Music groups are something of a rarity in the Nigerian music industry. That, amongst other things, is what makes Lareez very interesting indeed. For the unfamiliar, Lareez is a musical duo comprising of Adewale Isiaka Sanni and Edward Seyi Larunsi, two individuals united by a genuine love for music. They started together as far back as 2011 when they paired up to participate in a competition. Interestingly, much of their fanbase and popularity has been achieved by ranking high in a number of contests and competitions hosted by the likes of Rainbow FM, Beat 99 FM, and even MTV Base.
As far as their discography goes, entries have been few and far between. They only have about 10 singles in their portfolio but those that value quality over quantity would have very much enjoyed their releases till date. Much of their output has been freestyle and online content but they are now ready to enter a new phase of more consistent releases. And that new phase started on February 18th with their new 6-pack EP titled “Preamble”.
We are eased into the project with “Friday”, a mid-tempo Afrobeats number. It’s not often that you hear artistes sing about the life of fun and popping bottles on an instrumental of this mood and tempo, but that’s exactly what Lareez experiment with on this track. Next up is “Hustle” and once again, the title of the song tells you all you need to know about the lyrical content. The vocal performance here is scintillating and the lyrics are a better fit for the beat. If their aim was to communicate a message of hope then kudos to them on a job well done. “Koroba” comes in at number 3 and closely mirrors the preceding entry in style and quality.
We witness an exciting switch as the project rolls past the halfway mark. “Mo Bad” features a Hip-hop heavy instrumental coloured with a dash of Afrobeats sounds. The song has significantly more bounce to it, making it easy for them to sing about being the baddest boys on the block. “Wait” is almost like a mixture of all the great aspects of the 4 songs that come before it; the bounce, vocal performance, and energy are in fine synchrony with each other. It’s easily the most balanced track of the project. Last on the line up is “Weird Dreams”. On this track, Lareez take another go at Hip-hop and they sing along to the beat in trap music fashion. As far as experiments go, it’s largely a successful one. It grabs the attention of the sonically curious and has just enough to retain interest. A fitting end to the project, one might say.
While we are not yet certain what this project is a preamble to, it is a decent building block for whatever they have lined up next. The members of Lareez display boldness in their approach to the music on this project, and that daring attitude might serve them very well going forward. The strong presence of Yoruba in their lyrics suggest their music can do very well with lovers of street music while their instrumental choices can attract those more inclined to western sounds. That’s two very different audiences they could potentially win with if they stay on this course. No perfect projecg exists so there are still improvements to be made here of course. The lyrics, rhyming scheme, and song structuring could definitely benefit from upgrades. But all in all, “Preamble” holds a lot of promise and is worth listening to.
Verdict: 7/10
