Blessed: Flavour is a man of many styles [Album Review]

Album- Blessed
Artist- Flavour
Guest Features- Wizboyy and Fally Ipupa
Producers- Master Kraft, Dekumzy, Wizboyy, Del B, Selebobo, J Stunt and M Jay
Record Label- 2Nite Ent
Running Time- 1 Hour, 53 seconds

Flavour Is A Man of Many Styles.

Flavour is a man that keeps up with his name. He might be a contemporary highlife singer but what has made him move beyond the South Eastern region of Nigeria and become a mainstay in Nigeria’s pop charts is his ability to infuse other genres of music into his unique brand of contemporary highlife.

His 18 track album Blessed is filled with songs showcasing his mix of highlife with other styles of music. Take for instance ‘Black Is Beautiful’ a song about a dark skinned woman who ‘shines like a morning light’. The beat crafted by Master Kraft leans towards reggae while Flavour sings his Palm Wine music on top of it. ‘Baby Oku’ showcases the influence of urban music on Flavour’s sound as he incorporates the popular reggae ‘Lord Have Mercy’ chant and Yoruba phrases on the Dekumzy-produced song.

Flavour’s lyrics on this album are very ordinary. They are straight forward, no sense of mystery or poetry around them. ‘Baby you too soji, your back na fire fire, you come dey show dem fire fire’ sings Flavour on Baby Oku and ‘Black Is Beautiful’ would have been a greater song if not for the easy lyrics.

Flavour’s lyrics however do not hinder him as they help him craft songs that are easy to understand. Without his mastery of other genres they might have been a problem.

Flavour loves the ladies (and their backside) and this is a strong theme on the LP. ‘Ikwokrikwo’ with its stirring Eastern strings showcases a Flavour transfixed with the behind of a woman who he calls his ‘Vitamin C’. The singer peppers the track with a little of RnB. ‘Shake’ as the name implies is a rump shaker highlife style. Sticking to the dancing theme also, Flavour composes ‘Sweet Tomato’ a contemporary highlife song which accommodates the West African pop dance moves- Etighi and Azonto. Clearly Flavour is a master at mixing genres together and he doesn’t try to hide it on ‘Blessed’.

On ‘Ifem N’eli’ he takes a stab at old Highlife music which comes out well thanks to the sweet horns incorporated by M Jay. Another song with a throwback feel is ‘Chinny Baby’ which sounds like an 80’s Nigerian pop song. The vibe of the song might be dated but the song is a success.

When Flavour isn’t singing about women, he sings about how being a man is not easy, he talks about destiny, enemies and fake friends. ‘Destiny’ is a pseudo Gospel track which predictably is about one being a master of his destiny, how destiny can’t be stopp ed, being saved from poverty etc.

Sometimes Flavour’s album sounds a tad bit repetitive. While he shows dexterity on Blessed some of his producers don’t -which gives the LP a slight been here-heard that feeling.

This however doesn’t stop you from enjoying the album as Flavour has enough tricks to hold you down. While there are a lot of one dimensional acts in the game now, Flavour’s mastery of many genres has allowed him produce an LP worth listening to. And that, is what makes him blessed.