Paapa’s Technical Difficulties Volume 3: Album Review

Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Massa Red, Dear Music fan, and lover – This is Cyan Music; take a seat and breathe …

From the moment he dropped Dear Grace and came out with Solar, Paapa won hearts all over the country. His musicality, his vocals, his lyrics, his bars, and wordplay were both phenomenal and heart moving. After Solar, he dropped Songs for Kuukua which was also warmly received. He’s been off the scene a bit, but in recent years, he started a Technical Difficulties volume series and he’s already dropped 1 & 2. This happens to be the 3rd installment, 9 songs in total and 30 minutes run time. He features only one artist, Trevor Williams, on the song Different. Now, let’s get into this. 

Personal sentiments, Content and Lyricism, Vocals and Production in no particular order …

Don’t Know sets the tone for the volume classic. The musicality is enjoyable; the instrumentation is explosive, and the vocals on the record are immaculate. The production is spotless, with the use of a variety of instruments that complement the colorful direction Paapa went for. The ‘He’s got the whole world in his hand’ interpolation was sweet and seamlessly fit into the record. Paapa’s performance on here is nothing short of confidence as he ends it like a classic showman. 10 000 Stories continues the stride, with the consistency in sound being kept. Paapa’s lyrics are interesting to listen to as his vocals carry the song and the message he’s trying to convey. It was very enjoyable too. Now on Pedestal, Paapa snapped. That first verse was vintage Paapa on his lyrical grind. Damn near reminiscent of the Solar version we all fell in love with. The way the song starts sets the verse up nicely. The bass and keys mesh so well to carry the record as it matches the direction of the song. The hook is one you can bop your head to. And the vocal performance is just phenomenal. Then the song gets better when the beat breaks down into this experimental music passage, with unique sounds coming in, with the end on a high.

On Different, the tempo settles in a groove. You get the idea that for this song, although Paapa continues to push beyond the boundary sonically, the focus of this song is the message, talking about how we may look different, but we bleed the same. The feature from Trevor Williams was a welcome one as he channels the song with a unique energy that carries the song over the line beautifully. Better starts on a very colorful note, and the drum intro gave it a pleasant tone to begin. The song is inspirational, encouraging listeners that things will get better. However, the twist in the latter part of the song is that Paapa is also saying to the listener that maybe the change need not come from the external but us ourselves. That’s a profound thought. Paapa’s consistency vocally has to be applauded, to be honest. The backing and instrumentation come together nicely.

Fool Speed is an interesting record just because of the route it takes. The complexion here is different, mainly because it has a romance element sprinkled in there with how the song is presented. The jazz elements do their bit to bring the story to life. Tired and The Fire are probably the most relatable records for us all. Paapa is soulfully pouring out a cry we all share in particularly about how this year has gone. The keys and bass combined perfectly to carry the message, especially on Tired. It’s the song that you can play every day to get through the motions. The Fire picks up as the sequel, but with a richer instrumental this time. And this time, it has a gospel element to it with the way they arrange the instrumentation. The closer, Sleep, starts with a very choral aura and then switches up to a more African sounded instrumental. The drums and sounds used produced the traditional effect we are accustomed to in this part of Africa. The song is almost like a lullaby, but also a pseudo-slow-moving Jamma song. There’s just a special way he presents this song that sounds like a beautiful prayer as the record ends. It’s just unique and ends the record on quite the note.

Concluding …

Volume 1 and 2 may have been the metaphorical prepare ye the way. Volume 3 was well put together, from production to vocals to features and delivery. Paapa set out on a journey when he started the Technical dIfficulties series. And this is by far the best of all Volumes. We have one request: Paapa, please rap more.

The Signature Sign Off …

Big thanks to Mr. Blue and Massa Red for their input and 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, Cyan Music, Music Review corner.

Joey B’s Lava Feels: Compilation Review

Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Massa Red, Dear Music fan, and lover – This is Cyan Music; do take a seat, and breathe…

We’re here with the review vibes on our side and today we take a look at Joey B’s ‘Lava Feels’ record that came out this month. Darryl Paa Kwesi Bannerman-Martin, icon, fashionista, model, singer, songwriter, and rapper has been a phenomenon since his Tonga single hit the streets. He has indeed built a reputation for himself in the industry and he’s pushed music to far heights with his experimental approach to it. Joey is an influencer and it shows because a lot of new artists with similar styles have been able to step into the limelight because of what he’s been able to achieve. Like every artist, he has his scars from battling the music scene here but it hasn’t stopped him at all. Joey’s experimental nature is what has pushed him to be where he is. Always looking to try something new and flawlessly execute it after many errors. He’s come a long way and we give him props for that. Lava Feels is a 9 track album with a run time reaching 25 minutes. It features popular artists like Stonebwoy, M3nsa, Ko-Jo Cue, Pappy Kojo, E.L, Bosom P-Yung, RJZ, Odunsi, and Sauti. Quite the list for dope guest artists. Well, let’s get into it and see what we have here.  

