XAMINATION: Untouchable

At the turn into the new millennium,during the fledgling period of Nigeria’s Hip-Hop, Ruggedman birthed his career with an attack on mediocre artistes to make a name for himself as one rapper who has the ability to correct Nigeria’s mainstream music. His debut, ‘Thy Album Come’, and sophomore, ‘Ruggedy Baba’ both received critical review amidst a ‘sell-out’ cry from rap enthusiasts who believed the rapper wasn’t living up to the rapping credentials of his debut single, ‘Ehen Pt 1’.

He engaged fellow acclaimed rapper, Modenine, in a lyrical feud and many believed that he wasn’t as lyrical as he claimed to be. And when four years passed since the release of his sophomore, plus news of his intended retirement, eventually people got talking about how he couldn’t match the new standard set in the Nigerian rap circle.

Back in the game

Eventually Ruggedman put naysayers to sleep and released his third album, ‘Untouchable’, earlier this month during the height of his newly brewed controversy with old time buddy,9ice. The album opens with ‘Intro HALLA’, a track he uses to talk himself up, containing excerpts from the hook of Dagrin’s ‘Hola Hola’ over a heavy rolling upbeat.

The track is immediately followed by yet another dance oriented ‘Ask About Us’ featuring new acts , rapper Chinaydu and crooner Hakeem. Both newbies delivered decently with Hakeem’s hook being nothing short of excellent, causing a disappointment to know all he did was the hook; he didn’t even get to deliver a bridge for the song.

With the third track, ‘Rush Rush’, still putting too much emphasis on upbeats that takes away attention from his lyrics, the album starts to appear like an oddball rap album. Not that he didn’t show any lyrical wit; on the contrary, his rhyming pattern is polyrhythmic hence creating a good avenue to display some wordplay abilities, but the beats just keeping taking away the attention such that you’ll need to listen real hard to catch metaphors like “got more paper than a notebook.../got more game than an Xbox.../ my style is like the Kamasutra...”

Sic

He took his foot off the beat pedal on ‘Ebemsi’ featuring the new rapper’s delight, Flavour, to create a mash of Hip-Hop and Highlife and here his rapping wasn’t impressive. On the rap part rendered in English, he went on and on about nothing. See for yourself: “I stay fresh, so clean, step with a lean/ rep green, white, green sweat so mean/ always in the news, shows and interviews/ even my phone conversation got a million views.” On ‘Emi Ni’ a decent track which features Dagrin he also struggled with his metaphors. “If I want, I can mark you like Viduka,” he rhymes. While Mark Viduka was an average player during his footballing days, he was never a known to be a good marker; he was a centre forward for crying out loud.

And the beats go on

‘Because of You’ features MI and Tuface. While Ruggedman and MI came all out on the track, Tuface was complacent on it. He laid a not so impressive hook and won’t even take a verse, not even a bridge. ‘Low’ featuring P Square has got a viral beat that will throw the track everywhere in a matter of time.

Ruggedman also impressively delivered with his polyrhythmic rap style, switching speed during his delivery. This upbeat pattern continues to apply to most of the remaining tracks, however with different tangs. The exceptions are, the lead single from the album ‘A word is Enuff for the 9ice’; the mild tempo and catchy narrative track, ‘Walk Away’; the laid back ‘She ‘N’ My Swaggar’ featuring Ice Prince; the expressive ‘Heart Break’; and synthesized ‘The Lord Is My Shepherd’ featuring Samklef.

With ‘Untouchable’, Ruggedman will regain prominence; the beats and hooks, in most counts, can never pass without provoking a dance. It has also got some decent rhymes and wordplay which truly complements his rapping style. However, he will not be able to prove to Rap enthusiasts he is not a ‘sell-out’, at least, not with this album.

Source:Vanguard