By Ifeoluwa Olutayo
On the title track of his sophomore album, Heis, Rema swaggers on the song’s outro, crooning;
“Remy say big four, oya, now who get mind, make e talk am”
With this latest offering, he seeks to distance himself from the image painted of him as one of the industry’s most promising, with him making a (very strong) case for his place on the contemporary Mount Rushmore of Nigerian music.
Rema is not one to fit in a carefully curated box for bite-sized enjoyment by his audience and it’s evident on his newly released album, which sonically, draws from a host of places, widening his oeuvre and proving that Afrobeats can and should evolve.
His debut album, Raves and Roses sought to establish him as a feel-good Afro-rave (his coined sub-genre) superstar, with features from a host of global stars (6lack, Chris Brown, AJ Tracey, and Yseult). In it, he brought his unique take on the sound to a global audience, finding far-reaching success with the award-winning and record-breaking remix of Calm Down with Selena Gomez. He brought his sound to the world.
With his fourth extended play, Ravage, released at the tail end of 2023, he heralded a shift in focus, with his delivery more crazed, and incensed (referred to as Afro-rage), navigating a host of topics; love, success, heartbreak, and most importantly, his place in the Nigerian Music industry. With the first track on that extended play, Troublemaker, he talks about how he’s been treated in the industry, and how much work goes into creating the Enigma that is him. He signals that even if they call him a troublemaker and they try their hardest to impede his progress, he is intent on carving out a space for himself and his team at the top with this lyric;
“Make I do my own, ọmọ, no judge me
Make you sef reason
E be better say they no call me nobody
I go still pass everybody even though say una use extra sheet”
Rema takes it a step further in Heis, swaggering in with the braggadocio of one assured of his place. For him, the claim can no longer be contested, but he invites the detractors to try him, with lyrics like these on the second verse of March Am;
“Every day I dey raise una BP, raise am to the ceiling
Talking my shit and I don’t keep it PG
No dey hold me na make una leave me
Leave, Oya, make una leave me
I no go let anybody breathe”
It’s a recurring theme on the album with him addressing his haters on the internet on the track, Azaman, asking them to go “hustle” instead and reiterating his big four status and his advice for his detractors on the bouncy anthem, Hehehe.
Unlike Rave and Roses, there are no international features, which possibly signal a return to roots, one that is pointedly meant to indicate a focus on reinforcing his place at home and it’s clear with the two features on the album, that for Rema, there’s no place like home.
The previously released collaboration with Shallipopi, Benin Boys, is at home in this track lineup, a song about how far the two stars have come from the humble days lived on Ekehuan Road (where Rema grew up) and Sapele Road (where Shallipopi was raised). They glide on the beat with an assertive cadence, as they talk about their achievements so far; “See doings, you no fit talk say we no get”
The other feature, War Machine, with Native star, Odumodublvck, could be viewed as a declaration of his aggressive stance, with him aware of his effect on the industry, stating that he is war-ready, and is ready to pour more salt in his enemies’ wounds (more success), with him saying;
“Try me, make I for give you spanking like okpo
E don tey since I tell una say I be commando”
and following up in the chorus with;
“I dey pepper dem, mm-mm-mm
E dey pain dem, mm-mm-mm
Omo, I go give them, mm-mm-mm
Another one, mm-mm-mm ”
He swaggers in and out of tracks, produced by a stellar team, with a handful of songs produced by long-time collaborators, London and P.Priime among others. The result is a confident exploration of different sonic pursuits with club bangers, afro-rage chants and amapiano-laden anthems. A great example of these pursuits is the song Villain, a P.Priime helmed flip of Lana Del Rey’s A&W, to a pleasantly surprising effect.
In the outro, Now I Know, Rema charts a map from his past to present, as he glides on the P.Priime and Day-trip produced song, transporting us into his struggles to survive growing up, his internal struggles with the reception of his fame and fortune among those he loved and trusted, his guarded nature and his acceptance of the journey. He shows us that his assuredness was not a gift bestowed at birth but something he has come into, as he learns and evolves.
With the chorus, he asserts that he is beginning to recognize those who are with him till the end and those who aren’t, and for anyone navigating this chaotic thing called life, isn’t that a step forward?
He’s not above the struggle to be the best he can be, not okay with just sitting comfortably in the niches and genres he has explored so far.
Heis is proof that for Rema, this exploration of genres and sounds is the beginning of what he can produce bending the form of Afrobeats and that he believes that he can be so much more. Given what I have listened to, I believe him too.