Sauce Kid – African American [Review]

By Osagz

ALBUM REVIEW

ARTISTE: Sauce Kid

ALBUM: AFRICAN AMERICAN

RECORD LABEL: STORM RECORDS

DISTRIBUTED BY: SAMMY VIBES ENT.

PRODUCERS: eLDee da Don, Don Jazzy, Sossick, Ikon, Captain Majjit, EX-O, H-Code, Code Red Ent., Ice Berg Slim, Muzik Men, C-Zure,

When Sauce kid hit the Nigerian hip-hop scene from the states back in 2006, he did with a rap single that awakened the ears of the hip-hop community. More so, the hook was assisted by a renowned and respected Nigerian musician Mike Okri. It proved that we could blend rap with the Nigerian lingo.

And so a year later when his “Money Long…The Mixtape” dropped, we were nothing but impressed with Sauce. From making a big hit out of the “Sanboribobo” track (which is actually a remake of Remy Ma’s “Conceited” , the 1^st single off her debut album) to creating other very western street theme-like remixes, Sauce finally did what a lot of seasoned rappers were finding hard to do; deliver rhymes with a western phonetic inflection and make sense with it, even though we knew he was still finding his feet in his new music environ.

But alas, the Nigerian listening ears never want to wander too far from what they have been accustomed to hearing, so Sauce faced the same problem every other hip-hop performer had been facing……infusing Nigerian lingo into their raps.

So after 3 years, a bunch freestyles, a new record deal and a lot of tweets, Sauce kid came up with a plan; THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ALBUM.

Sauce Kid goes straight to business right from the first track “keep it pushing” an eLDee da Don production with a low tempo, where he talks about his hustle (never really tells us what it his he’s doing), but it’s a lovely way to start the album. As he goes on, the tempo takes off and on “Bang around here”, he bounces on the beat setting off a chain reaction that turns the skit into 2 minute track.

On “Nejei’s Song” an ode to his daughter, Sauce shows a new side of his personality; soft, reasoning and very emotional but he’s quick to brush his feelings away on “Sinzu is Sinzu” one of the many tracks that fall under expectation.

Throughout the album Sauce’s wordplay is very witty and delivery is on point. Never lazy with the styling, the Don Jazzy assisted “Under G” would tear up any club with syrupy tunes and a very catchy hook. So also on “E don dey madt”, Sauce capitalizes on an Ikon production, with very comical lyrics like “…You go like go whisper to deaf man/or make you look ur teacher say ‘what the F man…” and thus makes the song temporally enjoyable.

For the fact that a lot of singles have emerged from this album, it makes one want to concentrate on other tracks which one hasn’t heard. This poses as a problem because they aren’t potent enough to thrill the listener as much as his singles. Take for example the 9ice assisted “Elenu” which is a complete write off or “London Town” which loses its concept right from the start of the track or even “Nobody” where Banky W fails to deliver.

However, on “I gets Bz”, “Distribution” and “Diamonds”, Sauce plays it the way we’ve known him, rapping hard on bumpy ‘western’ South Side style….a very big plus.

Sauce tries to play safe by mixing songs in such a way that you’ve got Nigerian influenced music with western style. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help. While a song like “The Game needs me” ft Ghetto P and EX-O produced “Airplanes mode freestyle” show the strongest potency of Sauce, song like “Na me be fine boi” do the exact opposite.

In conclusion, Sauce Kid is very good with his delivery, wordplay and his unique vocabulary. But you tend to think….what’s the concept? What’s the message? As a rapper these questions need to be answered especially on an anticipated debut album.

So I guess it’s safe to say that the experiment of African American album won’t be moving past the hypothesis stage but it was worth the effort and time.

Beats: 3/5

Lyrics: 3/5

Originality: 2.5/5

ALBUM RATING: 2.5/5