Personal sentiments, Content and Lyricism, Vocals and Production in no Particular order…

Before anything, we have to address the album art because.. we don’t know what was happening. It looked more like a PlayStation 1 action game rather than an album art. Red had this to say:

Sigh, to begin with, I’m very disappointed in Joey for coming out with such lazy work with regards to his cover art for this project. Little or no at effort at all was put into it.
It looks like the designer ripped a cool picture of lava and found a cool font and just put them
together. Well, to give him the benefit of the doubt I guess this quality of cover art was produced
because of the type of project Joey put out, it is just a compilation. But regardless a little effort
could have been put into producing cool cover art for the project

– Massa Red on the Cover Art of Lava Feels

The album starts with the album title, ‘Lava Feels’. The sound Joey B has adopted and has been experimenting with is growing with time and this album feels like something he’s using to show us how much progress he’s made. Lava feels provides this smooth, easy on the ears sounding instrumental with a very laid back delivery from the artist. You can tell he’s in his zone with this record and it’s a classic opener for the album. Then comes ‘La Bamba’. Honestly sick of hearing lines about time, ‘Rolex’, and ‘Hublot’. It’s getting really old. This song is also a very laid back record. Sark’s delivery was okay. No weird lines but no ‘wow’ factor about it. ‘Silicon Valley’ with P-Yung. I don’t care what anyone says, that hook was trash. It was clumsy, goofy, and lazy to be honest. There was so much more that could have been done and the concept could have been worked on to make it’s delivery better. And the ending to the song was, well, it was Joey B. Dunno what to say about it. ‘Paa Kwesi’ features RJZ of La Meme Gang fame and Joey B starts the song paying respects to legend Daddy Lumba, and you can detect the Lumba feel and sound in the record with the approach to the vocals and lyrics. The hook is pretty catchy as well. A good record overall. ‘‘Over You’ was also a decent record. ‘Affection’ sees Stonebwoy brings a livelier vibe to the record as the previous ones have followed a certain pattern so far. Stonebwoy did justice to his feature and it’s an enjoyable song. Now ‘Far Away’. That record will probably not get the props it deserves. 

Blue had this to say about that particular record:

‘Mensah had the best verse on the album. Period.’ 

The song in itself is perfect, vocally, sonically and it does justice enough to prove Joey’s mettle as a top artist. Because the song doesn’t even sound Ghanaian, and that’s how fresh the sound is. This song undoubtedly opened up the path for ‘Hard Knocks’ with Ko-Jo Cue to settle into the album. Without the other, just one of the tracks would have felt out of place a bit. Joey’s delivery on this record too was flawless and the feature only served to complement a masterpiece. The vocals on this record were also good. The outro to this album was classic and pretty upbeat. All artists delivered the goods and signed off on the album decently. The instrumental was unconventional but it still worked out in the end and that’s what matters. 

Concluding… 

This compilation had its flaws but still came out okay with a lot of very very classic records, a few hitches here and there but all in all an interesting record from Joey B.

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.

StoneBwoy’s Anloga Junction: Full-Length Album Review

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.
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.

– Massa Red on Anloga Junction’s Album Art

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.

Darkovibes’ Kpanlogo: Full-Length Album Review

 Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Massa Red, Dear Music fan, and lover – This is Cyan Music; do take a seat, and breathe…

We’d be lying if we said it’s not been a while. No one saw these times coming. But like Queen’s legendary record, ‘The Show Must Go On!’ It is our utmost prayer that everyone out there is staying safe and staying alive, ‘handwashingly’.
Today, we get into the recent release of singer, songwriter, and fashionista Paul Nii Amu Andrew Darko more affectionately known as Darkovibes who finally dropped his full-length debut album last month. Darkobives has been a sensation since records like Tomorrow, Mercy, Stay Woke, and work he’s done with La Meme Gang, and a host of other artists has received a lot of applause. He is truly a gem in the way he approaches his music combining elements of high-life and hip-hop to what he does.
He announced his debut album was inbound late last year but it finally dropped. A whopping 14 tracks long record with features from Stonebwoy, Peruzzi, Mugeez, King Promise, Kwesi Arthur, Joey B, and Mr. Eazi. The record runs for close to an hour. Let’s get into it!

