By Chiagoziem Onyekwena
Artiste: IBK Spaceship Boi
Title: I Come in Peace
Lead Single: Light in me
Production: IBK Spaceship Boi
Guest Artistes: Bez, Dami Kalejaiye, Olalekan Maxwell, Stan Iyke, Tychi
Record Label: Martianship Music Company
Duration: 42 minutes
Growing up, I always wanted to be an astronaut but since you’re reading an album review from me right now, we can all see how that worked out. The realities of growing up in a Third World country forced me to ‘outgrow’ those ambition, but it’s heartening to see someone who didn’t allow those same realities dampen his fascination with space.
IBK Spaceship Boi’s fascination doesn’t just stop at the Final Frontier; it goes all the way to the celestials. God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit all feature heavily on his debut album, and unlike his space-loving, gospel-rapping alter ego, IBK wants to let you know that there’s absolutely nothing fictional about them.
Coming in at eight songs deep, ‘I come in peace’ is just one planet shy of the nine we have in our Solar System. This conciseness allows the listener room to explore eight different worlds from the artist’s point of view, rather than just breezing through twenty or more. At the same time, the project’s cohesion means these planets aren’t really worlds apart; with the exception of the album’s most experimental song, the intro – ‘Spaceship Anthem’, there’s an obvious attempt at continuity. Complete with a marching band and a barking commander, ‘Spaceship anthem‘ serves as an early warning that IBK’s sound is more abstract than what we’re musically accustomed to. Grand opening, grand closing. The rapper/producer goes for big and bold once again on the album’s closer, where he paints a picture of Heaven’s experience with children playing innocently in the background and violins providing a grand experience made even grander by a boisterous choir singing heavenly praises.
The big sounds continue on ‘Light in me.’ Goaded by ominous sounding keys, IBK is arguably at his fiercest lyrically – ‘they hear my beats and say that I’m a bad boy – Notorious! /… No disrespect to Biggie, that’s a little Smalls cos homie I roll with the – Most Glorious!’ However, everything on ICIP isn’t just big and brash. With the help of Project Fame West Africa alumni Damie Kalejaiye, IBK pretty much recorded an 11 minute-long Praise and Worship session and called it ‘Worship Medley’. This song brings out IBK the soul singer and band leader, and while he is a man of many talents, it seems as though rap, albeit of the American-accented variety, is his true comfort zone. While IBK may struggle to connect with an audience who sound nothing like he does when they speak, there’s no denying the talent.
He may come in peace, but there are portions of IBK’s arrival that aren’t exactly musically peaceful. The discordant Sticks and Stones is dragged in different directions by the artists it features, while ‘This time’ contains rudderless verses whose concepts were not fully formed.
One other thing that isn’t fully formed is who IBK Spaceship Boi truly is. Winning a music contest put together by none other than Don Jazzy comes with certain expectations from the mainstream, more secular music community, which IBK seems uninterested in trying to meet. So, the challenge for the young upstart is to steer whatever following that competition may have gotten him towards his more godly music. And who knows, if IBK keeps delivering music of the same quality as ICIP, he may even steer them towards God Himself.
RATING – 3.5/5
