South-East London Afro-Grime artist Afrikan Boy is no newcomer to the music scene. Although The ABCD marks his first official album, he has been an artist with a cult following since he shared the genius and now notorious ‘One Day I Went To Lidl’ in 2006. In the years following his first musical appearance he has continued to learn his trade,featuring on M.I.A.’s track ‘Hussel’ from her 2007 album Kala and performed sets at various festivals including Reading & Leeds and LoveBox. Now comes the highly anticipated debut album from someone who can be considered one of the most unique artists in the UK currently and it does not disappoint with varying genres scattered throughout providing a host of outstanding tracks.
The album opens at a blistering pace with the grimey ‘Y.A.M.’ which stands for Young, Ambitious and Motivated. Showcasing Afrikan Boy’s ability to drift seamlessly between his London and African personae, the track draws clear influences from his London surroundings with the electro synth-heavy beat very much representing the sound of the area in which he resides. ‘Grab Your Bottles’ is another ferociously paced track that features a cow-bell heavy beat with more drums than a Russian oil rig, but this time the cow-bell based beat is fused into a grime-influenced offering, further supported by fiery and impressively rapid lyrics from Birmingham MC Lady Leshurr.
‘Border Business’, which features a repeating bassline and hypnotic steel guitars and vocals on the chorus, sees Afrikan Boy present a different, more stripped down side to his sound than that other tracks and with lyrics such as “I don’t buy Gucci/me I wear Gucki/yeah it’s got the letter K but f*** it that’s the real me” he maintains the humour that his lyrics have become well known for. ‘Show Me Your Leader’, which also features Adio West, is the first time we see electric guitars used, as opposed to the more electro based instrumentation that the album offers and they provide the perfect background riff to a track which acts as a revolutionary song, of sorts, with the controversial lyrics “Who the hell’s David Cameron/I’ll slap his face while the camera’s on”.
The differing sounds that feature on The ABCD continue with ‘Hit Em Up’ which documents “the rise of Captain Africa” with infectious horns and cowbells throughout over a very dance friendly beat before ‘Lets Get on Down’ presents us the first afrobeats track of the album. Another horn and cow bell-heavy track, it sees Afrikan Boy try his hand at some singing with accompaniment from singer/songwriter Nneka and blends the traditional and contemporary elements of the afrobeats sound sweetly.
With a vocal feature from Dehinde on the hook, ‘Take You There’, which could easily be a successful single considering the current success that the genre is enjoying, continues with the afrobeats sound and is a huge club-ready dancefloor hit-in-waiting with a toe-tapping beat that makes it impossible to sit still whilst listening.‘Mr Kunta Kinte’ follows along the same blueprint and is another dance-friendly afrobeats track with the infectious, chanting “Kunta Kinte” chorus sure to have you repeating it in your head long after the track has finished.
‘M.I.A’, which Afrikan Boy uses as an acronym for Made In Africa, is a chilled mid-album track that provides a brief reprieve from the more upbeat offerings on The ABCD. With lyrics like “I beg, make your pilgrimage to your distant relatives/I know where Peckham is but I don’t know where my Grandma lives” and the chorus of “Made in Africa, Born in the UK”, it is clear that Afrikan Boy is a strong believer in embracing his roots and culture and this comes across throughout the album as the musical crossover between African and British contemporary elements dominates the entire sound of the record.
‘Spell it with a K’ slows the pace of the album down with a staccato trumpet riff and hip-hop beat and documents the history of Afrikan Boy, from his early ‘Lidl’ days right up to his current success, even reminding people how to search for him online with the closing repetition, “For those who don’t know/how you gonna search my name/I spell it with a K/spell it with a k”. ‘Dear Mama (Going For Gold)’ continues down the hip-hop route with a deep bassy beat and a hook, courtesy of the talented Seye, that adds an additional element of quality to this triumphant and anthemic track that was released as one of the singles prior to the album launch.
Afrikan Boy is an artist who doesn’t conform to musical formalities and is an inspiring figure in a scene that can become clogged with replicas. Pioneering his Afro-Grime genre, he has never been a musician who was happy to sound, act or even dress like the rest of the crowd and that is what makes his whole artistic persona so enticing. The ABCD is an excellent representation of not only the musical journey that Afrikan Boy has been on since he first emerged seven years ago, but also of the journey he has been on throughout his life. Honest, passionate and humorous throughout, The ABCD is an album that will take you on a journey and with an upcoming headline show in London on the near horizon, it doesn’t look as though this journey will be ending anytime soon for South-East London’s best kept secret.
Matt Tarr
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