Album Review | Ice Prince – Fire Of Zamani

FIRE OF ZAMANI
ICE PRINCE
RECORD LABEL: CHOCOLATE CITY
YEAR: 2013
IcePrince is the most sellable Nigerian rapper at the
moment. The only person that can wear an Agbada with
sneakers and still look super dapper. The best rapper in
Africa considering the recent BET Awards as the Best
International Act: Africa. After the success of his first
Album Everybody Loves IcePrince, he has consistently
dropped hit singles and collaborated with other
musicians. At a time when fellow Chocolate City artistes
are dropping off the record label, he has maintained a
good relationship with his label and has focused on his
music career.
IcePrince is an outstanding artiste but this review is not
about his life, past or awards but about the collection of
songs titled FIRE OF ZAMANI. Enter the Fire of Zamani,
Ice Prince’ sophomore Album:
Stars & Lights: A soulful and inspirational way to start
the album is Ice talking about the journey so far, his
struggles and hustle. He gives props to his crew and
most importantly MI. Ruby did very well to make the
hook and the song enjoyable. /if there has ever been a
rap this fly, it had to be done by an M.I’s guy/
Aboki is one of the most important tracks on this Album
and yet it is clear that iceprince sang all through without
necessarily dropping rap bars. The beat is groovy and it’s
a heavy party track. With repetitive lyrics, he mentions
many rich Hausas as his ‘guys’.
My Life sounds more like a live performance by a band
in a local joint. Iceprince delivers the chorus cold and it
has more singing than rapping. He talks about his life in
bits and pieces without any particular direction.
Mercy has a lot of repetitive keys and it starts to get
boring till Chip a British rapper resuscitates the song
with his rap verse. The chorus is a stereotype dancehall
hook
Another Sammy Gyang production, a story based song
but the big question mark on this song is: Why feature
Sunny Neji on a song if he won’t sing the chorus for you?
Maybe to achieve a surprise effect, I guess its different
strokes for different folks. On the overall, Whiskey is a
good song.
The N-Word song sounds like a Rick-Ross song though it
was produced by Ace producer Don-Jazzy. Considering
it’s a hardcore rap song, this track comes off as an irony
from a producer who thinks that the Rap Genre still has
a long way to go. Ice Prince came hard on this one. To
appreciate the rhymes in this song, one should omit the
N-word at the end of each line . Pretty Impressive. /We
don dey gather all the Cheese N****, Big Shots chilling
Overseas N****. Fast Whips automatic keys N****, So
when we drive by e dey be like breeze N****/
Jambo is a spirit lifting song, a bit groovy and fun. A
Chopstix production with a catch word: Jambo. Jambo is
not well defined and it leaves inquisitive minds
wondering what the true meaning of Jambo is, but when
you think of it, the mystery is a positive. Enjoyable song.
No die Tomorrow has a reggae beat with political
activism content in the lyrics. This song shows political
side of Ice Prince. It’s a bit awkward coming from a
commercial African rapper, but that doesn’t mean he
cant speak his mind right? Just doesn’t sound believable
for some reason. /2015 na him be the question, my
people dey anticipate who go be the next one, afterall we
no say dem go rig election/
Gimme dat is a dancehall hit enjoying play on most
radio stations across the continent , it features some of
the best new acts. Burnaboy serenades the song with his
signature voice, Young L comes through with Jamaica
styled lyrics and Olamide delivers his verses in his local
Yoruba tongue.
Komotion is yet another Dancehall Reggae fusion this
time featuring Wizkid. If you love dancehall then this will
be your favorite track. IcePrince and Wizkid prove they
can do music that is not the stereotype naija styled
music.
I Swear is the most anticipated song on this album
having featured French Montana an A-list international
act on Maybach Music Group and Badboy records. Ice
Prince did a good job on this dance-hall track,
unfortunately we cant say the same for French Montana.
Person wey sabi is a harmonic tune and a typical African
song with drums and trumpets. A groovy and celebratory
song, it will pass for a highlife song that puts you in a
happy mood. The kind of song that you don’t even want
to know what the lyrics are about.
Kpako is one of the strongest songs on this album
featuring his old time friends M.I. and Jesse Jagz. Even
though they were not all present in the studio and
recorded the songs independently because of busy
schedules and logistics it wasn’t clear that there was no
chemistry or bonding between the artistes. Jesse jagz
came out tops on this one.
Pray initially starts up like filler on the album. If not for
the fact that Sound Sultan was featured and he added a
little spice on the track then it would have been another
boring song on this album.
More is a reggae infused melodic tune that gets everyone
singing along. Here Ice Prince raps excellently like he
was in a battle when actually it is supposed to be a love
song. Rhymes, punch lines and metaphors characterize
his rap. The newer fine-tuned version makes it an
excellent song. / It’s too much bomb and hate that kinda
complicates. Its too much dropping around and now u
talking out of state/
On my Knees is a Gospel like song featuring Jeremiah
Gyang with African drums. The Plateau state citizens
ended the Fire of Zamani Project by thanking God. The
song does well to take those who grew up in Plateau
state down memory ran.
Fire of Zamani is an anti-climax coming from a Nigerian
artiste like Ice Prince who has an outstanding debut
album. On some tracks he comes out exceptional on his
vocals but on other tracks his voice comes out flat like he
is not putting in enough effort. One would be tempted
say this was a rushed project. Sometimes he strays off
from the theme of a song in pursuit of Punch lines.
However, for an album with about 5 hit singles it is safe
to say it is a good project, but falls below the hype With
international collaborations and recognition, Fire of
Zamani marks the beginning of a new era for Ice Prince.
He is saddled with the responsibility of representing
Nigeria and Africa in general. We can only wait for the
future to unfold what comes next for him.