It’s been about three weeks since Asake dropped his debut album, “Mr. Money With The Vibe” and the numbers are in: debuting at no. 66 on BillBoard’s Top 200, a record eight entries in the top ten of Turntable’s Nigeria Top 100, and a domination of the top 12 of Apple music Nigeria’s Top 100. It doesn’t seem like something we’ve seen before, but for Asake, he carries it like it’s been a long time coming.
Beyond the numbers, Asake has marked his place in not just street hop but mainstream Nigerian music, with an impressive eight month run of number one songs, in which he’s set Afrobeats trends, such as his infallible commandeering of Amapiano.
In 2019 when ‘Mr. Money’ blew up, Asake was somewhat unremarkable; another regular street-hop song that got some mainstream buzz. The follow-up single, ‘Yan Yan,’ showed the talent, but it wasn’t enough to break him through the underground chasm.
More than two years later, and “Artist of The Year” is within reach for Asake, just seven months after a debut body of work and an Olamide co-sign. There are very few stamps of an afrobeats artist’s talent, like a feature from one of the industry’s biggest acts and an undeniable A&R, Olamide. Better still, when it comes along with getting signed to the label that has played a key role in defining modern afrobeats, YBNL.
While for the mainstream, Asake’s story begins with ‘Omo Ope,’ an aptly titled single meaning “child of grace,” his story goes back to a long line of artists from street hop to Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and fuji. On ‘Sungba’ off his debut EP, Asake sings, “I just blow but omo me I know my set,” a statement to being a star since his university days at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife.
Anyone within OAU between 2015 – 2017 would tell you about ‘Joha.’ and how along with its dance step had the entire campus in a chokehold.
While Asake’s domination has been meteoric, it is one that has drawn comparison, most recently with 9ice’s, and the ever constant Naira Marley. A comparison that shows Asake’s rise can be traced to a line of street hop artists that have dominated mainstream music. Asake is one in a line of artists that have blended traditional sounds with modern pop rhythms.
And for each street hop artist that has had a stellar run from 9ice’s 2009 sweep at the Headies to Naira Marley’s 2019 cultural reset, one thing is definite; a personal blend of mainstream pop sounds with traditional Yoruba sounds inspired by Islam and the C&S movement. A personal blend that’s easily replicable but loses its originality once done. It’s not the pon pon sound of 2017 or the amapiano wave of 2021, it’s a sound that loses its appeal once replicated.
For Asake, his unique sound is a combination of the things that make modern Yoruba culture: fuji of parties and garage, the Islamic chants of call to prayer, the C&S drum pattern, and crowd vocals, all blended with amapiano. Of all this, Asake is arguably single-handedly responsible for the rise of crowd vocals in afrobeats, replacing the call and response singing style.
But Asake’s star power is more than just his music, his music videos, powered by TG Omori, become moments in their own right. For ‘Sungba,’ the Asake lookalikes and his confidence automatically standout. On ‘PBUY’, the Islamic mat swinging clerics are a delight. On ‘Terminator’, the switch from Benin royalty to pop star is mesmerizing. Even on ‘Bandana,’ a feature, he steals the shine from Fireboy DML with his defining smirk becoming an instant meme.
With three months left in 2022, the window for another run as impressive as Asake’s, is technically closed. While Burna Boy might have the most commercially successful album internationally and Omah Lay an arguably better album, they both pale in comparison to Asake’s debut album home chart success. While Asake might also not have a strong contender for song of the year, it is only due to him constantly upending himself with back to back hit songs.
And while it is unprecedented for a break out star to be nominated for the artist of the year, Asake’s 2022 run has been tradition breaking; defying being a one hit wonder, holding the mainstream in a chokehold with the same template despite shorter attention spans, and an absolute domination of Afrobeat charts. In 2022, no one comes close to Asake.
