AYAT and M.anifest serve another street anthem ‘KUDI’
On his song ‘MadCity/O Lord’, AYAT did shout out M.anifest ‘that nigga M.anifest from my city’. The city referred to is Madina.
The thought of having these two on a song was on many people’s minds. The concern, however, had to do with when. Fortunately, the two ‘Madina boys’ have teamed up on a potential street anthem, ‘KUDI’.
Since returning from the United States, AYAT has been busy: performing on various stages and killing it everytime. ‘KUDI’ is the first major release for him this year, and drafting M.anifest on it was the best move.
Produced by Magnom (who produced DODO off the ZAMANI EP), KUDI carries an afro trap vibe-an infectious, head bopping bounce pattered by a single piano chord. KUDI is a hausa word for money. The two rappers took turns to speak on the positives of having it. AYAT revealed his mindset when it came to money: ‘woke up this morning/ thoughts of money fills my mind’ (in hausa).
M.anifest, on the other hand laid bare the often hard road indie artistes walk: ‘we pay for videos/we pay for studio/ blowing our savings/ oh it hurts’. M.anifest describes the structure-less music industry as a ‘fable’, before dropping a gem of advice, which also goes to other artistes on the come-up: ‘AYAT, your style be 24 carat/ be sure they pay up/ before you show up’. Words from a wiseman.
‘KUDI’ can be said to be the 2.0 version of DAWA-the mellow, enchanting interlude off his ZAMANI EP (song was also about chasing that money). This time, KUDI was more up-tempo and energetic in tone.
https://soundcloud.com/ayatmaq/kudi