Personal sentiments, Content and Lyricism, Vocals and Production in no Particular order…

The album name Kpanlogo, for those who may not know, is an urban youth dance-drumming and a symbol of the commitment of a rapidly growing Ghanaian urban neighborhood youth in advocating their perspective in shaping the political vision of post-colonial Africa. Yes, a meaning so heavy. But as to whether it is reflected on this record? Well, I’m pretty sure we expected something concerning that but this wasn’t it. The first 3 songs are a very difficult journey. The songs were a bit comatose, not too lively, and very bland. Maybe the mood around these tracks is because Sister Cee is a song dedicated to his late mother and we respect that. However, musically, It’s not the start you want to give listeners on your debut album. Things looked bleak until the legendary Mugeez came in and breathed life into this dying Lazarus of an album. The Math Set record isn’t exactly all that, but Mugeez didn’t fail to deliver. After that passage, you could say the album started to take shape. However, there weren’t many high points on the whole thing right up until the end. The fact that the outro is arguably the best record simply because Stay Woke and Inna Song were released as singles before the release of this sums everything up. That is not to say the rest of the records here were all bad. Confirmed with Joey B and Kwesi Arthur was good, a few eyebrow raisers but still good. Peruzzi’s feature on Fa Ma Me was also decent. Comforter. Hm. Well, he was trying to give a different persona in the name of a lover boy, but he failed miserably on Comforter. Still, the track is one you can get used to after a few listens.

Blue had this to say on the record

‘You can give him props for being ambitious on his debut album, dipping his toes into different things. You don’t find that courage a lot in artists nowadays, everyone wants to play it safe. So it may not all have gone as he planned but it’s not a bad record per se. He’s a young artist, he’ll figure himself out. His album cover is amazing though.’

– Mr. Blue on the Kpanlogo Album

We can all agree, that album art is absolutely fire. 

Red shared his thoughts on it:

Darkovibes, being a creative mastermind as we all know didn’t disappoint with his Kpanlogo album cover art, the artwork is a painting on canvas, or at least made you believe it is a painting on canvas with visual manipulation. The painting has an abstract feel to it, with the features of the paintings looking very surreal. The painting also has a set of African drums hanging around the first subject in the painting which is supposed to be Darkovibes himself, this gives a lot of meaning to the artwork to those who relate to the Kpanlogo vibe. The color was also used in a very creative way, with the usage of primary colors on a dark grey coating, to emphasize certain aspects of the painting. The album title and artist’s name were designed as though they were watermarks to the painting, and that is very brilliant. Darkovibes did a great job with the album art and so far it’s one of the best album covers I’ve seen this year.

– Massa Red on the Album Art of Kpanlogo

Concluding… 

For a debut album, to be this bold and highly experimental, like Blue said you have to give him props. We understand the phase he’s going through as an artist. He’s still searching for his own thing and it’s okay with us. We will wait. There are some good records you can enjoy any day here, but there are some things we wouldn’t like to see repeated in the future. 

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.

Bryan The Mensah’s I Don’t Feel Like Going Outside : Extended Play Review

Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Massa Red, Dear Music fan, and lover – This is Cyan Music; do take a seat, and breathe…

2020! And we have to say we are happy with the music scene so far. From the records that have been released, especially in the Hip Hop/Rap scene, to the award shows in the Grammys and the Brit Awards, it’s been phenomenal and we’re glad a lot of artists who have blessed us with good music have got the recognition they deserve. Here in our part of the world, there’s not been so much activity when it comes to music, as most releases have been singles and not so many projects; so when we saw this tape released, we knew we had our first review for the year. Bryan The Mensah, a native Ghanaian rapper and producer who has gathered notable clout since the release of his projects ‘Friends With The Sun’ EP and ‘Wildlife’ is at it again. He came through with this new EP titled ‘I Don’t Want to go Outside’. The 4 – track EP runs a full length of almost 12 minutes and features Kiddfresh and Tulenkey. So without wasting time, let’s get into it. 

Personal sentiments, Content and Lyricism, Vocals and Production in no Particular order…

So the most appreciable thing about this whole project aside the fact that Bryan kept it short is the production. It was notable. The production on the records here is very very refined as compared to his previous projects which had more chaotic elements to them. The first issue we had however with the first song, unfortunately, was the sound bite concept included in the song. We understand that artists are now open to including narratives, or recordings, or even live interviews on their projects and songs, and that’s good. It’s nice to see it. But the problem here was the sound bite was too much, too much, it felt more than the song itself. The effect? It made the song barely skeletal even though it was a decent one. And that’s the anthem for the project; decent songs. Tulenkey’s verse was good, well written and delivered without a hitch. There weren’t a lot of excitable moments to jump about and the project maintained this straight run of just decent songs. But maybe that’s why the record carries the title it does, because if you don’t feel like going outside, you’re saying you want to be in your safe zone, and I think for most of the records, Bryan played it safe. However .. lyricism and singing. Blue had this to say:

‘the singing has improved especially on the opening track. He’s pretty ambitious with the delivery although he doesn’t have the requisite skill to back it.’

– Blue on the lyricism and vocals on this project

Concluding… 

They aren’t bad songs, they are decent, listenable. It’s not a bad EP, it’s just okay. There’s not a lot to say about it.

The Signature Sign Off…

Big thanks to Blue for his input and general insight and much appreciation to you, our reader. What do you think of the EP? What do you think of this review? Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts. This has been Cyan Music, Music Review corner.