If you are familiar with Remykid, you might be used to his smooth flow and chill vibe that is almost too easy to get hooked on. You’ll also be happy to know that his new album, ‘Made In London’, is absolutely no exception to the style that we’ve come to know and love from this UK-based Nigerian singer/rapper. What you can expect from this 13-track record is Remykid’s signature mixture of UK hip hop, bashment, and afrobeat, with a couple mid-album surprises that see influences from grime and gangsta rap as well. The result? Almost 40 minutes of smooth, hand-clappin’, toe-tappin’, songs that you could easily hear at your favourite club and that will make you wanna grab somebody and do a slow wind grind. In fact, if after listening to this album, you don’t have at least one of the tracks stuck in your head for the rest of the day, I’ll be surprised.
The most notable quality of this album is the production value of the entire release. Remykid is consistently amazing when it comes to selecting instrumentals, matching themes to these instrumentals, keeping his flow steady, having his tracks mixed and mastered with quality engineering, and wowing a listener with the final product. Whether it be a slower, silkier jam like ‘MIL,’ a harder track such as ‘Hit Man,’ or a deeper, softer song, like ‘Boo & Bae,’ Remykid’s ear for production is clearly flawless. Even better? He does it all with out including too many effects. Many artists in the urban genres seem to have taken to overproducing their vocals to the point where it actually takes away from the quality of each individual song. However, this isn’t Remykid. While the occasional bit of autotune is clearly recognizable, he simply lets his talent shine through and allows it to speak for itself.
Another area where Remykid is very consistent is in his lyrical composition. He tends to use a simpler style paired with repetition to make sure listeners get each and every single song stuck in their head at least once, and it works! There is, however, such thing as too much repetition and while it doesn’t happen often for Remykid, Made in London did suffer from that affliction just a little bit with the track ‘Dark Shade.’ One thing I would like to see from Remykid, in future releases, is a show of his writing talents. Simplicity can be great, but overuse of that particular framework could potentially make fans feel like he has only one arrow in his quiver. ‘Hit Man,’ particularly, puts Remykid’s stylistic diversity on display and I think it would benefit him greatly to show more of that ability in future records.
While Made in London is a solid album, the area it seemed to fall short in the most was content.
Out of the 13 songs present on the record, a vast majority seemed to be centered around love, sex, or chasing women. While there were occasional breaks in that theme with tracks like ‘Dark Shade’ and ‘Hit Man,’ he is absolutely capable of being more diverse in his themes and I believe a wider variety of lyrical content would be well received by his fanbase, as well as serve to bring new fans into the fold. Despite the repetitious content, Remykid was able to keep the record from becoming tiresome by mixing genres. While songs such as ‘Made in London’ and ‘Friendly With Her’ kept to a slower tempo, other tracks such as ‘Yes’ and ‘Boo & Bae’ turned up the tempo and this change made sure that Remykid kept the listener’s attention all the way through.
While there isn’t a scoring category for features listed in the rating scale, the additional artists that Remykid featured on Made in London deserve a shoutout, as they all brought a little something special to the album. Weez, particularly, was a breath of fresh air, bringing lyrical talent and a beautifully contrasting timbre to Remykid’s deep baritone. Additionally, Prommix, Favour Balance, Whiteflavour OD, and DJ Wapsam were incredible contributors, enhancing the quality of the album with their own flavours and talents.
Ultimately, Made in London is another high-quality record from Remykid. While there are areas for improvement, if you are looking for an album that will have you singing along while you nod your head to the rhythm, this is one for you! Grab yourself a copy and try not to sleep on this up-and-coming superstar.
‘Made In London’ is available now via all major platforms.
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