by Wilfred Okiche

Wizboyy has not enjoyed the smoothest ride of it on his way to commercial success. His valiant efforts at creating a genuine music career have been checked repeatedly by a contemporary scene that has whole-heartedly accepted another Wiz as the poster child for all round music domination. Then he has had to deal with living in the shadows of hip swinging, crotch gyrating Flavour for the love of the Igbo tilting audience. Not blessed with Wizkid’s youth or Flavour’s charm, he has had to soldier on resolutely, creating some power singles (Owu sa gi, Infinity) that enjoy more ubiquity than he does as an artist.

His sophomore album, ‘Testimoney’ clocks in at 18 tracks long and as the title hints at, covers topics relating to success. Money matters, fame and loving the right woman are themes important to him  and he puts up appearances of having a jolly good time.

On ‘Overtake’, he conjures up the kind of rags to riches fame that most dream about, urging resilience and spewing forth lines like who sell pure water no mean say e no go hammer and on the expectant ‘D way we go’ with Zoro – a Phyno clone- he preaches the live and let live gospel according to Oliver de Coque. ‘Time n chance’ urges patience and ascribes life’s successes to powers beyond our own making and ‘Everyday’ is a feet stomping guilty trip celebrating life as a party wholly deserved to be lived on the daily.

Then there is Wizboyy the lover. On album opener ‘Lovinjitis’ he is afflicted by a strange, not altogether unpleasant health condition that has him behaving badly. The sing along vibes of ‘Uso (my sweetness)’ will no doubt attract the ladies and the disc takes a detour on ‘Anam acho’ a change of pace number that has Wizboyy flexing his impressive vocal cords. It is almost like a different Wiz that shows up here.

‘Halima’ is a clunky mix that aims for the clubs and is probably the closest the album will come to producing a hit single. Club friendly cuts don’t have to be bad though and ‘Wizolingo’ represents what is swell about good old dance music. With the lush instrumentals and pitch perfect delivery, it is set to take over in South-eastern clubs.

Wizboyy possesses an understated voice that delivers well with the kind of songs he does. His rich falsetto is equally as impressive and he makes generous use of melodious instruments to compensate for his unwillingness to oversing.

The songs on ‘Testimoney’ are mostly mildly pleasing fare with none showing any real signs of blowing up to monster single status. Radio and dance floor friendly, the disc is light listening fun that seems targeted at a ready audience already and isn’t positioned to grab him new fans.

But he tries anyway. Iyanya and his undistinguished vocal work are enlisted for ‘Feel alright’. It isn’t difficult to upstage the kukere master even when he makes an attempt but he barely clocks in here and Wizboyy does the bulk of the work. One time Peak talent hunt show contestant J’dess invokes Tiwa Savage on the sexy ‘Material.’ By the time the disc enters the midway point, the sounds blur into a repetitive pattern and forgettable material like ‘Network provider’ and ‘Nobo-to sombo’ don’t help in any way.

‘Testimoney’ is Eastern roots pop, with the compulsory highlife twist and is as engaging as one would have any right to expect. It isn’t hard hitting and Flavour shouldn’t be looking over his shoulder yet but it does manage to get the job done nicely.

– The writer tweets @drwill20