Olamide Proves He’s Evergreen on Latest Album, ‘Unruly.’

After touting fans halfway through 2022 with the announcement of no longer releasing full length projects, Nigerian rapper and music mogul Olamide, finally released his 11th solo studio album on the midnight of August 9th, 2023. For someone who has recently been at the forefront of churning out global Afrobeats superstars like Fireboy DML and Asake, it’s surprising he still makes time to make music of his own. Not just any music, but music that is current with the times. It comes as no surprise that, Olamide’s 15-track album quickly rose to number 1 on the Apple Music charts in 6 different countries upon release.

Here’s a track-by-track look at ‘Unruly.’ Let’s get in!

The album kicks of with ‘Celebrate,’ which sees some amazing production from Magicsticks. For some years now, Olamide has been tapping into his singing abilities, seamlessly merging it with his rap skills to always create music that sounds fresh. And that’s exactly what he does on this album opener.
Track 2 seems to take after the opening track, production and content-wise. On ‘Jinja,’ you find Olamide imploring his love interest to allow him spice up her life figuratively like ginger. He explores the metaphoric theme more in the chorus by referencing one of Africa’s finest rappers, Sarkodie.
Track 3 is really poised to be a fan favorite. ‘Problem,’ as it is called, is amapiano-esque in nature. This approach in production I believe, makes it easy on the ears and compelling enough to get one on the dancefloor. The subject matter and lyrics are also easily relatable.
On ‘Gaza,’ vintage Olamide makes an appearance. The bars-ladden, grimey rapper shows up and shows out. If you ever needed a reminder that he still got it, this track is proof.
Next up is ‘Doom,’ where Olamide raps over a queasy high-BPM beat that borrows its production style from the Jersey Club. I’m not really sure what compelled such a song, but I guess it’s one of those situations where an artiste wants to experiment.

‘Trumpet’ served as the first lead single off the album, featuring Ckay. I must say, this is one of those songs that grow on you with time. The Olamide and Ckay linkup surprisingly works.
It appears we are in the thick of a feature run. The next song also features one of the new school acts, Bnxn, who has built a reputation for providing hit hooks. Is ‘Come Alive’ hit worthy? It might be hard to give an affirmative answer, but this definitely has the potential to be a fan favorite along the line.
Talking about “hit worthy” songs, ‘New Religion’ featuring Asake is. Released as the second lead single off the project, it showed what it could do on the charts and airwaves to an extent. The two artistes put their telepathy on display by perfectly complementing each other’s effort.
Wow Fireboy DML! I was familiar with your game, but not to this extent? Incredible display of skill and ability through his feature on ‘Shibebe.’ It’s no wonder he’s given the chance to take over the song for more than halfway through its start.
Hmm, track 10. Words fail me at describing the sweetness of this record. The least said about Rema’s performance on ‘Mukulu’ the better. It appears this guy has a bottomless pit of melodies he reaches into when the need arises. One impressive thing I’ve noticed about Olamide at this point is how he’s able to match up to the featured artistes on their skill level. It brings a sense of balance to each song.

Next up after that insane feature run is ‘Hardcore.’ The track is hardcore in its literal sense as Olamdie goes back to his grimey rap style and risque content.
‘Supplier’ on the other hand threw me off. The Amapiano-esque production would have one thinking its about to be just vibes on vibes, but Olamide decides to bar it out. His cadence is very reminiscent of his early days as well, as he delivers lyrics that a largely streets inspired.
Finally, the last three songs of ‘Life Goes On,’ ‘No Worries’ and ‘Street Jam’ are just Olamide showing that when it comes to rap, you can’t count him out yet.
At this point in his career, Olamide really has nothing to prove, but it’s interesting to observe from his recent offering how he’s still staying hungry almost 12 years after his debut. Additionally, the production and track sequencing on ‘Unruly’ is certain to get its replay value up there. At this point it is Baddo’s World, and we are just happy tenants in it!