Sex songs always have that thing. It’s unexplainable really, but it’s that thing that happens when you keep wondering if you’re supposed to take the song seriously, or just chuckle at the cliches, knowing even the artist must have thought them ridiculous before breathing the exact words into a microphone.
In today’s pop music scape, there are two ways to get away with a sex song. The first is to either go the self-destructive hedonistic route used by The Weeknd, peppered with references to the trap life, drug use and graphic emotional abuse. The other way is to infuse a bit of dancehall and riddim grimy sexual aura, complete with Jamaican patois and breathy vocals. For D-O’s “Peter Piper”, however, there is a slight trick that may turn it into an early summer playlist favourite.
Fusing Afropop with Dancehall is one way to guarantee a place on Island diaspora playlists. But D-O renders “Peter Piper” through an unforgettable, a nursery rhyme scheme and a mention of a stoner alternate version of the fairy tale hero, Peter Piper. The sexual tinge is thick and occasionally borders on lewd and brash but it also won’t be unlikely that a lot of people will listen to and miss all the juicy details.
It may come a few years late, but D-O’s Peter Piper bring to mind obscure hits like Kevin Lyttele’s “Turn Me On”, Lady Saw’s “Pretty Pussy” amonsgt others. These were Caribbean-infused pop hits kept in rotation by a simple rhyme and melody despite inherently vulgar lyrics no one ever bothered to censor when they came up at children parties. D-O is giving us a Nigerian re-imagination version of such nostalgic songs with updated ambient sounds and effects. And already judging by social media reactions, no one is not really worried about what D-O means when he speaks of “tear(ing) it up”, we are all to busy collectively asking rasta where he hid the ganja.
You probably want to get on this wave before everyone else. Stream D-O’s “Peter Piper” below.
