SAUCE KID – AFRICAN AMERICAN (THE DEBUT)

Naija’s Listening E.A.R. (Essential Album Rating)

A strong review of NigerNaija albums
26/08/2010 | Oyebowale ‘oyeakd’ Akideinde http://www:360nobs.com; http://www.twitter.com/oyeakd;
http://www.scribd.com/oyeakd

GENRE: Hip Hop/Rap

LABEL: Storm Records
Year of release: 2010

1. Keep It Pushing
2. Elenu ft 9ice
3. Bang Around Here (Long Snippet)
4. Nejei's Song ft Meaku
5. Under G
6. Sinzu Is Sinzu
7. EdonDeyMadt Skit
8. EdonDeyMadt
9. Nobody ft Banky W
10. Omoge Wa Jo(remix) ft Pype, Ghetto P &
Iceberg Slim
11. Na Me Be Fine Boi
12. Cant Feel My Face
13. Distribution ft Meaku
14. London Town
15. I Getz Bz ft Iceberg Slim
16. Monkey Banana ft Pype, Ghetto P
17. Diamonds
18. The Game Needs Me ft Ghetto P
19. We Duzz It
20. Airplane Mode Freestyle

In the last 3-4 years, when most 9ja Hip-Hop heads pen out their top 5 9ja rappers, Sauce Kid’s
name always seem to feature. The most recent being MI’s famous August, 2010 tweet about his
current favourite Nigerian rappers where Sinzu made the number 4 spot “The album is gd.. But
if u wnt 2 respect dude listen 2 his freestyles.. He made a better version of roger that than YM”.
Heck he’s even in my own top 5 as well (hmm.. dats another article all together).

But what really makes Babalola Falemi so prominent in all our lists? Dude’s only involvement in
the Hip Hop scene for the past 4 years has been the release of 1 2007 mixtape ‘Moneylong’, 1
history making freestyle over Scott Storch’s produced beats for Remy Ma’s “Conceited”,
features and scattered single leaks from his 4 years overcooked ‘Product of My Environment’
debut album (which about 10 of them still make this album).

There are numerous reasons for this, but the most obvious is his ability to slay all kinds of beats
thrown at him in a calm and nonchalant way and still leave fans with a new buzz word for the
streets! So in between leaving the Q Beats Entertainment Fam and signing up with Storm
Records, Sauce Kid’s long awaited ‘African American’ debut album got done.

The brooding “Keep Pushing” which opens up the album, gives us an insight of a still-hungry
and hardworking MC (‘belle never full/but hin slippers don chop’) and some of the struggles he’s
been thru on his journey ‘This industry is filled with ass-lickers and assholes/ But I still manage to swim
the stream like a tadpole’; how he intends to keep pushing even from the point he’s gotten to. I
couldn’t have asked for a 9icer collabo than the head nodding “Elenu” featuring 9ice which is the
next track. Sauce Kid tpains on Captain Majjit’s mid-tempo beats as 9ice sings the hook and
drops his characteristic Yoruba maxims on the 3rd verse. This track along with a handful of
others actually help save this album from being strictly an album for Rap Heads with no
commercial value.

We get a long snippet of "Bang around here" whose slamming beats are used optimally by
Sauce Kid with so much calmness. Liking this track. We then get connected to Sinzu’s personal
side where he shares his past relationship with his baby’s mama with us and his daughter -
Nejei and calls to the Lord to give him strength to be able to support his daughter always ‘she
put this heavy load on my chest/like a bench-press’. His earnest bars deserve some praise
especially as he shows us a soft caring side to his gangsta-like exterior. The song is also
blessed by the vocals of the Future in 9ja RnB – Meaku.

Sauce Kid then playfully rips Don ‘Na Who Do The Beats’ Jazzy’s Fuji inspired beats to
shreds on his 2nd single; the party starting “Under G”. He spits effortlessly as he switches flows
between Yoruba & English ‘it is my fantasy to fi ata si’. Fuji seems to be the order of the day as
‘Sinzu Is Sinzu’ drops in. This up-tempo track has eLDee’s production signature all over it and
the song is guaranteed to make u dance. He again fuses Yoruba into his flows. Loving both
tracks.

Usually I don’t talk about skits but the “EDonDeyMadt” skit is one of nicest and funniest skits I’ve
heard in 9ja or anywhere else. The jam itself is madt. He uses Pidgin English playfully to deliver
wordplays reminisce to my primary school ‘You mess yabs’ (You mess, 5 Akara form Voltron)
and also throws in some phrases in Hausa & Igbo. I love everything on this song from the
background ‘Ooh!’ on the Ikon produced beats to lines like ‘why you wan use groundnut oil take dey
drink garri/Imagine make I shoot Rita for head/Come leave her retarded /U go like baf up go toilet/ U r out
of call credit/Ur call no connect/Craze woman dey show u pant abi/it’s obvious say u don dey madt abi ’
LWKMD. I think this might just be Sinzu’s niche as he’s at his lyrical best spitting like an Afro-
Nigerian on these 3 (and “Yebariba” of course).

