5 follow up projects that turned out better than their debut albums

Everyone knows about the Sophomore curse that affects a lot of artists in the industry as they struggle to meet up to the standards of their debut offering, but some have reversed this curse and scored second efforts better than their first.

The sophomore jinx became a prominent term in the music industry when it became glaring that artists who had released an impressive first album to kickstart their career dropped sub-par follow ups.

Some artists have defied the odds and put out better projects at the second time of asking despite the success of their first efforts.

Here are five sophomore albums that outperformed their debut projects;

1. YBNL by Olamide (2012)

In 2011, while he was still signed to Coded Tunes, Olamide released his debut album, Rapsodi with the lead single, Eni duro ushering him unto the Nigerian music space. The album also featured tracks like Apa ti Jabo and Omo toh shan with Wizkid.

ALSO READ:A ranking of Olamide's albums

For a young rapper, that was a fairly solid debut and when he moved on from the label the following year to set up his indie imprint, YBNL Nation, there were concerns if he would succeed in building on his profile and this he achieved with his sophomore effort, Yahoo Boy, No Laptop (YBNL).

Songs like Voice of the Street, Ilefo Iluminati, Stupid Love and First of All etched his place in the history of Nigerian hip-hop and enforced his one album, every year momentum.

2. CEO by Dagrin (2010)

The late Da Grin will forever be remembered for his album, Chief Executive Omo-ita (CEO), which paraded the hard as concrete single Pon Pon Pon alongside other joints like Kondo, Thank God and 'Ghetto Dreams'.

But industry observers will trace back the name Da Grin to his first album, 'Still on the matter', the album that birthed the singles, Raprules Anthem and Nii 94 building the foundation for his rise to prominence.

3. Gongo Aso by 9ice (2008)

Released in 2007, 9ice's debut album, Certificate can be likened to the dream introductory project of every young artist.

It had a number of sleeper hit records like Little Money, Ganja Man, Make dem talk with 2Shotz and the reggae inspired, Music Daddy dedicated to Wyclef Jean.

The album did quite well and paved the way for the Alapomeji to register his name in the heart of music fans but nothing prepared his loyalists or even himself for what was to come next in Gongo Aso.

His sophomore album, released a year later was 9ice's ground-breaking project, and is considered a classic by industry standards. The album has hits like Gongo Aso, Street Credibility, Photocopy and Wedding day.

Almost every song on the project classifies as a radio single and this led to him winning Artist of the year at the 2009 Headies award.

ALSO READ:Is 9ice really the G.o.a.t?

4. Stories That Touch by Falz (2015)

For Falz, Wazup Guy was a good way to start his career, but the artist soon discovered that with his style of rap came a need to recreate, refresh and experiment and this he focused on with his sophomore effort, Stories that touch.

ALSO READ:Falz speaks on second album

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Stories that touch was the project that earned him his street cred across board.

With his dexterity and matured delivery, Falz through songs like Soft work, Karishika, Soldier and Clap reworked a process that defeated the sophomore ghost and scored a second album that was far above the first.

5. Ahamefuna (Legacy) by Duncan Mighty (2011)

If his 22 tracks debut effort, Koli Water which had singles like Ako Na Uche, Ijeoma and Scatter my Dada made Duncan Mighty a homegrown hit within Port-Harcourt and its regions, then his follow-up effort Ahamefuna (Legacy) indeed sealed his music legacy forever.

The album was solely produced by Duncan Mighty without any featured artists and had the hit single, 'I don't give a shot', and the banger, Port Harcourt Boy.