5 best and worst Nigeria album covers of the year

The best album arts begin to connect the moment it commands your attention. An amazing image will endure in your mind, as it generates all the feelings that can be visualized mostly, by the album title and the content of the songs.

In Nigeria, we are in the age of social media hyper-information, where the quest for more knowledge has made us become almost insensitive to the best pictures and images. But any album art which pierces through this thick film of photos and stands out is worthy of the best.

The opposite goes for the worst type of images used as album art. Dull and uninspiring, it lingers like a bad taste in the mouth, hanging on for longer than it should, and creating the worst kind of feelings with each sighting.

5 Best Nigerian Album Covers of 2016

Brymo – Klitoris

The album artwork designed by Georgi Georgiev of MoonringArt Design, Arizona, United States of America is ‘woke’.

A haunting image of a creature which who appears to be an overlap between man, beast and plants, is set in a mildly eerie backdrop, where flailing arms stretch out in the shadows and the earth is awash with steam.

It is powerful, beautiful, and disturbinmg, lingering in your mind, and drawig you closer to the music. This is elemental and inviting. This is art.

Reminisce – “El-Hadj”

This man wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he will properly assume the title of ‘Alhaji’ (El-Hadj). But all of that failed to materialise, with the album taking a large amount of his time. He channels that opportunity cost of making his music into the branding, and the album art, which contains a mean display of the traditional gold tooth is a beauty to behold.

Bez – “Gbagyi Child”

Bez takes cultural minimalism to a celestial level as he appears wrapped in traditional swaddling clothes, which speaks of his inspiration for his album: unadulterated local sounds from Karu, his village which lies on the outskirts of Abuja.

Staring at this album cover is uplifting just like the music that it seeks to sell.

Illbliss – “Illygaty: 7057”

IllBliss strips off his aspirational branding to give you a personal view of his face, albeit with a gripping expression that holds you, and engages with your mind. It is simple, yet speaks volumes that only you can decipher.

Lindsey Abudei – “…And The Bass Is Queen”

Elevated music desires elevated album arts, and Lindsey Abudei’s first outing gets the cover it deserves. Simple, symbolic and expressive…

5 Worst Album Covers of 2016

Kiss Daniel – “ New Era”

A great pop album, Kiss Daniel’s album cover is as dull and uninspired as they come. From a bland photo, to wrong choice of colours, this is a poor representation of a man who has provided light and colour into the lives of many Nigerians.

Duncan Mighty – The Certificate

It’s a habit for Duncan Mighty to never bother with album arts, but he plunged a new low with this mess. It’s horrible to see, and does not encourage any nod towards the music.

CDQ – “Quality”

Three Golden Words: It is bad.

Not all album covers are created equal. Some album covers are so incredible that they can’t now be explained by the people who originally conceived of them. While others are the worst, most strange and downright ridiculous album covers ever made.

There is something to be said for a beautiful piece of album artwork, and even in 2016, where the only place many people admire such pieces will be on the screen of their smartphone, a great album cover is always appreciated.

Which is why everything about CDQ’s cover sticks out like such a sore thumb, as one of the worst, and most underwhelming pieces of album art we have seen, and will see in 2016. There are records in here by the singer that will be loved, and there are records in here by artists that we won't love quite so much. But many people will never find out because

The Photo: Overexposed, poorly edited, cropped and looking like a budget shoot, CDQ’s attempt to clean his ‘razz’ and ghetto image on his album art failed spectacularly. Why do we have a mink coat on a Nigerian rapper in 2016? How many Polar Bears gave their life for CDQ to have that rare privilege? Who put together such a shoot to have that image make the final cut?

The Background: If anything beats CDQ’s photo in the ‘wack’ scale, then it has to be the choice of colour on the art. After careful deliberation and years of planning and boardroom meetings, Brown emerged as the best choice for General Records. It beat other high profile candidates including the red, the gloomy black, the tired Purple, and others. We have the Brown, which when applied right, can signify, the color of earth, wood, stone, wholesomeness, reliability, elegance, security, healing, home, grounding, foundations, stability, warmth, and honesty. It is a natural, neutral color that is typically associated with the seasons of fall and winter. The color brown is a warm color that stimulates the appetite.

But CDQ and his team, found a way to make Brown diminish the appetite. The colour separation is amateurish and reeks of the cheapest hand in the business. While the fonts, well, the fonts are better left undiscussed.

Modenine – “Insulin”

Modenine’s latest offering is clocked in an album cover that offers nothing beyond the ordinary. The entire conception is poor, and subtracts from your day and your general love for music.

Solidstar – “W.E.E.D”

This is a classic case of wokeness becoming too woke that it just transcends into distasteful. Soldistar’s album gets a cover that is inexplicable and gripping, but in anegative way. Why did his face crack through with that line of ruination? Why?