Timaya’s Upgrade- Different cloak, same swag [Album Review]

 

Album- Upgrade

Producer – Yung D

Record Label- Dem Mama Records

Number of tracks- 14

Year of Release- 2012

Has Timaya changed? This is the question you might ask yourself when listening to his fourth solo album Upgrade. The music warrior from the creeks of the South-South has ‘upgraded’ his sound, trading in K-Solo’s ‘tinkolo’ beats for Yung D’s Euro-pop influenced instrumentals, although on his third album De Rebirth he also employed the services of various producers. The relatively new producer is the sole beat maker behind Upgrade. The one-producer format has worked well for Timaya over the years, and on his new LP, it’s no different.

The album’s singles ‘Sexy Ladies’ and ‘Bom Bom’ reveal the album’s stylistic leanings – ghetto and lewd chants over Euro-Pop beats. Timaya’s brother-in-arms in terms of sparse lyrics, Terry G, makes an appearance on ‘Malonogede’-a gospel-influenced track dedicated to ‘enemies.’ Timaya goes for the lewd on ‘Go Down Low’ where he chants ‘fun mi doggy/fun mi doggy…baby girl do the dutty/make me want to ejaculating’ while ‘Bobby’ is a party track whose hook is targeted at women’s mammary assets.

One of Timaya’s finest moments on Upgrade can be heard on ‘I am sorry’ in which The Egberi Papa 1 of Bayelsa opens up and admits that he has done his girl wrong. ‘Girl I’ve not been good to you/I’ve been rude to you/disrespecting you-not been true to you/girl I’ve been cheating on you/ doing bad things to you…Ohhhhhhh girl, I’ve been messing up lately I know’ sings Timaya on Yung D’s Reggae instrumentation. Another shot at another love song ‘Love and friend’ goes awry.

Ever the controversial act, Timaya has on the album a song called ‘Illuminati’. Instead of creating a dark song with weird sounds and demonic chants, Timaya crafts a bouncy song that addresses the rumour that his wealth is from the notorious occult group which has permeated pop culture within the last few years.

The album has its share of duds. ‘I have it’, ‘Club on fire’ and ‘Good life’ featuring Vector weigh the project down. ‘Good life’ with a forgettable chorus and cheesy rhymes (my money smelly smelly/I’m cruising my Bentley/my girlfriend hot like she fight like Jet Li) is unfortunately the LP’s closer. Fortunately, Timaya adds the remix of ‘All the way’ featuring Attitude which bolsters Upgrade.

As the saying goes, ‘The more things change, the more they remain the same’- Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr.

On this LP it is evident that while Timaya has upgraded his sound, his content is still the same. This is not a total overhaul. If True Story, Gift and Grace and De Rebirth ran on Timaya Version 1.0, Upgrade runs on Timaya Version 1.5 instead of 2.0. The artiste tweaks a few things here and there but still leaves some bugs in his system.