Emeka Akumefule, known professionally as Blaqbonez aka Emeka the Stallion, is a Nigerian rapper signed to Chocolate City. Blaq is well known for his unique creativity and approach to his craft. Over the years, he has embarked on “out-of-the-box” PR campaigns and promotion strategies for his projects. This has earned him a top position in the “creative creatives” in Nigeria. For three years now, Blaq has served us three albums, each defining a new era/phase of his career. He’s come a long way from being a battle rapper to Bad Boy Blaq and finally Emeka Must Shine.
Emeka Must Shine- A Review
This exceptionally brilliant rapper, despite showcasing a remarkable evolution in both sound and career phases, maintains a consistent theme across his projects. The notion that love is a facade is the crusade Blaq has been on for more than 2 years now. I will not be surprised if Emeka is currently in a happy relationship. However, Emeka Must Shine is a project that explores a different side of Blaqbonez as a rapper chasing mainstream success. He does less bashing of love but rather delivers a vast range on the self-proclamation project. He does this through his sound and still maintains his core as a creative genius with his promotions.
Blaqbonez started infusing elements of mainstream genres in the chase of commercial success. This worked for him on his previous projects. There’s always that one song or two that hits the audience so hard. The likes of “Bling” ft Amaarae and BNXN on Sex Over Love, “Back in Uni” on Young Preacher.
However, he leans more into creating a pop-influenced project on E.M.S. while exploring other popular genres. But it’s quite obvious that Dancehall is a strength he has been tapping in for a while now. Blaq explores different genres and their elements. Dancehall as seen on “Bezos”, is a rather braggadocious track about his wealth and affluence. This time next year, we should see Blaq on the list of richest men in the world. His words, not mine.
“Gimme one year, I go be like Bezos”
Blaqbonez, 2023.
“Kilo” and “Dollerz” are not exempt. The former which features guest vocals from Don Jazzy has quite a catchy hook while the latter somehow suffered a delivery problem from both Artists. “Like Ice Spice” which had mixed reactions and reception upon its release, exhibits comparable sonic representations. He also blends this approach in hiphop tracks like “Bad till Eternity” ft Zlatan and “Shine Forever”.
Blaq also explores Reggae on “Naija Shawty” ft Victony, where he expresses his commitment to his Nigerian girlfriend after touring the world. Make no mistake, Nigerian men do not cheat. Emeka Must Shine also features Amapiano as heard on the track “No Sleep” ft Young Jonn.
Standout Tracks
Two tracks that stand out on the first listen on the project are “Road Runners” ft Black Sherif and “Nyem Ego” ft Jeriq. The hooks from both songs are the same. According to Blaqbonez, he created Nyem Ego first then Black Sherif requested to have a verse on it and I mean it’s only right he jumps on it. A double “at-under” moment when “Blackie where you go” comes on is a perfect fit for both Blaqbonez and Black Sherif. The slowed-down version with cultural elements like flutes and sonorous strings infused on it makes it a perfect intro for the project.
I saw Jeriq as a feature on “Nyem Ego” when the tracklist dropped and I said to myself, “this better be delivered in Jeriq’s style”, and immediately I listened, I exclaimed- “Yes! This is the gold on this project”. However, I’d have preferred the Odumodublvck feature on this as well. The same way Zlatan featured them both on “Oganigwe”.
The outstanding features of these tracks are the cultural elements of the production. You can hear the Udu and the Eastern cultural rhythms. The Udu especially gives me this calm feeling whenever used on a track. I grew up watching Igbo association women play it during their group meetings.
Masquerade ft M.24 is also another hidden gem on this project. It reminds me of “Fashionova” on his Young Preacher project. The bounce and cadence are worth bopping to.
While others will see the features on this project as a competition to outshine Emeka, I see it as a cohesive effort on his part. He seamlessly blends with his featured acts while they also deliver on their strengths, and in the long run, give Emeka his shine.
Conclusion
The overall cohesiveness of the project shows how much growth Blaqbonez has experienced in showcasing his range. Production-wise, Emeka must shine is right on spot creating the soft landing for his artistic expressions. The features also complement his transition into the Pop delivery. “Nyem Ego” as a reference one more time is a masterpiece that gained mainstream acceptance after the project dropped and is still gaining traction. We should be getting a video for it soon according to Blaqbonez.
The initial reception of the project was even more critical than his previous ones. The hip-hop heads feel like the culture is dying and Blaq who is supposedly a member of the community is only aiming for commercial success. On the contrary, no one wants to remain in the “He’s a good rapper” conversations and still struggle to attain mainstream success in an Afrobeats dominated market. Blaqbonez only extended his range of expressions in melodic rap and singing to further his career and he decided to give his audience what they want to hear. We’ve seen several rappers go down that road and it has worked for them.
I believe the various experimentation and success of these daring attempts of Emeka’s creativity will also compel other rappers stuck between switching to mainstream value or maintaining hardcore rap to find that middle ground between their core and exploring other artistic expressions.
Conclusively, Emeka Must Shine is a great project that you definitely would listen to more than once with several standout tracks that will keep you entertained.
