Kurrious shows massive improvement on new single, Marathon’

It was a follow-up to ‘Addicted,’ which was released 11 months earlier. The song felt like a throwback to 2010 Olamide, and something straight out of legendary Nigerian music producer, ID Cabasa’s hard drive by way of sonics, lyrics and the style of its hook. And it had very reduced substance with the tiring repetitiveness of “I’m so addicted to your love…”

Okay, we’d heard you, you are addicted.

But ‘Marathon’ is an improvement. It ties straight into the burgeoning Afro-Adura scape of things.

You might ask, ‘What is Afro-Adura?’

Well, it could be defined as a reflective, often morose storytelling subset of Nigerian mainstream Street-Hop. Themes are often characterised by reflections on upbringing, references to the artist’s mother as a figure of love, aspiration and dreams of making it big. Most of these artists who represent this movement are often from the lower echelons of Nigerian society, where most families live below $5 per day.

Typically, ‘Marathon’ has a lot more depth. Even the production it sits on represents a massive improvement on ‘Addicted.’ Opening with piano chords that feel like a soundtrack to a scene where a protagonist loses a loved one in a tragic movie, it didn’t surprise this writer when the song coasts on themes of aspiration, dreams and aggressive proclamations of an intent to make it big by any means necessary.

On the song, Kurrious singles, “We go run marathon, marathon for this race o, anything for the paper, anything for the mulla…”

“Paper” and “mulla” mean money.

Its title, ‘Marathon’, is a metaphor for the artist’s intentions - to run tirelessly and have staying power in his pursuit of success, where he intends to do anything to succeed.

Although the sound engineering of the song could be better, an attentive listener could still feel a near-poetic sadness in the artist’s voice as he delivers his manifesto to success.

But one thing is scary about the post-chorus. Kurrious sings, “I’m chasing the paper faster, I’m chasing that owo kia kia…”

“Owo” is Yoruba for money. “Kia kia” is a Nigerian colloquialism for ‘fast’ or ‘faster.’ With these inflexions, one could get worried that the artist’s desire is for fast money; morality might be in question. In a society like Nigeria’s, morality is often a sensitive topic. Especially as the artist had already declared an intention to do anything necessary.

But if a listener pays enough attention, Bryno’s verse brings much-needed clarification and moderation. He sings about some level of caution and inputs some spirituality, which probably speaks to caution.

For Kurrious’ verse, the artist specifically references God by saying, “Oluwa cover me…”

“Oluwa” is Yoruba for God. This underlines the artist’s understanding of the potential perils on the way to success, which he doesn’t intend to be a part of. The song feels cut from depressive frustration in the chase for success, as well as a resoluteness and robustness, in the face of detraction, while still placing God inside the chase.

The production feels rooted in Nigerian traditional Folk and Afro-Pop percussion, while the shakers enhance the traditional feel.

Nonetheless, sonically, the song could have probably been done without Bryno’s verse. His enunciation and clarity suffer, and this listener laboured to hear his lyrics. This probably speaks of the overall sound engineering of the song, which could have been better.

Sound engineering is where vision comes alive, and where post-production enhances a listener’s experience and does not take from it.

But this writer must embrace caution as Kurrious was an upcoming artist with limited funds, who did the best he could with what he had. This leads to a third critique; the hook was probably four bars too long, and it takes away from a listener’s experience.

Nonetheless, Kurrious can celebrate his improvement on this record, which bodes well for his future.