Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Massa Red, Dear Music fan, and lover – This is Cyan Music; do take a seat, and breathe…
What is up to people! We’re coming your way again with yet another review because we’re keeping it moving. Today we delve into the most recent full-length album to hit the streets of Ghana. We’re talking dancehall, reggae, and afro-beats all mixed in one. Yup! Stonebwoy’s Anloga Junction that made waves on the day it was officially released is the album we are reviewing today. The record is 15 songs long, with a stellar guest artiste list including Kojo Antwi, Zlatan, Keri Hilson, Nasty C, and other talented artists. Well, let’s do what we do best.
Personal sentiments, Content and Lyricism, Vocals and Production in no Particular order…
The album title focuses on the dancehall artiste’s influences and his home. How after trying different sounds, he’s still tethered to his home. Something out of all roads meet at a junction metaphor. Red had this to say about the album art :
Album arts, in general, create a portal where we can experience the artist’s thoughts and messages in his/her songs visually.
– Massa Red on Anloga Junction’s Album Art
Stonebwoy did nothing less than that with his Anloga Junction album cover art. Most of the element in the cover were actual photographs which were manipulated and it creates this surreal world for us to experience. The fact that the album title is part of the image is amazing, instead of it being a separate entity on its own. the fonts are also legible enough to even read from afar. In all this concept is very iconic (ie. The boy holding the ‘Ghetto Blaster’) and it stands out. Stonebwoy did a great job with the album cover by putting in a lot of thought. And that is very amazing.
From top to bottom, this is a very classic album yet again from the Stone Gad. As was Epistles of Mama, this album was pretty dextrous and a lot of the concepts and ideas were executed to perfection. The first record Le Gba Gbe set the tone nicely for the album to begin. African Party interpolates the famous Parte after Parte record and he used it very well, firstly because you don’t see it coming and second of all because it sits in the record and fits in perfectly. African Idol is one of the best cuts on this album because the percussion offered that extra spice to make it a masterpiece. Issues can be noted about the horns in the first 3 songs and the bass being sparse a bit in the third one, but they don’t take away from the fact they are all classics and came together nicely. To start a record and have the 3 songs already in album mode is a good sign. Nkuto is a song that grows on you the more you listen to it but it’s at times difficult to get into mainly because the piano in the chorus sounded quite basic and the fill-ins didn’t work out so much. Now Bow Down, that record is a problem. Nasty C came in and was flawless with his verses, again cementing his place as top tier when it comes to the current rap scene in Africa. We will forgive the line about money, coming and semen on Nasty’s part. Stone’s vocals were solid yet again on this record.
Only Love worked as good as it did probably because of the pre-chorus, to be honest. Nominate with Keri Hilson. It’s an interesting record, maybe a tad bit overrated and because of the hype created, it was a bit of a letdown. It is not a bad record. Understand and Journey were quite decent records. Critical had Zlatan on it, and we know the kind of energy that young man brings on records. Zlatan has a way of taking over songs when he’s on them and it’s something unique to witness. But the beautiful thing is Stone wasn’t overshadowed although it’s not his typical sound. Black Madonna is decent for all the right reasons. Good Morning probably had the best mixing on this record and Strength and Hope showed us that this dude has to produce a reggae album cos he’s got the skills for it. It ended what had been a thrill of a musical journey for us, and we’re happy with this.
Concluding…
It’s Stonebwoy, full stop. You don’t expect anything less than a classic from him when it comes to albums. And he did it again!
The Signature Sign Off…
Big thanks to Mr. Blue and Massa Red for their input and general insight and much appreciation to you, our reader. What do you think of the album? What do you think of this review? Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts. This has been Cyan Music, Music Review corner.
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