3:55 AM. My teeth are outside. My spirit is dancing. My soul is present. Ear to ear, I’m grinning. I finish listening to Wizkid’s Kese for the first time, then sit up. I smile and remember the day I discovered Wizkid. I drop my pods, sigh, and say loudly to the heavens “Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, you will forever be great.”
I listen again and Kese puts a lot into perspective. On my third listen, I realize something. Wizkid is back to the saxophones. I personally believe musical artists have instruments that sync with their sound. Like Dbanj is with the harmonica, and Omah Lay is with the guitars, Wizkid is with the saxophones. I also notice something interesting. He calls himself ‘Starboyy’ in the intro. I immediately access my Kuda account and buy more stocks in Wiz’s business because that intro can only mean one thing, and I’m not going to explain it.
Kese is an up-tempo masterpiece filled with African sound elements designed to make the physical body move immediately. The drums guide your body to a steady rhythm and the baseline provides the bounce to the groove. Wizkid spices up this gem with amazing vocals and powerful lamba. He also lets the beat breathe, intentionally giving space for the production to shine and for the fan to connect with the listening experience.
Wizkid knows how to make the correct song. I do not possess the intellectual capacity to describe what this means in detail, but I do know what I’m trying to say. As a creative, it’s general knowledge that a song is never finished, you just decide when you want to give it to the world as it is. There’s always something to add or remove, but Wizkid knows the perfect balance. The drums are right, the vibe is right, the lyrics are a proper fit, and everything is properly set up for you to dance.
It’s very evident even in the production of the song. P2J does a fantastic job of bringing Wizkid’s intention to life. There’s no low point in the song, and the instruments sync properly with the sweet sultry vocals of our Starboy. The backup vocalist on this song also deserves a cold beer and a Grammy, whoever and wherever she is.
Wizkid is back on his lamba game. I’m particularly excited about this because it only means one thing. The sound is coming back home. Rema started a sound shift with his HEIS album, and Wiz seems to be doing the same with the release of Kese. Snippets of Bend off the Morayo album show another up-tempo record signifying that there’d be a lot of what we consider to be party jams on the album.
He’s back to bragging. He talked about turning the O2 to the O3. He says anything he drops would be taken properly. He’s back to being Wizkid. The Big Wiz phase is on hold, and we no longer pay attention to his musical compositions anymore.
Amidst all the musical genius on display, my favorite thing about Kese is that the chant of the song goes “Oya make we dance, Gbedu” and it comes right after Davido tells Wizkid “We no dey hear your Gbedu again.” Whether intentional or not, I definitely do love a bit of pettiness and banter. I’m sorry Davido, but I will be listening to this particular gbedu. A lot of people are too, as the song debuted at the number 5 spot on Apple Music Nigeria Top 100 charts four hours after release.
Lastly, I’d like to set something straight. Wizkid is undeniable. The “Wizkid is finished” allegations have been going on since 2014 when he left EME, and year after year he’s remained at the top of the game. 15 years after his debut, he’s still going head to head with the ones poised to take over from his reign. We’ve seen this before in football. There’s no use fighting it. Wizkid is inevitable. Wizkid is HIM. Maybe it’s time to give up the toxic hate and dance.
Someone tell Big Wiz that we no dey hear him gbedu again. We are currently outside with Starboy Wizkid, and there’s enough gbedu to go around.
