work
no matter wat pple say ice prince is the man,d rapper i love and believed in.as long u in d game u will always remain one of the best
U guys shld realise dt one constant phenom in life is succession and ice is here 2 stay.
He, In my own humble opinion is naija’s finest at d moment.
Ice rocks!!!
He s gud,bt first album,what did u expect,u supose to encourage him…i gv him 4.5/5
Dis album is 11/10. Magician is a killa track and 4 those who dnt knw, mi and ice rap alyk cuz dats d loopy style. So i totally disagree wit ur review. Keep it up ice.
I like choc city…especially m.i
This writer obv. nids a wakeup call. Virtually all d tracks fall in d 3.5-4/5 region. Nt to talk of the cultural diversity.
Ice swag prince i love u but ma greatest dream is to join chocolate city
u guys should, bt encouragin, hm, it’z ur first album, and i rate it 9.95/10, more grease to your elbow. Ice prince
D xpectatn was 2 hi, but I still bow 4 him coz I watched him climb d ladder sooner dn many thought.Keep ya head up my G.
ice is best among the rest..!keep it up dude!
Ice ur muzik dey inspire guyz desire. keep it on
Ice prince ur track10 Waz d best
ice prince did exictly what i wanted d album will manage 10/10
I luv u ice
In less than no time COOL CITY BOYS will take over
I like u ice prince u are so greet?
ice ur dad must be a terorist cos ur d bomb
ice album is good but cannot beat mi.mi is a great rapper and lyric master too.e.g action film,number one,my belle,one naira.undisputed champion.
mi is far better than ice
I truly lov ice prince.he’s a gud raper.he rapz bt rymz nd straith rapz.he’v realy tryed.go on ice prinz
I’ll say that, given Ice Prince’s natural talent as an artiste, that album was great. I really liked the magician track, though he said somethings that didn’t make sense, the sound works anytime anyday. We all know that he isn’t world class material, but with ELI he showed that he could BECOME world class if he sticks to his guns. So i rate the album 4.5ish.
He tried a lot 4 d first tym, but not as good as M.l, i really lyk choco boys sha!
did i hear u say cheesy lines? Dude thats creativity in the highest order. Lemme see if ur regular rapper could be as creative as that. Its obvious u are an iuceprince hater, why did they even allow u review this album sef. U were simply partial and comparative. If u clean ur ears and listen to the album again u will notice the lyrical dexterity and delivery was totally on point. The comfortability in which he does it gives u the goose bumps even when u are in ur office. My fav tracks were Remember, Juju, End of story, Magician, Somebody lied and Thank u. The comparison with M.I is so uncalled for, remember he is learning under M.I. Talk abouh metaphorical rap talk abouh iceprince. Whether u like it or not EVERYBODY LOVES ICEPRINCE (E.L.I)
d pple dat claim dat dis album is jst on an average are using m.i as a yard stick to judge ice i did dat maself buh after listening 4 d 2nd n 3rd tym i realised dat ice is d prince of rap in niga while m is d king
I luv choc boyz,i want 2 b wit dem 1day dou no conection,bt tingz wil like netwok like mi talk.if u no like dem u b mumu
Yall mantring……. drop does shitzz. Ice uhve used ur gavel already….. Na so dem go dey lyii lyii…….!!!!!