All of rapper’s albums and mixtapes ranked in order of brilliance

Another day finds Pulse Music having the benefit of listening to another body of work by M.I. The rapper who spent four years between albums “M.I 2” (2010) and “The Chairman” (2014).

Having first gained prominence in 2006 after his song ‘Crowd Mentality’ became popular, the rapper has a stellar three solo albums, one compilation album, and 3 mixtapes.

They include

Albums

2008 – “Talk About It”

2010 – “M.I 2”

2014 – “The Chairman”

2015 – “The Indestructible Choc Boi Nation”

Mixtapes

Illegal Music (2009, mixtape)

Illegal Music 2 (2012, mixtape)

Illegal Music 3: The Finale (2016, mixtape)

1. ILLEGAL MUSIC 2 (2012, Mixtape)

Released in 2012, the mixtape contained features from Phenom, Tonii, Loose Kaynon, Yemi Alade, Ruby Gyang, Funbi, Pope, Shaydee, Maytronomy and many others who were all relatively unknown.

IM2 is still regarded as M.I’s best work to date, with major songs such as ‘7 days’, ‘Lost’, ‘6ft, 7ft’, and ‘Do I move you’.

2. TALK ABOUT IT (2008)

M.I teamed with up Jesse Jagz – his brother, and successfully delivered what very well was an album so excellently put together and ahead of its time that it left many fans scared to put it down in case it was a good dream that would be lost.

This captured the essence of MI’s being without the use of big-name producers at the time,  for sure hits (with the exception of the Kraft-assisted “Fast Money Fast cars”).

“Talk About It” possessed outstanding timeless tracks ‘Anoti’, ‘Area’, ‘Teaser’, ‘Hustle’, Safe, and ‘Short Black Boy’.

The massive acceptance for M.I’s debut album, coupled with his introduction of other equally talented acts, had the rapper tagged as revolutionary as Nigerians quickly ascribed him an upcoming legend status.

3. ILLEGAL MUSIC (2009, Mixtape)

The first of M.I’s mixtape, this was before the internet had become Nigeria’s choice music disseminating channel. Many Hip-hop listeners got this tape as an insert in Magazines.

14 track long, a young unproven M.I Abaga pulled off some experimenting on this joint with singing and rapping on non-Hip-hop-ey beats.

With no features except for Pherowshuz, M.I pulled off samples from Jay Z, Lil Wayne, Dorothy Moore, Lenny Williams, and many more.

This was M.I’s lyricism at its most purest form, and a slect group of Hip-hop fans still believe that this is the first true mixtape Nigeria modern music had to learn from.

4. M.I 2 (2010)

Never in the history of Naija rap scene had an album ever been as anticipated as MI’s sophomore album “M.I 2”.

MI’s ascendancy in the Hip-hop was established, from his critically acclaimed debut album “Talk About It” to his groundbreaking “Illegal Music” mixtape, M.I had simply taken the rap scene by storm and ever since he had not looked back. With guest appearances spanning various genres, it is easy to understand why Mr Incredible’s stock had risen so quickly and why he was one of the most sought after rappers in Nigeria.

There is a limit to which one can live on past glory, so it was just a matter of time before MI tried to make a second impression and after starring in the rise of his Chocolate City imprint, MI finally delivers “MI2 the Movie”.

With a cast that includes Flavour, Julius Ceasar, 2face Idibia, Waje, Timaya, and his Choc Boyz crew, MI‘s feature presentation was a blockbuster.

4. THE CHAIRMAN (2014)

Critics, bloggers, and some fans (myself inclusive) had started tagging M.I as a 'has been' after failing to drop an album in four years. The abominable 'King James' didn't help M.I's ratings.

It truly looked for the short black boy who re-wrote Nigerian rap history in 2008 that his days were numbered. But since art mirrors life, I guess it is safe to say "actor no dey die" as M.I defied odds and produces a comeback album of sterling quality.

17 tracks long, The Chairman is based on the concept of opposites (poor/rich, desire/fulfillment, brotherly love/betrayal, zero/hero), accompanied with a haunting hum at the beginning and at the end of the album.

5. ILLEGAL MUSIC 3: The Finale (2016, Mixtape)

IM3 marks the third mixtape by the respected rapper after his previous efforts “Illegal Music 1” (2009), and “Illegal Music 2” (2012). There’s also another mixtape planned for release this year titled “Yung Denzel”.

Dubbed ‘The Finale’, Jude Abaga has over the past 4 months been on the ILM 3 tape, working with teasers, bold statements and discussions which has given him considerable press. Earlier this month, he upped the ante, honing the promotion to content, and releasing the single ‘Everything I have seen’. That single was followed with a new video for a new song ‘Phase 2’.

More teasers, a tracklist modelled after Kanye West’s unusual tracklist release for new album “The Life Of Pablo”, and more commentary on social media has given the mixtape life as he released it.

IM3 contains an even 10 tracks, with samples on every joint. IM3 contains samples from 18 different sources including interviews with former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, songs from Kanye West, Jay Z and Pusha T, with far-fetched sources Nina Simone, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and and Greg Hardy.

Production on the album was almost exclusively handled by M.I, with two tracks co-produced by in-house music man Ckay. Mixing of the album fell mostly on the laps of G-Plus, with M.I Abaga throwing in a few contributions.

M.I dug into his record label for features, with Ruby Gyang, Pryse and Ckay getting spots on the mixtape. Other rappers Poe and Khaligraphy Jones got guest spots too, with the most surprising collaboration coming from Rock singer, Clay. The singer had featured with M.I Abaga in a 2013 song, 'Impress you', produced by Coldflames. Three years later she does an encore on IM3.