Wande Coal is one of the most talented, young entertainers out in the Nigerian entertainment scene. When Wande appereared the first time with the Mo Hits Crew dancing on the ‘Why Me’ video, people asked a lot of questions. Then it was just dancing but since then, Wande has proven to be a capable entertainer. Apparently, his dancing was not the most interesting thing about him. We were in for a shocker when we heard his voice on ‘Move Your Body’. Since then, its been credibility and more credibility with his love track ‘Ololufe’ which is included in this album and many other tracks where he collaborated with the rest of his crew such as ‘Pere’ and ‘Close to you’ where his voice anchored the refrains.

The 22 year old entertainer; Oluwatobi Wande Ojosipe aka Wande Coal has released his debut album; Mushin to Mohits (M2M). On his debut album, Wande exhibits vocal expertise and bursts of lyrical inspiration from his personal experiences. The 16-tracker is in no doubt a chart topper with tracks like ‘Bumper 2 Bumper’ and ‘You Bad’ already enjoying superior airplay both on radio and online. Released on Monday, April 13th, the highly anticipated album is already in circulation under the Mo Hits Records label and is filling up intellectual and data pipes in various parts of the world. All the tracks on this album pretty much featured other members of his world famous ‘Mo Hits Crew’ and Ikechukwu. One important and impressive thing about this album is that there is a spank of originality to it. None of the tracks sound like they had been copied or inspired by any other production both locally and internationally.

The album opens up with ‘I know you like it’. The track has a rock pop and hip hop fusion feel. Alone on this one, the beat is a nice one as always with all tracks under the production of Don Jazzy. Its lyrical content is good too and as the title suggests; it talks about how a certain girl likes what he gives to her. Altogether, this is a good one opening up a can full of goodies and appealing to the enthusiasm of any proper music lover. The album follows with ‘You Bad’ featuring the ‘Tongolo’ crooner; D Banj. This is where we would say the album starts showing some of its treasures, gradually encouraging one to listen deeper. ‘You Bad’ is a bouncing track with some absolutely knocking hiphop production. The track was one of the first singles off this album to be released for sampling by the public. Needless to say, the few avenues through which this track was available were filled with traffic from enthusiastic people who wanted to hear what the whole industry was talking about. ‘You Bad’ will definitely remain on many DJ’s playlists for a very long time.

‘Se Na Like This’ is the next one on this album with a danceable beat and easy listening. Most obvious on this album is his lyrical intent. Talking about the way things are in Nigeria and how things can get better, Wande has fulfilled his social responsibility to the community with this one. The track is void of extensive features but falls into the category of tracks that pass a clear message across. The next one on this album ‘Kiss Your Hands’ is what we would call a neo-romantic style not necessarily fitting into R n B but not at the same time fitting into hiphop. It also has a great beat behind it and is another one for easy listening. Sparking up the track is Ikechukwu with his verse of Rap towards the end jazzing up the track to an interesting finish.

Next on the track list is ‘Confused’ featuring D Banj. Its a midtempo track with a great beat. It features verses with Wande clearly exhibiting his sonorous voice. Its lyrical content as its title suggests has Wande explaining about how the love he has for a lady confuses him. Its a great filler track and is worth its position on the album. Personally, Wande appealed to a sensitive spot in my mind with the next track ‘Se Ope’; reminding me of break time in Primary School for five years of my life. That’s just by the way but Wande jazzed up a popular thanksgiving track in most Nigerian elementary schools for meals at break time. Tushed up with an awesome beat, this track is an interesting one with a universal important theme. Thanksgiving is important no matter what perspective we choose to look at it from. Its not an overly feature rich track but passes its message across clearly.

Next on the track list is ‘Now its all gone’. With an R n B feel, this song has a great beat and features D’ Prince; another new member of the Mo Hits Crew. The lyrical content describes Wande’s loss of feelings for someone he was once crazy in love with. This is one of the songs on this album with clear and deep lyrical exposure. After a slow and soothing ‘Now its all gone’, Wande follows with ‘Bumper 2 Bumper’, a song which is already enjoying bigtime airplay in various parts of the world. Needless to say, Don Jazzy’s production on this track is heavy and is definitely a guaranteed club banger with its occasional injection and fusion of the ‘Juju’ style towards the end. ‘Bumper 2 Bumper’ is a classic example of a song that moves an album. It definitely improves the total outlook of this album.

The next tracks; ‘Who born the maga’ featuring K Switch and ‘That’s wots up’ are midtempo hiphop ballads and great fillers with Don Jazzy’s production expertise making them way more impressive. We also have the R n B ballad; ‘Bananas’ next on the track list featuring dentist turned musician; Dr. Sid. ‘Bananas’ has been released for a while and has received a lot of airplay from various sources. ‘Taboo’; the next on M2M’s track list has also been out for a while. Its beat has an R n B and Hip Hop fusion feel. ‘Taboo’ is in one word, addictive. Its is definitely a radio-friendly one and is going to put heat on a lot of feet.

On ‘Jehovah’, Wande gets religious and pays allegiance to the heavenly one. ‘Jehovah’ has a clear message and is one for easy listening. It also features great production from Don Jazzy. The remaining tracks on this album include ‘Ololufe’, ‘Ten Ten’ and ‘My Grind collaborating with the rest of his crew on the last two tracks. These ones had been released earlier as singles and have enjoyed a fair share of airplay.

All together, Mushin to Mo’Hits in our opinion is a compilation of his previous singles including other fillers into one nice debut package. The tracks on this album don’t have dazzling, intricate wordplay or thought provoking questions about social disparity but they are a darn sight better than most pseudo–intellectual hiphop albums coming out left, right and center these days. In our opinion, this is a great debut and no doubt an awesome kickstarter for Wande’s futuristic career in entertainment. However, we think he should spend a lot more time with his pen and paper in subsequent releases in order to put some meaningful and thought provoking material into Don Baba’s (Don Jazzy) elaborately cooked up beats. Also, we feel most of the hits on the album were given out as singles long before the album itself was released. The only suprise in this package was ‘You Bad’ but the remaining potential chart toppers were given away long before we saw this album. Mushin to Mo’Hits remains an album worth having as the well thought out flow, lyrical composition on the fillers and production by Don Jazzy remains priceless on this one.

Rating: 3/5.

Reviewed by – Oluwaseun Pelemo for Nigerianhiphop.net.