Henshaw Blaze comes out all ‘blazing’, leveraging the Afrobeat legacy on “The Unnamed Kuti”

abiola

January 25, 2017 1:45 PM

The Hip-hop Afrobeat musician showcases his vocal prowess on Afro-fusion beats as he makes a statement of intent about his talent as a rapper.

The Unnamed Kuti by Henshaw Blaze

Afrobeat Hip-hop act Henshaw Blaze releases "The Unnamed Kuti", using his power vocals to speak up on social and political happenings, modelling himself after the Charismatic Fela Kutis legacy.

"The Unnamed Kuti", as the title of the EP strongly suggests has Blaze's music influenced chiefly by the legendary iconic Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who was a strong voice of the people during his days, singing about relatable societal matters.

Blazing with a fire intro ‘Ekaro’ (Good morning), introduces the listeners to his world of rap. He gives a shout out to his roots in ‘Lagos city’ (Eko ile).

Henshaw Blaze roars loud and proud spitting on rich Afrobeat elements of drums. Flexing his stand in ‘God and humanity’, Blaze begs questions of morality, coming from the socially conscious angle.

He tells a tale of his high school exploits in ‘Tale of love’ on rich drums, he shows he can rap and sing doing it in a way to grab your attention with relatable nostalgic stories.

More relationship talk comes to bear in ‘Nkechi’s song’ featuring Maka showing off his emotional side where he gets his heart broken.

In ‘Cooking pot’, Henshaw samples from an old school nursery rhyme to ditch out bars.

Blaze’s Hip-hop wave becomes increasingly evident in ‘Shiine (Blind’em)/Dangerous freestyle as he tells off naysayers trying to bring him down.

On the outro track ‘Talent’, Blaze talks about making use and multiplying as it were your God-given talent.

This EP sees him display his vocal prowess on Afro-fusion beats as he makes a statement of intent about his talent as a rapper who can make appealing music.

It can also be safely concluded without doubt that the Fela sound and legacy has major influence on the input and consequently output of this EP “The Unnamed Kuti”.

abiola