REVIEW: LadiPoe - Providence EP
LadiPoe’s ‘Providence’ is dopamine-deficient, but it could be the best thing to happen to the BET Award nominee.
In English, 'Providence' means, "the timely preparation for future eventualities."
Over the course of LadiPoe's career, he's been touted as the 'next guy' or the one with potential. He had a clean cut image and he would sometimes dress in suits. In the 2010s, Kemi Adetiba told a newspaper that Poe - as he was then known - was her celebrity crush.
He could flow cleanly with the classic mastery of a lyrical assassin like the best of them. But he failed lived up to his billing until recently. After he joined MAVIN, something was different about him: he experimented with his sound and released records with greater urgency and regularity. His appearance also started evolving.
He ditched the jackets and hats for laidback New York or London fashion, and his clean haircut for dreads, despite having admittedly stubborn hair.
ALSO READ: LadiPoe speaks with Pulse [Interview]
A Drill record like ‘Man Already’ set him apart, but his debut album, Talk About Poe was underwhelming - it felt like Poe was caught in a confusing riptide of styles. But subsequent releases like ‘Lemme Know’ and ‘Jaiye’ unlocked a different side to him, and put him on a different path that surprised most people.
As Leader of The Revival, he developed something of a multiple personality disorder to good effect: he would bar out with excellence on ‘Rap Messiah’ and Show Dem Camp cameos. But over the past 18 months, the Nigerian rapper has found a formula for hit records by looking into the past.
As a product of the golden era of Nigerian Hip-Hop, he merges his Hip-Hop background with Pop/R&B hooks for classic Rap/Sung fusion that radio and women love. This was prevalent in Nigeria between 2008 and 2015.
LadiPoe has created accessible rap records like ‘Know You,’ ‘Feeling’ and ‘Running’ around vulnerable and resonant topics like love, romance or triumphant glorification of his journey. The best part: it always feels like he is simply telling his story.
For example ‘Know You’ was inspired by a real-life conversation with the mercurial Simi, 'Feeling' is based on celebratory braggadocio of his recent wins. 'Running' establishes his need to keep going, despite a recent history of wins.
Already, he has produced two of the biggest Nigerian songs over the past 18 months and crowned it with a BET Award. In 2020, Ehis Ohunyon noted that Nigerian Hip-Hop could be headed back to a golden era. If that happens, LadiPoe is likely to be headliner - like Ice Prince in 2010.
A lot of rappers can rap, but most can’t make music. LadiPoe can make music and that would be key to his journey. He has tagged himself as Nigeria’s ‘Rap Messiah,’ and he might be right.
FYI: In 2008, MI Abaga branded himself as Nigeria’s ‘Rap Messiah’ on ‘Safe.’
Providence EP is perfectly-timed. ‘Feeling’ effectively took his reputation from a construction phase to an acceleration phase. The EP is a follow-up to the BET Award nominee's belated debut, Talk About Poe.
Across six tracks and switching genres tied by the uniformity of mellow music - even with the uptempo ‘Running,’ LadiPoe feels like a Nigerianized version of Drake. His topics seemingly come from honest inward ruminations around romance, love, sex, his journey, society and his dreams - with positive declarations.
Sometimes he’s calm and introspective and tells picture-esque stories about love and sex on ‘Law of Attraction.’ One time, he discusses how ditched his family's hopes, for him to become an ambassador, for being a Whiskey brand ambassador on 'Providence.'
Other times, he’s upbeat and braggadocious on ‘Afro Jigga.’ He’s even confident enough to speak ‘Providence’ as his journey nears a castle, even as he keeps ‘Running.’
However, his braggadocio sometimes hits snags. For example, on 'Providence,' he raps that, "Ever since I turned G.O.A.T, I be hating beef..."
But on 'Running,' he raps, "Everybody wan blow, who dey pick the date//God, when will I be the one that they imitate..."
A G.O.A.T can't be worried about producing copycats.
Nonetheless, his technique is pure, alluring and swashbuckling. While LadiPoe’s demeanour seems friendly, his deliveries are gritty. On ‘Afro Jigga,’ Poe flows with sharpness and speed.
Despite his calm demeanour, he shows his teeth and paws, and bites hard with impressive bars and metaphors. On the loaded Rap solo bar-fest, ‘LOTR II,’ Poe addresses his competition, beef and COVID.
At times, it feels like LadiPoe is rapping to prove a point and remind the Hip-Hop community that he’s not totally gone ‘pop’ - whatever that means.
He raps, “I know that it's my year gang/But I'm still that same boy from Ikeja/Tailor-made flow every measure/Megan thee stallion knees/Sexy but built for the pressure…”
Final Thoughts
While the production on ‘Providence EP’ matches LadiPoe’s impressive penmanship on standalone tracks, the EP - as an overall body of work - generally fails to generate satisfaction. Essentially, LadiPoe’s ‘Providence’ is slightly dopamine-deficient. It fails to land a reverberating punch, which could have transported a listener’s experience into otherworldly realms.
Some people will rightly argue that on this EP, LadiPoe’s brand of music is envisioned to be different: a bridge between R&B, Afro-Fusion and introspective raps, away from the shock value of lamba. They would be right, but an album can be exciting regardless of format.
As much as this represents uncharted territory for LadiPoe and it represents a marked difference for a rapper making pop music, something is missing. To this writer, it’s a case of brand representation.
Question: At this time, what does LadiPoe represent?
He’s not too immersed into the pop world to be a totally decadent popstar, replete with the newsworthy headlines and an embrace of female adulation. He is an elite MC, but he didn’t do enough to cement his place pre-TAP and he continues to step away from that space with his continuing string of hits.
Perhaps that’s the brand: an in-betweener, who floats around like Drake.
Perhaps ‘Providence EP’ is just a needed sacrificial lamb, as LadiPoe seeks to truly unlock and establish what that brand represents from a subconscious human perception and sonic perspective, which sets a template and metrics of expectation and judgment, in the mind of listeners and critics.
Right now, ‘Providence EP’ seems like a good project that most people can’t appropriately process because there is seldom any previously established representation, barring that of a dope rapper.
If this 'in-betweener' is the desired brand direction, then it might need to be reinforced with a consistent string of releases to cement it. To this writer, ‘Providence EP’ is not a matter of the present, it’s only an introduction to the new LadiPoe and it underlines an exciting future for him - if he properly wields it.
It smoothly blends different genres, brands of music, flow schemes and emotions into one. LadiPoe is a rapper, an R&B artist, a popstar, loverboy and poet at the same time. He creates relatable music from an ordinarily ‘different’ brand of music for a rapper.
It didn’t hit the required level of excitement this time, but this brand of music could be owned by the MAVIN act, once he perfects it with a consistent string of releases. The time to truly judge LadiPoe might just be on his next project. Hopefully, it’s a full-length LP.
By the way, ‘Providence’ is an amazing record. ‘Law of Attraction’ could be a single, if it gets the right feature on hook-verse duties - perhaps, Gyakie?
That Shawarma line on ‘Providence’ is meh though.
Ratings: /10
• 0-1.9: Flop
• 2.0-3.9: Near fall
• 4.0-5.9: Average
• 6.0-7.9: Victory
• 8.0-10: Champion
Pulse Rating: /10
Total:
6.5 - Victory
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