1. M.I – Human Being
First of all when you hear the intro of this song, it will have your attention. It is super hard not to want to hear what’s coming after that intro.
“I’m at the bottom of the sea, I must stay down down. I don’t know where’s the boat we’ll take tonight to cross this route”
The message in the song was pretty heavy yet simple. It’s human nature to judge from the outside, its easy to talk criticize what you see, believing your eyes are functioning right and they cant deceive you but most times, there is more to what meets the eye. We are all human beings going through the same struggles. With great power comes greater responsibility, meaning the higher you go, the complex the problems you tend to face. Either way we all face one problem or the other.
He talked about people wishing they had other people’s lives thinking they have it easy without knowing their story. That you see someone in a flashy car doesn’t mean they are not crying inside it with the tinted windows hiding the pain and the tears. He went further by specifying that amidst the Range Rovers, and the flashy looks, all that glitters is not gold as many of these people are actually going through real life ordeals, ordeals even money cant solve. Many of them are just trying to “meet demands” he said. You have no choice but to to keep up with the high esteem people have held you to.
“Sometimes you might see me looking dope, but there’s nothing in my bank account the boy is broke. Just tryna meet demands i swear its hard to cope”
“And yeah i bought myself a nicer car, cos how you arrive man that’s the price you are”
“Instagram putting pressure on a dude, everybody is balling now should i get into it. Would they be disappointed when they look at you?”
Just a simple song of ‘You gotta hear both sides’ for you to be able criticize. The negative comments become very solid destructive criticism at the end and it does a lot more harm than good in the long run. Nobody is perfect. Big ups to 2face and Sound Sultan for blessing the track. Another masterpiece from M.I that can’t be forgotten anytime soon.
2. M.I – Crowd Mentality
“Crowd Mentality,” One of the most powerful song Released by Nigerian rapper M.I from his debut album “Talk About It”
From there, things only get more sarcastic as he scathingly advises, “All black people put your mind on your shelf / It’s okay to be poor, be needy / Better yet, steal, kill for more, be greedy / Everybody get miseducated / Be lazy, fat, stupid with your mind sedated.”
The percussion-heavy beat with its Neptunes style tongue pops is much less abrasive, but the tongue-in-cheek hook is unrelenting in blasting the herd instinct, commanding, among other things, “When I say sit, everybody in the place stand.”
As brutal and sweeping as M.I. is in his critiques on this song, it doesn’t become overkill because he spends most of the rest of the album cultivating a more upbeat image. This might be because of the sparkling production from his brother Jesse Jagz, who merges world pop elements with dance able drums and hip hop style to create a lush musical backdrop for M.I.’s vocals.
3. M.I – Unstoppbale
This one song i think even M.I fans might have slept on, you know why? because he didn’t shoot a video for this evergreen tune. If you do not love rap music, you’ll like the story he’s telling here. One thing we love in the society is the “rags to riches” story, we love it. Unstoppable is a story telling song from how he got denied at the US Embassy, his first studio session, how chocolate city came about, the role his brother “Jesse Jagz” played in his music career. If need something to motivate you, when you’re close to giving up on your dream don’t hesitate to play this. The best rap songs are very relatable and this is one of them.
“All i had was a dream”
4. M.I Abaga – Undisputed
“Undisputed” is a self-explanatory strong track from his album MI2. The intro on this track grabs your attention from the start. It’s like something from a movie, there’s something about it that makes you want to know where it’s headed and it leads smoothly into the song as MI introduces himself into the track.
MI is really expressive on this track as you can create a mental picture which is consistent with the message being conveyed in the lyrics just from the sound of his voice. His vocals are rich and consistent throughout the track. There is an originality that is MI as he flows incredibly well proclaiming himself “Undisputed” pretty much taking jabs at any other Nigerian rapper out there; dropping a couple punchlines here and there. The beat on this track is solid and the rhythm grabs you and carries you along throughout the song, the only thing with me for this song is that the end always takes me by surprise for whatever reason I can never tell when it’s ending.
Overall the production on this track is solid; the performance quality is high throughout, both vocally and instrumentally. MI delivered no doubt. This is a track that you can replay over and over again!
5. M.I – Money
One of the best songs M.I Abaga ever wrote. Told a great story, a sympathetic idea of the humblest of beginnings with real struggles. Rap has a brag factor to it naturally as everyone wants to rap about the Bentleys, the women, the clothes, the gold chains, the shows, 90% of which are not real; they can only dream of it. And for the most part, they rap about these things to an audience where the average human being lives under a dollar a day. But this song is a powerful, moving piece that not only Nigerians can relate to but every human being that has ever experienced what it meant to hit rock bottom or start from ground zero. A song about the struggles of an average Nigerian at home.
“I will look at my friends and get that itch, to scratch that cash, to look that flash”
“Sometimes for christmas, there wasn’t a wish list, there wasn’t a chicken, there wasn’t no rice, we didn’t have money for feeds it wasn’t funny, a couples Gs but still we couldn’t pay that price“
He also touched the struggles of Nigerians in the diaspora. Many people believe you leave Nigeria into a foreign country and its all good from there. Far from the truth, there are a lot of folks struggling just as much outside of the country.
“And my brother be writing, letters and emails. Telling me about school and all em females, telling me about this lovely girl he met, he sure he loves her tho he hasn’t kissed her yet. And P.S, things to send bro, i need that new P.S, or new nintendo. Then i would get off of the call, with a pen in my palm like what could i write to make him understand“
Overall, its a song you can just relate to. A deep song with true meaning. Definitely one of his best ever.