Album Review: Olamide - Street OT

On his fourth go round, Olamide despite all his royal robes, and kingly accomplishments, is still a hustler and industry rebel. He makes no apologies about this.

There is no evolution for Baddo. He is still the hungry kid on the streets of Bariga. He hasn't morphed into a superior royal lord musing on the facts of life. The same things still piss him off, phony people, hardcore rappers who hate him, and show promoters who don't have his money, a point he made on the motivating 'Prayer For Client'. 

He is hungry, and nothing in the world will stop him from getting what he wants. What does this restless rapper who has released four albums in four years want? Money, that's all.

He has formulated his own way of raking in all that cash- by serving the streets with his 'goon rap' while creating cross over highlife songs that appeal to his larger fan base. There are no 'Island' singles or 'packaging' joints here. He unapologetically raps about his love for whores, for example the lewd, and raunchy 'Falila Ketan'. 

On this album Olamide wants you to know that he is not your average rapper, as he mentions that he wants to be mentioned with the greats in his machine gun flow on 'Zero Joy'.   The YBNL boss stumps in with 'Oga Nla' featuring Pasuma and Lil' Kesh. On the album opener he recollects his state of mind when he entered

the game "I came into the game with the mindset of omo baba olowo/I was freaking broke but I knew wo le dami duro."

Olamide knows the world is a cold place, and in order for you to succeed you have to be a beast. The turning point in his life came in 1999. Over a mid-tempo highlife set up he recalls how his father was shot by armed robbers in '1999'. It was at this point that Olamide made the decision that it was time for him to be a man, and take control of his life. "Na then I realize it's time to organize myself" he sings.

The rapper in an attempt to get a grip on life tried his hands Internet fraud. On '100 To Million' he reveals he was once a Yahoo boy but had no luck as he talks about his grind coming up. It's a stirring song with a  scene stealing chorus from Viktoh.

Olamide has risen to the top of the music scene in four years, with some alluding that his wealth is from the occult. He denies this on a couple of tracks including 'Blood Money' by citing 2Phat and ID Cabasa as the people who gave him the opportunity to blow, and his fans for making him successful.

Yoruba rap's king and under lord Reminisce come together on 'Hustle, Loyal and Respect'. On the "Ibile United" track, Olamide hails the new Yoruba rappers in the game, and mentions how people want him and Reminisce to beef because its Hip Hop. The song features a choir like sound, a favourite sound template of Olamide on this album.

Baddo creates ample space for his YBNL goons on his fourth album. Chinko Ekun and Lil' Kesh go HAM on 'Bang'. The two young guns slaughter the song with pure inspiration aided by the hunger to prove themselves. Chinko Ekun flows stupid on the song that he uses Chinese sounds to rhyme. "Pekele pekele/Rihanna we gele/Beyonce je gbese/ e ma wo erekere" spits King Kesh as he calls himself on the track.  

The drawback on Olamide's album comes when he tries to score a mainstream hit by singing. It works on some tracks such as 'MVP', but fails on 'Ya Wa', 'Batifeori' and 'Skelemba' featuring Don Jazzy. The collaboration with Don Baba J is incoherent and scattered. Olamide's miscalculation does not deter the album's hard hitting stance.

At 22 tracks long, Street OT is raw, hard hitting, and unapologetic, made from the sweat of a nonconformist. On the album cover Olamide's face is seen in the skies, but his hands are no doubt on the streets of Bariga. This rapper more than lives the street, he is the street that never sleeps.

Rating- 4 out of 5.