Mr Eazi – Evil Genius Album Review: Static But Graceful Masterpiece

For Mr Eazi Evil Genius album review, we examine the superbness of the project. Nearly a decade later, Mr Eazi, born Ajibade Oluwatosin, still cascades an insurmountable influence both as a musician and a smart business mogul. His talk less, do more mantra has seemingly made him a cultural icon in the eyes of the youth. His cultural contributions to the Afrobeats climate are as evident in the careers of the stars that he has knighted over the years, his savoury appetite for crossing uncharted sonic borders (circa- 2019’s J.Balvin and Bad Bunny’s ‘Como Un Bebe‘), and his hush-toned recommendations in influential spaces. 

Mr Eazi possesses an intrepid character, but he appears calm. Due to this lowkey personality, the Nigerian singer often isn’t the quintessential paparazzi magnet. However, he manages to appear in the tabloid for a bunch of reasons, one of which includes his steaming power couple extravaganza with his socialite wife, Temi Otedola. 

The seasoned music artist and business mogul refers to his latest and, surprisingly, debut LP body of work, ‘Evil Genius’, as a ‘Masterpiece’. Perhaps Eazi’s claim holds water when one truly considers the unconventional route by which he chose to make his debut album. 

For his debut, Mr Eazi commissioned a total of sixteen artworks from thirteen different African artists. In a CNN article, Eazi talked about how he had borrowed the minds and hands of talented visual artists from countries such as Benin, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Cameroon, and Senegal to help bring his idea to life. His idea entailed a never-done-before rollout: for each song on the album, there is an accompanying visual artistic piece. Eazi’s grand thesis is that the collage would depict his artistic intentions in a way that art when fused, can.

In the lengthy read, he went on to talk about how he had previously misconceived fine art and its patrons, demystifying it as “bougie” until recently, when he gave room for a paradigm shift due to a piece that had resonated with him. Eazi now prides himself on being a middleman of some sort: “I just saw the art and it spoke to me. Bringing these two worlds together is introducing art to people like myself who thought art was for bougie people “, he said in the CNN article.  

With a changed perspective that includes an extravaganza for “Fine Arts 101”, one begins to ponder excitingly if Eazi’s usual sonic approach would metamorphose into something as refreshing as his conceptual mind frame for the oeuvre. However, with ‘Evil Genius’, Eazi remains static yet graceful.

Graceful with his vulnerability, which sometimes camouflaged into abhorrent narcissism. Such is seen in the record starter, ‘Oluwa Jo’ where he seemingly feels insecure and lonely with the company he keeps, while equally appearing to gaslight the responses of his friends towards his consequential actions, “My friends tell me say I don change because I no dey pick their calls, some vex for me because I unfollow dem for Instagram”. However, the silver lining depicted from Eazi’s outburst is his honest reflection of what it means to be a human being, weaknesses and all. His desperate plea to God in the song, further peels deep into the subject of vulnerability.

“First they love you then they stab you” are the revolting words of Mr.Eazi on the M.O.G Beatz heavily produced ‘Advice’. Here, he hints at betrayal while calling the bluff of naysayers with an invigorated flow that quickly transcends to a brag “I get money wey go buy their dreams.”

An uncanny sequence from heavy 808s to Afro-shimmers makes leeway for the Angelique Kidjo-assisted ‘Orokoro’. The legendary Beninese-French singer-songwriter is phenomenal as usual on the lengthy three-minute track. All the while, Mr.Eazi is well, Mr.Eazi, as he switches from pidgin to Yoruba to English, maintaining a rhythmic frenzy. 

‘In Chop Time No Friend’, Mr. Eazi’s stab is aimed at hedonistic flenjor. He is aware of the essence of time and living in the moment, and he urges his listeners to do the same. 

He extends this hedonism to the Kel-P-produced ‘Notorious’, where the tempo takes a relapse and provides a smooth nuance to the song. Eazi enjoys himself on the record—nothing too deep, just pure self-appreciation and “Kpalansh”.

The sensual ‘Panadol’ is a PG-rated kind of vulgar but sees Eazi fully out of his shell. The next record ‘Jamboree’ featuring Tekno accentuates the aforementioned, as both singers cruise over a pon pon style beat that never goes weary in showcasing the freestyle nature of Afrobeats.

In summary, Mr. Eazi curates the sixteen-track body of work in a fashion that goes from deep introspection to high-spiritedness, back to a bit of introspection before climaxing with the quintessential high-spirited curtain fall ‘Exit’ feat the soulful Soweto Gospel Choir.