Song Review M.I - Chairman

Reviewing a song by one of the hip hop greats in Nigerian Music can be an overwhelming task but let's give it a go. Here is what we think about the song production-wise. And if you have not heard the song, you can listen and download here.

Overall rating
We will give this song 8 out of 10 stars. Remember that this is a rating for production and not for likeability, taste, genre or dance potential. It is a beautifully-produced song and meets global standards for song quality. e-Kelly is a great producer and is making a big splash in the production scene; we all remember his unforgettable tracks on Brymo's Son of a Kapenta album. Sheyman did his thing as usual - an impeccable and clean mix.

Percussion
There is no clearly-defined kick drum in most parts of the song and that is a good thing. Combined with an ethnic-sounding percussion sound, the effect is a beat you can dance to but still chill in your house and listen to happily. The beat reminds us of Fimile and Wind for Me by Kas, very heartwarming.

Bassline and strings
The song has a soft bass-line and very nice strings playing throughout. No detuning here though which may be a good thing as our ears are gradually getting worn out with all the detuning of strings used on Naija songs.

Mixing and Mastering
As we earlier noted, the mixing is top-class as you can always expect from the 'King of Melody' himself, Sheyman. One noteworthy positive is the proper use of a de-esser to reduce sibilance in the vocals. Previous Chocolate City vocals seem to have too much sibilance. The vocals sit well in the mix and the different vocal elements are clearly separated and panned in exciting ways.
The mastering is standard with good volume levels and well EQed elements. Stereo separation is good and the song has room to breathe, no over-compression here as we so often see in commercial Naija songs.

Use of effects
The song is not over-flogged with sound or special effects, and this is good. There is a drop effect in the intro part which comes from time-to-time during the song. Beat-stopping to enhance vocals was used at some points. Pitch correction was used moderately at least in the chorus vocals.

Lyrics
Well, this is not technically part of production but we like to review it too. The lyrics, as usual coming from M.I, are on point. May be not so many punchlines as we have come to expect from him. Our best line is: '...these peeps with public toilet swag/they rapping that cheap sh*t'

Any Negatives?
Not really. Chords are a bit repetitive and could have shown more progression.