Probably one of the most celebrated fast-rising rappers in recent years and one of the new guards of Nigerian music, Blaqbonez has been highly consistent and has given us EP after EP. Mr Boombastic, his recent EP marked a new beginning for the rapper which saw him delve into singing. On the back of this, he released Haba which is a brilliant song, blessed with nice vocals from Blaqbonez, an awesome instrumental from Tempoe, and nice mix and master from Focus Ramon.
However, after listening to the song over and over I could hear Rema’s flow quite a few times. Although the way he sampled Rema’s flow was amazing and it showed the influence the Dumebi singer is having in the industry, for him to possess Mr Boombastic with his sound. I’m sure if we ask Blaqbonez, he can tell us who influenced him on Haba. There is nothing wrong with what he did on Haba because it is simply perceived as a ‘normal thing’ in the industry and to be honest it helps the vibe. I mean let’s take our minds back to towards the end of the last decade when Mr Eazi brought this ‘pon pon’ sound to Nigeria and we had a herd of artists biting off it like the carcass of a dead antelope. Upon Wizkid’s ascension in the industry, many of the ‘new sound’ artists most especially Rema couldn’t help sample his flow. Burna boy also talked about this too when he said “you’re biting your tongue tryna sing like me” in Say So, he perceived artists trying to sound like him. In an interview with Olisa Adibua, he stated that he created Afro-fusion and now other artists are trying to bite off the sound.
In Haba, we can hear the self-acclaimed “Best rapper in Africa” jump on Rema’s Indie wave. It is indeed brilliant but we hope he is not losing his originality.
Do you think Blaqbonez is losing his originality?