THE CUTS: EP 03 VOL. 17
THE CUTS bring to readers each week music or albums that are worth listening or having in your playlist. The music is not genre and/or region specific. Once it is good, it will be covered here.
Amaarae – Fluid
Amaarae lived up to her word. She has released her visual for ‘’Fluid’’ exactly a week after her interview with culartblog, in which she promised to drop the video the following week (Thursday 7th June). ‘’Fluid’’, a single off her highly impressive ‘’Passionfruit Summers’’ EP is the first video, off many others to be released by her. The video opens with Amaarae’s head floating in water, her yellow dyed hair complimenting the yellow sunflower petals floating next to her head.
For the entire duration of the video, we watch Amaarae’s facial expressions-dragging out her tongue, coy smiles, transfixed face- with occasional shots of her hands and legs. At the end of the video, she drowns herself into the bathtub she had been lying in all this while. The Fotombo shot video combines playfulness, attractive colour blends and basic aesthetics in creating a video that’s not only different- from the ‘norm’ –in terms of scope but carries a refreshing, alluring and inviting; leaving the watcher hitting the replay button few times more
Trip Nie feat Dadi & Xtacy – Used To Be
Trip Nie takes a trip (pun) down the memory lane; reminiscing over his past relationships and reflecting over his current situation on ‘Used To Be’. Over this hard hitting hip hop beat from KOTB, Trip Nie describes how he keeps ignoring the calls of his ex (who has a man). He goes further to detail the ‘good times’ with the ex before the derailment. Trip Nie discloses on the first few lines of the verse that ‘a young king has a queen now/ you had your cake and you ate it quick/you were the illest but now you make me sick’. The song is a tease piece to his ex- like you left but I’m having the best time of my life with my new girl. ‘’Used To Be’’ features Dadi & Xtacy who added a pint of soul to the hook and encapsulated the feeling of betrayal on the closing verse respectively. Trip Nie has been on the underrated list for a while. I feel like it’s his time for him to blow up.
YN The Afropikin feat Adraxx – Run Run
https://soundcloud.com/yaw-nnamdi/run-run-prod-by-adraxx
YN The Afropikin and Adraxx take a step into the realm of traditional afrobeat on their new collaborative effort ‘’Run Run’’, a song that highlights the importance of keeping hope alive and the need to not give up. ‘Everyday just be test, Everyday just dey stress me’ he sings, pointing out the need to run towards your ambitions. Immersed in heavy drum pattern, the slow burning tune is not made for a dancing listenership. Describing himself as an afro-fusionist, YN (Yaw Nnamdi) borrows from both his Ghanaian and Nigerian heritage in his songs. ‘Run Run’ features Adraxx, a producer whom YN had known from his University of Ghana days. The two met at the Mensah Sarbah Hall in 2012, and had maintained a close relationship since.
Speaking on how the song came about, Adraxx indicates in the accompanying mail: ‘’He heard it (the beat) and texted me and was like he wanted me to make something for him. This was a real test for me because it was going to be something totally different. I almost didn’t but he actually convinced me to. Since I don’t live in Accra, I wasn’t actually going to be there with him so I made him send me a couple of voice notes and I started playing around with my midi keyboard. I sent him the initial, we had a beautiful conversation around the music and some other stuff as well and this is what we created’’.
Banke – Mirror
https://soundcloud.com/bankemusic/mirror
Akindejoye Shalom Oluwabanke, known as Banke, is an upcoming singer, pianist, guitarist and flutist. A graduate of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University where she studied music, she brings out the various elements of her training and talent on her new song ‘’Mirror’’, a fusion of mid-tempo afropop and trap sentiments. ‘Mirror’ broaches the topic of personal contentment as the lyrics point out: ‘you can’t love someone else just because you like the way they look’.
Delivered in a story form, she takes advice from her mirror on the wall –similar to the Snow White tale: She flips the second verse, this time describing an encounter with a man and ending up taking in some of his ‘uncool’ behaviours along the way. What’s interesting with mirrors is the infusion of trap beat at the end of each verse; handing the tune a traditional and hip character. Banke’s soulful voice is as enticing as a singing voice should be. Produced by DuktorrSett ((Efe BBN’s resident producer), ”Mirror” is a strong outing by Banke.
