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Divine Ekubor better known as Rema is a 21 year old Nigerian Afrobeat sensation who shook the game up with his self titled debut project “Rema” and its lead single Dumebi. Between getting on Barrack Obama’s playlist and crossing streaming milestones in record time, it was obvious from day one that the young man was a superstar.
After dropping smash singles back to back for three years straight, I don’t know where I found the guts to think that his album would be anything short of a classic. As soon as I woke up this morning, I took a walk to listen to the project (benefits of being on leave from work…normally by now I for dey traffic dey go work).
The project opens with “Divine” where we find the young artist relaying the tale of his birth and the effects of the death of his father and brother on him over a beautiful sonically pleasing beat.
It is followed by “Hold Me” which features American singer 6lack, Rema and 6lack had previously collaborated on a song with Tion Wayne so it wasn’t surprising to find their sounds fusing so effortlessly, track 6 however which featured Chris brown was a shocker as Chris held his own and performed beautifully well on the song making it seem like he had been making Afro beats for a long time…which he has.
The project also features some songs which the artist had previously released as singles, including Calm down,Soundgasm and F.Y.N. Making the entire project a pleasurable journey into the world of Rema.
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The production on the project is flawless, with producers like London, Kel P vibes and Andre vibes (all Benin city boys), perfectly understanding the artists sound and creating beats that acknowledge his core sound and accentuate his versatility as an artist on songs like “Addicted”.
The sound engineering is perfect as well with clear crisp vocals perfectly leveled to enable the listener enjoy every element that makes up the masterpieces, this is thanks to Dj Swivel who handled the mixing and mastering of the project.
On of my favorite songs on the album “Are you there” has the artist addressing people’s criticisms of his music’s subject matter which is usually woman, the artist points out that he has often used his social media to call out the government and even cut off his dreads during to protest police brutality. He calls out the president’s mismanagement of the country and its funds whilst flawlessly switching back to his normal topic.
My personal favorites on the project include Calm down, Are you there and F.Y.N because the sample and production used by Kel P is absolutely genius and AJ tracey’s verse is very classy.
I recommend this project to anyone interested in just vibing and having a good time, it is a happy/party vibe album and it will not disappoint if you play it for the vibes and bangers.
If you are however looking for deep lyrical content and life lessons I suggest you go and look for Johnny Drille or Ladipoe’s album…Rema brought bangers.
