On ‘Life of A King (Aiye Oba)’ Skiibii's frenzied braggadocio shows a need to dig deeper

Skiibii was not exactly born with a silver spoon. After his stint at 5 Star Music, which involved an unfortunate infamy which many might remember, he emerged as one of the standout Nigerian artists of 2019. He had three stellar hits in a year that will be remembered as ground zero, for this phase of ‘Afrobeats to The World.’

While he kept releasing good singles like ‘Big Engine,’ or ‘Are You Vhere,’ he didn’t quite hit the mark till ‘Baddest Boy,’ a midtempo skateboard session through the lens of self-adulation, off his debut EP, God Is Bigger Than Man. A remix of the song became one of the biggest things of early 2022.

As his next act, post the release of the slightly corny ‘Trenches,’ which gleaned a popular social media colloquialism for its hook, he has released his sophomore EP, Life of A King (Aiye Oba). On the cover of the project sits Skiibii as the picture-esque representation of a Yoruba demon, who is also a king.

He is surrounded by a bevy of gorgeous black women, all dressed in fleeting outfits, that are usually synonymous with backup dancers for men of Anikulapo-Kuti heritage. The music seems to mimic that kingly representation, as Skiibii fancies himself an exotic Yoruba king, who possibly deserves exaltation and the good life alone - you are free to read ‘alone’ in all caps.

On ‘Kelele,’ which is by far the best song on this EP, Skiibii presents himself as the object of affection of a ‘City Girl,’ who goes out more, while wearing less. With Afrobeat percussion, Skiibii plays the key to this girl’s desire to “roll with a big guy.” By all indications, this person is Skiibii himself, “a fine guy.”

This tendency remains the central narrative in songs like ‘Bobo’ and ‘Flex,’ two songs which blend the beauty of womanizing and love, when there is money. Skiibii’s sentiments align with the sentiment of Lagos women, which usually goes, “Na money dey make love dey sweet.”

On ‘Bobo,’ he even strokes his own ego by saying, “Bobo dey for you…”

‘Flex’ steps away from the beauty of money and resources as it relates to women. With ill-advised crowd vocals, Skiibii reminds us that he is an “omo ope,” who is a “freshito” and who just wants to - you guessed it right - ‘Flex.’

First off, ‘Kelele’ which remains the best track on this EP suffers from mediocre sound engineering. Such a juicy record deserves better vision as regards mixing and mastering, especially around its hook. The producer had already visibly done his job.

Secondly, while ‘Life of A King’ is a better ‘project experience’ than ‘God Is Not Man,’ it suffers the pitfalls of pandering to trends, mostly to ineffectual results. ‘Bobo,’ which was produced by Niphkeys, seems to pander to the 2021 hit formula, which worked for Mohbad.

Sadly, people need to realize that Niphkeys has more in store than what they are taking off him, and that they are continually doing themselves a disservice.

On the other hand, ‘Flex’ falls victim to the roving cliche of crowd vocals. And frankly, it sounded horrific on this song. Even if ‘Flex’ becomes the greatest hit in the world, it’s not going to stop being a horrific song that should have never seen the light of day.

If you’ve met Skiibii, you will know that he has more in store than he lets on. On this EP, he says a lot while saying nothing. An artist like him has a lot of things to say. If he allows himself to say them on great beats, he could be unstoppable. This regurgitation of the limits of braggadocio is lazy, and frankly, it’s stale for him.

Ratings: /10

• 0-1.9: Flop

• 2.0-3.9: Near fall

• 4.0-5.9: Average

• 6.0-7.9: Victory

• 8.0-10: Champion

Pulse Rating: /10

5.0: Average