The R.A.P. Mixtape

THE R.A.P. MIXTAPE IS OUT!!!
The long awaited mixtape is finally out! I hope it meets your expectations in every way. The track is up for download on 4shared. You can post on your comments on my facebook and reverbnation pages. I really appreciate your patience and your encouragements made this project to come to reality.

 

Download (4shared)

Download (Without waiting)

The Delays

I just wanted to take this time to apologise to all my faithful fans and friends who have eagerly awaited The R.A.P. for over a year now. I fully take the blame for the delay. All i want to do is take my time to give y'all the best. And as you know, doing that may take time. I hope you guys understand.

On this post, I'll explain the reasons why The R.A.P. has been pushed back

1. TRACKS  

Firstly, here was the issue of the tracks the tracks that were oing to appear on the mixtape. when we finally decided on the tracklisting, the issue of getting the sample instrumentals became a problem.
A-Maz helpfully got the instrumentals. but it took a lot of time before recording could begin as i was away on holidays.

2. RECORDING

When it was time to start recording, we encountered problems getting the right producer to work with as it turned out that very few people really understood what we wanted or could deliver on time. There was also a huge problem with getting the featured acts in one place at the same time to record tracks. These problems were a major delay to the release if The R.A.P.

3.  FINANCE 

As I believe you know recording a good track is not cheap. Not to talk of recording fourteen tracks. There are studio fees, producer fees and all and being a non-profit gesture, getting the money to record was a major headache. And so, for reasons of finance The R.A.P. was delayed.

4.  LOGISTICS
We encoutered a few problems promoting The R.A.P. and we didn't want it released without proper promotion. so we had to take our time. We also couldn'f find the right platform to make it available to the public. But all those have been taken care of, by God's grace.
5. ME
I recognise the fact that in all these, I have been the biggest delay of all. I have dragged my feet on this project for far too long. But here i am, making you a promise. NO MORE. From now on i promise to work as hard and as fast as i can till you have the pleasure of listening to The R.A.P

P.S if you haven't heard,  I'll Make It, the newest and probably the best single off  The R.A.P, it is available for download.

Artists On The R.A.P and Why.

On the greatest mixtape to hit Nigeria in a long while, i featured a lot of up-coming acts on different tracks. On this post, I'll give you an insight as to why i picked this acts for the various roles they played in the various tracks they appeared in.

The first and definitely the most important act on the mixtape is Maid city's 'King' A-Maz.
Appearing on We Own This Town, I'll Make It, In Maid Grindin', and Can't Stop Me. A-Maz is arguably the best vocalist in Northern (if not the whole) Nigeria. A-Maz has that smooth voice that keeps you glued to the speakers and tops that off with lyrical depth, which made him the obvious choice as the person to drop the hooks on The R.A.P as well as his out of this world verses (except on In Maid Grindin'). There is no question why 'The King' made the most appearances on this project.
You can hit A-Maz up on Reverbnation

Another is Birma, a promising lyricists with swag you would kill for, appearing on In Maid Grindin' and I'll Make It. Though limited to two appearances, this is one act you have got to listen to with punchlines that are outta this world. This act takes lyrisism to a whole other level. making him an obvious choice for In Maid Grindin'. His work ethic and love for the recording studio also landed him a place on I'll Make It.

Shizzy D, definitely one of the most talented artists I've ever met who flows like the delta of the Nile and the Niger (rivers), he made appearances on In Maid Grindin' and I'll Make It. Definitely could not be left out of the all-star line up of In Maid Grindin' and co-owning I'll Make It.
He is also on Reverbnation. Hit up Shizzy D

Talented artists such as Green Ace, Izzy, K-Bone and Fresh (In Maid Grindin') also made the cut.

I just wanted to take this time out to thank all the artists who took time out of their busy schedules to come to the studio for voicing and the occasional re-voicing just to murder me on my own shit. Without y'all, this project would be but a one man dream. Thanks for giving me your best (or a little less). I owe you all.