Sauce Kid uses auto-tune to toast (not rap) quietly on “Nobody” - A track definitely made to
ensure that Sinzu also becomes your girlfriend’s favourite rapper. No harm in that cos now u
and ur honey can bump the same CD without arguing. Ladies Man Banky W laces the chorus
for this one. The string instrument play (not sure if it’s a guitar or violin) @ the end on Nobody is
most def!!! Sauce Kid, General Pype, Ghetto P & Iceberg Slim all try their best to resurrect
the 2005 Channel O nominated “Omoge Wa Jo” with a new remix and without Mike Okri’s
vocals. Track seems outdated on the album and ought to have been left out.
When Sinzu dished out “Na Me Be Fine Boy” from the saucepan as a 1st single in 2009, people
listened and started talking. It was well received and the anticipation for his album grew. Apart
from the poor production on “I Can’t Feel My Face” and the fact that I’m sure that I 1 st heard this
in 2008, the track is still hot. He spits like my favourite G-Unit member – Lloyd Banks on this
one ‘went to sleep on Tuesday/missed out on Wednesday/Woke up on Thursday and felt the worst
way/Now I’m thirsy’ and I’m liking the chopped and screwed voice effects on the Sossick beats.
Track is like a refix to “Yebariba”.

“Distribution” with Meaku on the hook is for the rap heads. The bars hit hard like nails. I skip
“London Town” all the time. Not feeling it. On “I Get BZ”, Iceberg Slim makes me a fan (I
followed him immediately on twitter after hearing this just once) with a just 1 verse (and yeah he
still says Somebody wants to die). This is real hip-hop; u can bump to this all day in yo whip and
it’s blessed by beats that Cannibus would love to get his hands on.

After all the true hip-hop, he regresses to the commercial “Monkey Banana” which became a
street anthem when released last year along with General Pype & Ghetto P - 'I’m a hungry
monkey about to go bananas/I’m from another country please pardon my manners/feeling like a kid on
Christmas waiting for Santa’. He returns to his Hip-Hop roots for the chopped “Diamonds” and
calls upon his 5 & 6 – Ghetto P as they wax lyrically on “The Game Needs Me” which samples
Jay-Hovah’s line. “We Duzz It” is disappointing.

I was surprised when I heard the 2008 underground banger- “Airplane Mode Freestyle” which
also got released on Knighthouse’s mixtape. No remix, Nothing! Same sh*t, same beat!
Common Sinzu, we need some new sauce on the side for this track which u absolutely nailed it
back then. My fave part still is ‘I’m on point/I was appointed by the streets/ u missing the point/& that’s
why u disappoint the streets/but i would never disappoint the beat/Soon as u point to the beat/I turn that
beat into a joint & make it a joint for the streets/I’m in airplane mode (3ce)/I’m so high it’s like my nose is
bleeding/I’m so high it’s like my shoulders freezing/I can’t feel my face, my face filled with goose-bumps &
I don’t know the reason’

With a Debut album blessed with so many producers (Don Jazzy, XO, Sossick, eLDee tha
don, Captain Majjit, Ikon, C Zure, H Code etc) that can only be matched by Drake’s, the
mastering and production quality were far from impressive (trust me, i’ve played the album on
Chubby’s Mark Levinson). He gets massive points deducted on this front cos if we could wait
4years, 2 more weeks to master the production would have been a breeze.

This aside, Sauce Kid seems to provide a track dipped in sauce for everyone – from
Nairalanders (Raw Chilli) to Alaba peeps (Tomato Sauce).

Outstanding Tracks: I Get Bz, EdonDeyMadt, Sinzu Is Sinzu, The Game Needs Me, Elenu
Disappointing Tracks: London Town, Omoge Wa Jo(remix), We Duzz It

VOCAL DROPS Rating System

VERSATILITY: 8/10
OPINION (Personal): 7/10
CREATIVITY: 9/10
ACCEPTANCE: 6/10
LYRICS: 8/10
DELIVERY: 8/10
RHYTHM: 7/10
ORIGINALITY: 7/10
PRODUCTION: 3/10
SKIP FACTOR: 6/10

THE VERDICT: 6.9/10

On a long awaited debut album, Sauce Kid half delivers. The album is a mixed bag. No cut
on Sinzu’s debut album is as good as “Yebariba” (hmm.. EDonDeyMadt comes close), the
breakout mixtape single that brought him national fame and a new dictionary word -
Samboribobo. Peeps also keep saying why the name African American …my guess is cos he
and his music has been influenced by 9ja & Yankee (but u can tweet him to confirm).

The arrangement of tracks for the album was less than convincing - For instance, the first song
of your debut album needs to be explosive, forcing the listener to take an actual interest in the
artist; the 1st track could have easily been “Elenu” and the reflective “Keep Pushing” pushed
towards the middle.

The tracks selection as well wasn’t at par. There’s really no need to have a 19 track album if
people have heard about 6 of them way back in 2008 (@ least I did). Artists need to learn when
to let go of old tracks (Even slu…ssh kid knows when to let go of old keles (shirls?)). Heck! Put
them as bonus tracks if need be. No need to cram in all your life tracks into one debut album(If
only he had called in a focus group like me and me crew ;) to select the final tracks to put
in – all the good songs wouldn’t have been swallowed by the old and surplus cuts.) Lil Wayne
& The Game would probably have 50 track albums then.

Let’s just hope now that with the weight of finally releasing a debut album off his chest, he will
be to concentrate (hopefully not for another 4 years though) and deliver an album we believe he
is capable of and claim a stake to this throne cos Sinzu is Sinzu

BUY this album & SUPPORT THE ARTIST