One Day Everything Changed - Wale Oyejide

Few people these days make decisions to step outside the status quo of current affairs in order to "think outside the box/bun/cardboard piece. One of these few is Wale Oyejide. The 24 year old musician serves as both emcee, singer and poet on his second album debut "One Day Everything Changed"(ODEC)b which was given a 4.5/5 rating by URB magazine when it was released last year. Wale's form of music is what I'd like to term a musical 'mulch' comprising of afro-beat, soul, spoken word, hip hop and jazz. He calls it 'broken jazz' and he couldn't be further from the truth.

The album starts off with 'Theme music' a proper introduction into the album. It is then followed by the Jay-Dee (formerly of Slum Village) assisted, "There's a war going on" where he elucidates the state of today's world as an ongoing battle for supremacy between peoples, cultures, mindsets and philosophies. Peep this excerpt:

"I don't give a good god damn about none of these government laws
because when it's said and done I'm going to answer to my God
And they can try to lock me up and they can throw away the key
but when they hear the music bump it's going to set their spirits free
They say because the color of my skin I should be careful how I speak
They tell me not to rock the boat but I say I cannot swim
A lot of things the radio play is just mindless poisoning
So all the way from Naijaland we bring you a new king"

One can easily notice that Wale is heavily influenced by the music of his generation including those of the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, afrobeat maestro and musical genius of Africa. He takes various samples from Fela's albums, Jungle Brothers, Pete Rock, meshed with breaks, chops and vocals (including some of his own) and turns the improvisation into something similar to hot sweet yam porridge.

The album is one of the most cohesive albums I've listened to in a long time. In a day when people always want to have the stereotypical, "club banger", "street anthem," "ladies joint" ODEC comes across as a hot palatable stew full of harmonious goodness. Be sure to check out the ode to a lady, "wasting time with you" where he so simply yet beautifully attests to his lady love about how meaningless time is when he's with her, implying that being with her is more important than counting the seconds flying away.

I could go on and on praising this album but from "James" to "Ibadan Sunrise" to "Kaya" and back to the final song on the disc, "Give it up" Wale never fails to bring his own spin on a genre commercially and underground-ally saturated with stereotypical styles. He also never fails to shoutout N.A.I.J.A our motherland and Africa, something I think we'd all like to hear more and more from our African musicians all over. Wale's style is his own and if the world outside isn't careful, 'broken jazz' may well be on its way to becoming a genre all by itself. Cheers to a new innovator of our time. Don't hesitate to cop this album. Who knows? Maybe when you give this a listen your musical 'everything' collection may change.

Sonic rating: 5/5 akaras