Michael Olorunsola: Is Mr. Eazi’s Sound One-Dimensional? Here’s Why his “Life Is Eazi” Mixtape is a Worthy Listen

Artiste: Mr Eazi
Title: Life Is Eazi, Volume 1 – Accra to Lagos
Guests: Tekno, Olamide, Phyno, Big Lean, Medikal, Phyno, Mugeez, DJ Cuppy, Falz,
Record Label: Banku Music (2017)
Duration: 63 minutes
Since his one-man invasion into the music industry just last year, Tosin Ajibade (popularly known as Mr Eazi) has created a solid fan base and garnered an impressive number of features and hit tracks himself as well as a sold out concert in Lagos in December 2016. The icing on the cake was the Next Rated crown he won at the Headies 2016. It is only normal that he should give his fans a project of his own, hence this mixtape, “Life is Eazi, Volume 1: Accra to Lagos” comprising of 11 songs and 3 bonus tracks. The title alludes to his journey through the music industry, first gaining recognition in Ghana before making his way into the Nigerian music circle. The much-awaited project albeit is thematically one-dimensional, with Eazi utilizing Ghana Hiplife tunes for most of the songs. Without much ado, I shall delve into a song-by-song analysis of the mixtape:

Leg Over
This track was released as far back as December in anticipation of the EP. In typical Eazi style, Leg Over compares girlish maneuvers to the popular soccer skill which involves using leg movements to fool your opponent. Eazi comes through with a pretty solid hook and verse to go along with it. Pretty decent start to the EP

Business ft. Mugeez
Mr. Eazi teams up with Mugeez, one half of Ghanaian Hip-Hop group, R2Bees. The song preaches against the interference of third parties in relationships. The song was produced my Killbeatz and both the producer and artistes did  justice to this track. Mugeez’ inclusion in this track is highly justified as he complements Eazi’s brand of cool music.

Tilapia ft. Medikal
Eazi seems to know just who to feature on every track as he teams up with AMG Business rapper, Medikal on this really soulful track. Del B lays down a pretty cool highlife sound on this track and Eazi delivers in usual fashion. Medikal’s delivery on his verse falls seamlessly into tune and makes for a pretty decent track overall

2 People
Eazi teams up with gentle giant, Masterkraft on this track. The chorus and hook makes for pretty good listening but Eazi falters a bit on the first verse but recovers well enough to save the track. Masterkraft’s production is as expected with some cool kicks and keys.

Feelings
As the title implies,  the track really gets you into your feelings. Eazi talks about the dangers of revealing your true feelings as it could have dire consequences. The beat is really soulful, unsurprisingly though as it was produced by YBNL in-house producer, Young John.

Fight ft. DJ Cuppy
Fight talks about misunderstanding between two lovers. DJ Cuppy’s part was just a sampled phone call at the beginning of the song and it lays the tone for Eazi to ease in with his finely tuned vocals promising to fight for love. This is easily on of the best songs on the mixtape and should garner massive airplay.

Accra to Lagos
As expected, the pivotal track in the EP talks about his struggle to stardom. The song is decent enough but one would have expected more depth in the lyrics. It seemed like he was lost on the track for a while but all-in-all, it was a good effort.

Detty Yasef ft. Falz
Detty Yasef is a personal favorite for me. The song talks about the carefree lifestyle of most girls on social media. The hook is the best part with Mr Eazi talking about how “Nowadays, girls wanna have fun”. Falz comes through on the verse in his usual hilarious manner. Eazi sounded at ease with the song and effortlessly flowed between verses.

In The Morning ft. Big Lean
Mr Eazi reminds us again why we love his music so much with this highlife track. The lyrics are deep lying and the instrumentation just makes you wanna get up and move your body. Toronto rapper, Big Lean doesn’t disappoint as well.

Short Skirt ft. Tekno
This song is disappointing not because it is not good enough in it’s right but it was not worth the hype it garnered on the net prior to the release of the EP. Tekno and Eazi are arguably the two trending artistes right now with their various hits after hits. The message in the chorus is quite simple, but the lyrics employed by both artistes in the verses are quite questionable. The production by MaleekBerry, however, is top notch

Life is Eazi ft. Olamide & Phyno
Eazi decided to roll with the big boys on this one. Olamide and Phyno had no problem jumping on this track as it pretty much falls along the line of the kind of music they have both released lately. Eazi himself held his own establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with in the industry. This is definitely a party jam.

Bonus Tracks:

My Baby
Shallow lyrics and dull vocals, little wonder it only makes the cut as a bonus track. Even at that, flashes of Eazi’s brilliance can be noticed in his line delivery.

Right Now
This song follows the same trend of hiplife music. Very good song although Eazi struggled on his vocals a bit at some point. Decent effort.

Kpamurege
Mr Eazi’s delivery on this track is a bit questionable but the lines are quite catchy. The production is also a bit lacking, but it is a bonus track. So,  all that can be forgiven.

With this project, Mr Eazi has announced himself as a force to be reckoned with in the Nigerian music industry and we will definitely be looking forward to the second volume of this project and of course, an album. Apart from the monotonous nature of the mixtape, it is a pretty decent effort for a start, more than most first-timers can manage. With more work, hopefully, Eazi can move from Accra to Lagos to the world.

Rating:    3.5/5