Industry Machine just dropped, and it stays true to its niche. Like they say, art is subjective; what’s a masterpiece to one person might be a skip for another. Odumodublvck just proved that again. Since his breakout single Picanto, he’s carved out a lane for himself and has remained consistent in owning it.
This is music for gangsters who wear Timberlands to church and for women who bring Lacoco to fancy dates. The highly anticipated 23-track album finally arrived on October 6th, and reactions have been mixed, especially among Nigerian rap fans who still appreciate the MI-style rap: layered, thoughtful, and emotionally charged.
The project features a star-studded lineup including Wizkid, Davido, Pa Salieu, Patoranking, Mode 9, Saweetie, Skepta, and more.
Dissecting every track would be exhausting, but this album feels like both a personal manifesto and a sharp critique of Nigeria’s rap industry. It’s loud, layered, angry, and unfiltered, much like Odumodublvck himself. Even with features from Wizkid, Reminisce, Pa Salieu, Skepta, and Zlatan, everyone seemed to come with the same no filter energy.
The album feels like a two-parter: the first half packed with hits, the second filled with more experimental melodies and fillers. You can tell it must have been a nightmare for the A&Rs and lawyers to coordinate from verses to splits to overall direction.
One of Odumodublvck’s biggest strengths remains his authenticity and his ability to blend melody with grit. From the opening track, he dives straight into themes of industry politics, betrayal, fake love, and the price of chasing relevance in a system that often overlooks genuine talent.
Using melodic hooks to ease listeners in, he lands a solid three-peat with Banza Boy, Grooving (featuring Davido and Seun Kuti), and arguably the standout of the project, Big Time with Wizkid whose verse is still hard to get over. The production leans into hard-hitting trap beats, boom bap, and Afro-drill, giving him room to both rap and sing.
While Odumodu’s dedication to raw hip-hop is admirable, Industry Machine occasionally suffers from monotony. Midway through, the instrumentals start to blend together, and without much variation in flow, cadence, or tone, some listeners may drift off. Several tracks are lyrically dense but lack catchy hooks that would stick with casual audiences.
Overall, Industry Machine feels more like a statement piece for insiders than a project aimed at mainstream listeners. It’s not a perfect album, but it’s an honest one. For me, Odumodublvck’s music is 70% personality and 30% hip-hop.
There are plenty of standout tracks, but with 23 songs, replay value takes a hit due to the fillers. So, does Industry Machine deliver the knockout punch he clearly intended? For his niche, absolutely. For hip-hop as a whole maybe he tried to do too much, and we got lost in the noise.
Odumodublvck’s Industry Machine Isn’t for Everyone and That’s the Point.
Joseph Abalokwu is a Music consultant and writer based in Lagos. You can reach him at josephabalokwu@gmail.com
Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of NETNG.
