In the past decade, Neptune has established himself as a force to be reckon with as a DJ. Not many of his peers can stand up to him, when discussing the sheer number of hits he has churned out as a lead artist featuring stars in guest performances. And now, the third installment of his Greatness series—built on the crux of that mindset—is here.
The opening track, Normal Day is an Afro-Drill fest with some impressive showings and mediocre ones in between. The sentiment on the song seems to be centered around making money and living life on the fast lane, that is synonymous with the life of a superstar. Magnito shines the most on this track, with N6 and Ice Prince bringing the smoke too. Too Much ft. Ajebo Hustlers is also on the Hip-Hop spectrum, but is more geared in the mainstream direction with the Amapiano fusion soundscape. Knowledge’s rapping chops remain consistent on the pop oriented beat, and whilst Piego impresses too—he fails to muster a memorable hook that would go a long way in making the song stick.
This is made even more obvious, because the next track Mumu ft. Joeboy has an elite chorus, which definitely sticks and makes it a decent pop song. However, Joeboy who is renowned for the technicality for his pen keeps it pretty simple when exploring the depths of his love on both verses. Qing Madi on Honest delivers one of the most memorable vocal perfomances of the album, and carries on in the spirit of love from the previous track. Where Joeboy was reveling in the fact that he’s a mumu, Qing Madi is more self aware of how gone she is into the deep end.
In the next two-track sequence of Ouu Lala and Dorime, the vibe of the album shifts into ‘chop life’ territory and momentarily deviates from love. The latter song is one of the stronger highlights on the LP, due to Shoday’s dynamism and his integration of Fuji elements into his delivery. The former song on the other hand, sounds like a tailor made feature for Shallipopi and despite the fact that there are more competent rappers on the track in Savage and Erriga, it doesn’t come off as sublime and enjoyable as they don’t exactly choose the best cadences.
Soundz reminds us why he’s one of the most talented emerging Afropop acts to keep on our radar on Wait On You, with heartfelt writing and contagious melodies. Olivetheboy fails to impress like Soundz, and its mostly down to the production choices not complimenting his R&B style of delivery on ‘Emmanuella. This same forced Amapiano fusion beats that don’t elevate the featured artists persist on Damo (Recognise) ft. Ayanfe, who would have benefited from a street pop pathos. It’s almost like Neptune believes he can just shoehorn any artist onto Amapiano, because it’s the predominant sound of the mainstream.
We head over to Dancehall territory on Tonight ft. Joshua Baraka, who puts in a tight shift with this smooth melodic rapping and patois-suffused accent. However, once again the beats do him no good as it is too minimalistic and not as layered as it could be. L.A.X is more memorable on Body, than some of the forced deliveries from the other guest artists but his hook is chorus is the weakest on the LP, as he repetitively sings “gbola” and undoes almost all the goodwill he has going for him on the album.
The album shines once again, when it leaves it forced Amapiano territory on Shayo ft. Kidd Carder. The title of the song is self explanatory, and Kidd approaches it from the lens of a street pop artist who is making the most of his wins and not necessarily through the POV of a superstar living a sophisticated lifestyle. Bienvenue ft. Ruger is a single that benefits from the album sequencing and one that executes its dancehall fusion better than Tonight does, with better and more layered production.
When the curtain falls on Forever, it ends the LP on somewhat of a high note with a memorable Bayanni verse and a Bruce Melodie’s hook that’s efficient in capturing the essence of timeless love that the title hints at. This album does have its lulls, most of them stemming from a forced Amapiano soundscape on artists whose talents are better suited to other soundscapes. Nevertheless, it has enough bright moments and an overall cohesion that makes it good background music.
