Music review: The trouble with May D’s debut, ‘Chapter One’

by Wilfred Okiche

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Remember when you thought May D was going to be pop music’s next big thing?

It was back in 2011. Psquare had just released album number 5, ‘The invasion’ to tepid reviews and May D was instantly cited as the best thing on it. He made a couple of bubbly solo videos with Square records, frolicked with Akon and delivered the winning lines; ‘’See the love wey I get for you na Jackie Chan.’’ Then as with most unions in the burgeoning music scene, everything went bust and he was unceremoniously dumped from Square records.

He carried on with firm determination, got himself a couple more hits, started his own label (like everyone else) and put out his debut album, ‘Chapter One.’

While his efforts to forge ahead in his chosen career deserve to be applauded, ‘Chapter One’ is a disc that may have appeared prematurely. The young man is doing a lot of things on his own and so falls into the same pits that bedevil most pop star wannabes.

First off, at 20 tracks the disc is too long. 20 tracks of good music can be tiresome at times but 20 tracks of mostly derivative generic stuff is just unfair to listeners. Then there is the little problem; despite the title, the album has nothing to offer as to who May D is as a human being or as an artiste. He assumes party songs, hip hop beats and collaborations with some of the biggest acts and producers are enough to usher him into the big leagues.

He assumed wrong.

Mister May D is too chicken sh__ to address the rift with Psquare on the first track, ‘Story of my life’ and resorts to a one liner, dem a no want me grow so me tell em oh no before going on to narrate the usual rags to riches babble you can get on any album released in the last 3 years. The reward for this loud silence is probably ‘You want to know me’, a tedious, uninspiring number sporting a pity guest verse from Psquare. It is always nice that 2face tries to help out most times and we love him for it but frankly, phoned in performances like he serves on ‘Nobody’ are beginning to grate and do not really do these young guns too much service.

It is up to D’kings men Olamide (in sublime form) and Kayswitch to add some pints of blood to the severely anemic patient that May D presents us with on ‘Kigbe.’ Davido also does his little bit on ‘Ur eyes.’ They may be catchy tunes but they will be forgotten soon as the disc’s running time is up.

‘Soundtrack’ (without the P-Square intro), ‘Ile ijo’ and ‘Gat me high’ remain dance highlights and they get companion pieces in mildly pleasing fare like ‘Fumigate’, and ‘Show me your style.’

He squanders a promising beat from South African go-to guy Oskido on ‘Get down’, an empty barrel of a song and then the rest of the CD devolves into monotonous, head splitting, headache inducing crapola. And all in an attempt to make what will ‘sell’.

Pity.

It is what the industry drives these young cats to do. Armed with no structure, almost no help from external forces, the (young) up and coming artiste simply takes an easy route that is really not easy at all. And the result is the kind of unwholesome mix that Mr May D has produced. Bits and pieces of good stuff alternating with loads and loads and loads of… you-know-what.

Welcome to the music business.

The writer tweets from “drwill20

Comments (4)

  1. But then, the expectations of nigerian audiences are not that high, look at the films churned out! New party jams will be out soon enough and naija will move on to the next one.

  2. At least you tell the the truth. Nigerian pop is all good fluff but no substance. WASTED!

  3. Bad belle pple and enemy of progress @drwill20.

  4. If Ɣ☺ΰ are going †̥♥ objectively criticize someone,then atleast do us, †ђξ readers saddled with †ђξ badluck of having †̥♥ read this,the favour of appropriate punctuations. Thank Ɣ☺ΰ.

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