18th June was the chosen day set aside by Olamide to bless the ears of fans, music lovers and critics with his unambiguous 11th studio album – UY Scuti. In less than an hour after its release, congratulations and reviews started pouring in like a heavy downpour of rain, safe to say, majority of them (if not all) happened to fall on the good side. Without a doubt, Olamide Adedeji once again proved why he is so much critically and commercially acclaimed as one of the finest musicians to ever come out of Nigeria, Africa and the world at large.

This is not a “review” write-up, that should be of note but just I (Olumide, the writer), pointing out major takeaways from UY Scuti as a body of work, a musical project, that is. Enough said folks, here they are:

1. Evolution:

In 2015 on “Local Rappers”, Olamide said and I quote “. . .punchline o jawo mo” but not until some six years later, did it take him to really actualise those words in their entirety on a music project. Let me explain: since 2011 when Olamide dropped his breakthrough single – “Eni Duro” followed by his debut album, “Rapsody”, never has he released a complete album (solo or joint) or EP without the predominant genre being Hip-Hop/Rap.

With UY Scuti Olamide’s full blown evolution is copacetic, a clear one at that! From rapping about early childhood sufferings and trauma in the early stages of his career before blending upbeat production with Rap and street slangs, creating a groundbreaking genre, now known as Street-Hop to hopping on Afrobeat, Pop and any other type of production thrown his way (which he killed as usual) to UY Scuti, a group of mellow, soft rhythm and a few Reggae/Dancehall infused records, Olamide’s versatile discography is brought to life on UY Scuti, a Pop predominant album, with R&B and Reggae/Dancehall acting as the sub-genre but even at that, not one of the 10 songs on the album gives listeners an ounce of doubt at Olamide’s musical prowess. Once you press play, you would be moved to finish the album without skipping a track.

2. Co-sign:

Apart from music, another thing Olamide is synonymous with is putting other talents at the forefront of success, giving them that push required for them to garner some mainstream recognition, hence more or less a headstart for their musical career/journey to blossom. One word for all the ‘big boy’ grammar written is – co-sign.

Acts like Lil Kesh, Pheelz, Adekunle Gold, Young John, Fireboy DML, P-Priime are testimonies to the co-sign Olamide offers through his many albums and record label.

With UY Scuti, Olamide continues to scout for newer talents instead of resting on his oasis, sucking for the A-list (perhaps B-list) artistes to feature – a likely revenue for making a commercial hit song; on UY Scuti, Olamide once again showed us why they call him “Baddo”, always being aware of the ‘baddest’ newest music talent in town—Jaywillz, Layydoe and Fave (appearing twice) are names with little to no recognition at the mainstream stage but with features on tracks 2, 5, 6&7 respectively, they’re sure to get some clout come their way.

Artistes are not the only ones recieving from Olamide’s care-package of co-sign as Eskeez who executively produced the album also got his shine, producing 9 out of the 10 songs except the first track on UY Scuti.

3. English as the Language of Choice:

If UY Scuti is Olamide’s way of proving critics and doubters wrong anytime they bring up discussions surrounding him not being able to make international hit songs due to the language barrier, then he did so easily in a fine manner.

Yourba is Olamide’s chosen language. Once we hear of Olamide being on a song, our minds immediately wander to him speaking Yourba so fluently, inventing new flows through speaking it but on UY Scuti, he chose the English language route and it paid off superbly.

For the first time on his album, Olamide sang in English on over 90% of the tracks, with “Cup of Tea” (track 8) containing more Yoruba words, lines and verses than the entire tracks on the album combined; ”Rock” (3rd song) being the next on the list, that says a lot as we all know Olamide had more (Pidgin) English words in it compared to Youruba.

Whether this is due to Olamide signing a distribution deal with international body—Empire—or him just being intentional about the next line of action regarding his evolving artistry, that remains something only him can answer.

4. Continued Bromance with Phyno:

On “Ghost Mode”, Olamide clearly stated: “Phyno and Olamide, we’re just getting started” and true to those words, the duo have remained close, making good music ever since. On his previous album, “Carpe Diem” and latest release, UY Scuti, Phyno appeared as the only A-list featured artiste. That itself proves the point, don’t it? Phyno is featured on “Somebody”.

5. Cool, Calm & Collected:

All previously released albums by Olamide have something in common – club records, ‘bangers’, Street-Hop (or simply street jams) but on UY Scuti, a newer side of his personality is explored, where we get introduced to the 3C’s, i.e cool, calm and collected characteristics of Olamide on a wider range and truth be told – I love it! We all love it!

Olamide’s use of softcore Pop and R&B/Soul genre blended with Reggae/Dancehall tunes with a little bit of Afrobeat production is very conspicuous. On UY Scuti, Olamide continues to draw from Carpe Diem‘s refined sound, almost (if not) bringing it a perfection.

Now is the time for you to listen to UY Scuti.

Legendary musician and game changer rapper, Olamide lets loose his 11th music album to hit the air waves and bless ears of fans and all music lovers. The title – UY Scuti.

On UY Scuti, Olamide tends towards Pop, R&B and Reggae/Dancehall infused records compared to what he’s done predominantly his entire career, i.e, Hip-Hop/Rap (even blending it to create street jams) and Afrobeat songs.

UY Scuti shows a more relaxed side of Olamide where he creates smooth and laid-back tunes over a span of 28 minutes, a total of 10 songs, that is. The promotional record for the album—“Rock”—already alerted fans to the sound evolution Olamide was on and the song itself (which was released just over a month ago) is a stellar itself just like the title of the album suggests, staying on different charts ever since, generating very impressive stream numbers and always being played to our ears, thanks to the massive airplay country-wide.

Features on the album include Jaywillz (on “Jailer), Layydoe (on “Rough Up”), fast-rising Pop and R&B act – Fave makes a two-time appearance, back-to-back at that on track 6 (“Want”) and track 7 (“PonPon”) while longtime collaborator and fellow rapper, Phyno rounds up the list with “Somebody”.

Olamide on UY Scuti explores subjects giving off love and sensual feelings and not hard grimey or early life lessons learnt from the ghetto. UY Scuti is sure to be that album music lovers play at the end of a stressful day or while baby making.

Stream, download, listen to Olamide on UY Scuti.

Olamide Adedeji, Olamide as he is professionally known; rapper, singer and label executive whose career has spanned over a decade and still continuing to blossom is one of the rare examples of Nigeria and African act whose music cuts across boarders despite very few or no feature(s) with an international act.

Olamide who had his big break musically in the early 2010s and since then have been churning hits after hits with albums after albums leading to him being one of the most respected music creators in the country, speaks with The Guardian on why he never lobbies for international features and acclaim despite being a top dog in the music industry, he says: “I’m never going to be desperate, or make funny moves because I’m trying to be successful”, furthering, “I’m an authentic person and that’s what my brand stands for.”

Read the full article written on Olamide by The Guardian.