Ladies and gentlemen, it's getting ever so close now. the countdown is still on......

PS, two hot joints are now available Nigerian Girl by A-Maz off the First Of Me EP and I'll Make It of The R.A.P. Have Fun Peeps

Album Art Evolution

The R.A.P. has gone through numerous changes in album art - most being terrible. Let me take you through a little tour of the evolution of The R.A.P. album art.

The first album art was just something i tried just to see what I can come out with....t'was disastrous

The second one was supposed to be an 'improvement'

It still didn't make the cut, so....

Still bull shit, and at this point i came in with another version of the same thing

After some constructive criticisms, I decided to put my foot down and see about doing something worth doing and that brought in 3 choices of which i settled for one. What do you think?

Guess I was on some long thing....Still good though. I love the stress I went through before I got something of substance. Just shows you can do what you desire if you focus. Enough of the blabbing peeps and enjoy your day (or night). Safe

Instrumentals....................

    During the holidays, A-Maz contacted me that he had acquired some instrumentals for The R.A.P (I had no idea that by ‘few’, he meant about thirty). And being the music lover and workaholic he was, he had already composed hooks fro about three songs (only two appeared on The R.A.P though). So, my job was made easier. But it still wasn’t easy. Cos when I got to Maiduguri, I was confused, the instrumentals were just too much and I loved them all. What I loved the most was that. The instrumentals were a challenge. I stated writing for the hooks that A-Maz had composed. The first instrumental that really caught my attention was Hero by Nas produced by Polow Tha Don. I remember telling A-Maz ‘polow is a beast!”. I free-styled on the Hero instrumental and A-maz and I loved it. I Knew then, that Hero freestyle was going to be the next track I would record. I want to use this post to apologize for not sampling too many Naija tracks. It’s because the challenging Naija instrumentals are hard to come by. But once I get them, I’ll sample them on my next mixtape which would be titled………………………… wait,…… I ……. Haven’t titled it yet. Let’s concentrate on The R.A.P shall we? after deciding the next track I was going to record, I started writing for The R.A.P.

        I’m very happy for the tracks I wrote and didn’t record and those I  didn’t cos they pushed my creativity and my writing skills as well as my performances on other tracks. And that period of writing really helped me as an artist and as e person cos I started to think deep in that period.

       We are still counting down to The R.A.P

      BTW, A-maz's Oleku is out. Download it at Download Oleku.

We Own This Town and The Conception of The R.A.P

After A-Maz recorded and released Greenland and The Ish, a lot of people started asking when my first track was gonna drop. Recording costs were not exactly cheap. So i came up with an idea to sample instrumentals mixtape style just to satisfy the audience till i had cheese to record my own original track. I had no idea it was going to be the beginning of something great. The first instrumental i got was that to 'Lagos Party' by Banky W from the album 'The W Experience (mehn thanks for putting that instrumental on the album C.D). A-Maz wrote a catchy and creative hook(as always) about our love and desire for our towns (Abuja, Jos and of course Maiduguri).We named the Track We Own This Town and we were off to the studio and we were recording. Recording the track was magic. The song was was received with mixed reviews as people loved my performance as well as A-Maz's but they wondered why we sampled the instrumental. that left us doing a lot of explaining(the concept of a mixtape that is). After a while when people understood, they came to love The song. Then, I Had an Idea and i told A-Maz 'why don't i record a Mixtape'? he loved the idea since there were very few mixtapes released in Nigeria at the time and 'Illegal Music was a mega hit. We knew it was a risky move but I went for it. Next was the name. I wanted a name that would define me so I came up with The R.A.P which is short for The Rapper And Player. The idea of the mixtape was born. What i did not know was that that day, I took the first step on my road to self discovery.
      Ladies and Gentlemen it's my pleasure to welcome you to The Countdown To The R.A.P