Seriki's Diary falls short [Album Review]

By Ayomide Tayo

Indigenous rap might be the in-thing now, but Yoruba rapper Seriki isn’t ready to be part of the trend. Why? For one, Seriki’s flow is monotonous — one flow fits all, which makes his 17-track album boring. He is a modern version of the Yoruba rap pioneer, Lord of Ajasa, whose greatest flaw is his one dimensional flow. Seriki talks over a beat instead of rapping. He doesn’t apply rhythm to his flows. That’s like bread without butter. Bread is okay, but bread and butter is way better.

The title of his debut LP is ‘Seriki’s Diary’. Diaries, as we all know, hold people’s deepest fears, emotions, and thoughts. Seriki’s album boils down to three things — hustle, music and love. These are all good topics to write on, but sadly Seriki’s writing skills are limited. His lyrics are not introspective enough for one claiming to write a memoir.

After the album starts with two forgettable tracks, things pick up on ‘Higher’ featuring Patoranking. His cameo appearance adds spice to the song which suffers from dull Seriki lines such as ‘mo lenu bi elephant/mo wa relevant/to ri e lo n se mistake mi fun celebrant.’ ‘Baba O’ is a single off the album, and an enjoyable track with a militant vibe. On it, Seriki spits ‘e mi no irumole to n he fried rice’. The album is filled with one liners like this and they are loosely weaved into weak concepts.

On ‘Chilling’ (Freestyle), Seriki shows us a flash of his potential. The hook is bouncy, and his flow is engaging enough for you to enjoy the track. On ‘Turkey and malt’, the rapper tries to showcase the depth of his album. The song aims at dissecting the intricacies of having a transactional relationship with an average Nigerian woman. Unfortunately, Seriki’s one dimensional flow affects the emotional depth of the song and kills its potential. ‘Inshi Gini’ is a song to miss even with Oritsefemi‘s contribution. ‘Small jagaban’ is blatant bootlicking of the Asiwaju of Lagos and the Governor of the State.

Luckily, tracks like ‘Alhaji versace’, ‘Sweet love’, and ‘Love song’ save Seriki’s album from being a total disaster. Oh and if you are wondering what a rapper’s flow should sound like in 2014, then listen to ‘Eleda masun’ remix featuring Reminisce. The Alaga Ibile totally schools Seriki on what dope flow should sound like.

At the end of the day, what Seriki has penned in his diary isn’t worth reading. Hopefully he will right better things in the remaining empty pages.

Rating 2.5/5