Africa rapper number 1 (Self acclaimed), M.I Abaga is back with his first official single, after the success of his “pop like” Hip Hop album: M.I.2, and his very good Rap Mixtape: I.M.2, the track is titled Chairman and was produced by E kelly.
Prior to the release of this track, he dropped a random track, titled “akpata”, a very good track, except for the poor mixing of the track, which makes me ask the question “did they even listen to the final mixing before putting it out?”. Oh well, the track did it’s job though, as it was suppose to prepare his fans and haters alike for the coming of his official single.
Now lets talk about Chairman, the beat is nice, really nice it sets the right tone for a track. “E kelly when they hear this beat, they are dead. It’s too late to resuscitate“, that was Mr Incredible’s intro to the track, and he went on to drop his first verse, which to me was kinda basic, but straight to the point. The message is clear, I’m number one, I’m on top, I own the crown. But did he spit lines worthy of being called a chairman of rap in Nigeria? Oh well, you be the judge.
“they call me the chairman, because i flow pieces. My album sale so acapella, nobody can beat it, my swagga no get network, nobody can reach it” . . . It kinda took me a while to make sense of the Acapella line, it did finally make sense after a while (even tho i still feel it’s a forced line), and off course he used the word swagga, which for a track like “chairman” that’s aimed at bragging, it’s strange at all. My swagga no get network, nobody can reach it, I’m on a different level than y’all, you can’t match me.
“some people got beef with me, but it’s mostly those i can’t eat with” . . In the midst of the flossing and bragging, Mr Abaga still manages to throw shots at his fellow rappers, as simple as the line is, it hits hard (my favorite line on the song). It’s more like saying: these rappers who got beef for me, ain’t even up to my level in any way. he goes on to end the verse with his bragging, like a chairman: “these peeps with public toilet swag, they rocking that cheap shit. the kind of money is see (sea), will make these boys sea sick” . . once again if you ask me, more basic lines from Mr Abaga, but a very clear message, so who cares right? well . . .
The chorus/hook is kinda noisy if you ask me but his vocals are audible enough still “everywhere i go, they wanna shake my hand, cos they never see a person like me . . . ” the chorus is typical of a Chairman tho.
He goes on to mention names of prominent “Chairmen”, and tells the ladies he’s just like them, and just after that, the second verse kicks off. “The call me the chairman, i’m always in V.I.P, I might me the greatest, so call me M.I Alli . .” The bragging goes on in the second verse, and he ends it with “i’m gonna kill this game, it’s a matter of time, it’s on death row”, and i’m like you are gonna kill which game? the rap game? ok, but definitely not with the lines he dropped on this song, for sure.
He ends the song with a SUB for haters, and probably critics also “for the benefit of all those that wanna say things, have you eaten today? so why are you hating“. My thoughts are, just may be Mr Abaga knew he went really weak with his bars on this one, in an attempt to reach out to the majority, and he already went all defensive on the track, even before the “saying of things” even started. Oh well, just my thoughts.
This song is a 6/10 for me, for the standard he has set with his former projects, this song falls below even his own standard. But the flow is evidently present, he’s got it, He has this unique flow that kinda makes him sound like a boss.