Is The Prince Finally Here?

By Chiagoziem Onyekwena

The Nigerian Hip Hop landscape certainly has enough room to accommodate every type of rapper. If you like your Hip Hop lyric-driven, metaphor-drenched and dipped in wit, pick up an M.I or Mode 9 CD. If your inclination is towards versatile rappers who double up as engaging singers, albeit with a little help from the vocoder, there’s always Ikechukwu or eLDee. If on the other hand, English isn’t really your cup of tea and you prefer your dose of punch lines in your mother tongue, there’s always a Nigga Raw, Lord of Ajasa or DaGrin album close by.

Enter a different type of emcee, an emcee who would neither awe you with knife-edged punch lines nor display a lyrical depth that gets you scrambling for an English dictionary every bar or so. This type of MC is certainly capable of carrying a song simply by exhibiting finesse and oozing class, no pun intended; whatever D’Prince may lack in verbiage, he more than makes up for in charisma, personality and masterful delivery of his words.

Recently, as part of his 28^th birthday celebration, Mo Hit’s head honcho Don Jazzy literally caused a spike in the traffic of several Nigerian music sites when he unleashed three singles from his younger brother D’Prince. Ooze, Omoba and I like what I see are the kind of songs that illustrate that even though D’Prince might be a relatively unknown quantity when compared to some of his more illustrious label mates, the one thing the young man certainly doesn’t lack is confidence.

The only man on Mo Hits with braids for a hairstyle possesses a voice that is almost as imposing as his towering physique and he uses that voice to meander through Don Jazzy’s usual ear-gasm of choice beats.

On Ooze, he relies on label mates Wande Coal and D’Banj for a shoulder to lean on but almost single-handedly turns Omoba into a potential street anthem. Ooze and Omoba certainly have ‘hit’ plastered all over them but the jury is still out on the rather jejune I like what I see.

I guess it’s now safe to conclude that Mo Hits Records is a genuine star-making conveyor belt. And if that’s so, then  the label’s head-honcho Don Jazzy is something of a skillful trolley attendant; and D’Prince is the next luggage he’s offloading – right after some bags conspicuously tagged Dr.Sid.

D’Prince’s debut album Omoba is out soon