Davido – A Good Time Album Review by Wale Applause

Davido – A Good Time Album Review by Wale Applause

Coming from the same young man who delivered O.B.O about 7 years ago an album with hit song like O.B.O, No Visa, Overseas, Video (my best Davido song till date), A GOOD TIME is parade of how far Davido has come over time. It tells a story of how much he has grown as a person and an all-round artiste.

Breaking into the international scene can be a very tricky scenario, in the sense that you owe it to your primary fan base to always deliver your generic sound likewise carry your new-found fan base along. This is a complex fusion between traditional and global sound.
Makes the thin line between creativity and stupidity very blurry.

As the fanbase gets bigger, artistes have a challenge of satisfying the existing fan base, pleasing the new fans also attracting newer fans into the fold.
Musically, on this project Davido has been able to justify and satisfy everyone on all sides of the divide.

It has been a very eventful 7 years for Davido who has grown from being that young boy touring radio stations to get his Hit song O.B.O played to signing and terminating international management and record deals, online and offline scandals, fatherhood (3 times), this young man has been through a lot.

Let it also be said that during this period, he has somewhat dimed his own light so that others may shine. He has introduced several artistes, producers and young personalities to the world via his DMW platform.
Not only did he introduce these people, he made it a point of duty to see them grow into men in their own rights.

Man went from being a King to an Emperor, one that sure came at a cost, financially, physically and mentally.

Acts like Mayorkun, Yonda, Peruzzi, Dremo are attestations to how much he has shown that we indeed rise by lifting others. Producers like Kiddominant, Shizzi, Speroach Beatz have gained prominence over the years from been unnoticed to household names in the Nigeria and global music scene. Not many labels can boast of this strong lineup of artists and producers.

In 7 years, there are not many words to describe how much he changed the Nigeria music scene in general.
A long index of artistes, most recently Lyta who was going through a tough time can testify to his benevolence.

Not one of his DMW crew has been left out as he made sure everyone grew as a unit. From car to Jewelry to Clothes, he makes sure the goodness of his heart goes round.

This is one man who in my opinion deserves more praise than he gets, I also think contrary to public opinion, here is a young man who is quite humble for what and who he really is.

The album A good time indeed tells a story from the artwork.

The beauty of the art cannot be overemphasized. Credit to the graphics artist not just for the work of art, but for the idea behind it. The art tells the story of Davido‘s growth while showcasing almost everyone who has been part of his journey in the past 7 years.

To think that his Dear friend DJ Olu of blessed memory was never forgotten and appeared as his guardian angel on the album cover tell a lot about how dear to his heart, he holds everyone who had been a part of his journey.

Production credit was also given to everyone who was part of the project. This is an act you don’t see very often in the music scene. It took a while for  producers to get their rightfully deserved credit.

On this project everyone who deserves a credit got it.

A good time is a body of work on which Davido again introduces us to the world of songwriters, which you will find out as you read along.

Another thing that should be acknowledged is sticking to his working team.
It is a known fact that when artists get bigger they seek greener pastures with other management, but here is a man who has stuck with his old friend turn brother Asa Asika. Though they fell out for a bit, glad that it did not take too long for him to realize that they both need each other.

Let us have a quick evaluation of each track back to back.

INTRO
Many years ago, the boy Davido kicked off his debut Album with All of you, fast forward to 2019, the young man Davido invites us into his world with a brief story about a few of the things he has been through over time, giving glory to God and also addressing the political situation in Nigeria. What else would you call growth?

Written by Abayomi ‘Yonda’ Adeniran, Ayoola ‘Kiddominant’ Agboola and the big man David ‘Davido’ Adeleke himself.

The track was produced by Kiddominant one who never disappoints. You can hear Yonda’s adlibs somewhere which adds to the beauty of this piece. The confidence on this one is different.

1 MILLI
The first line of this song is something I will like to say to Mama G every morning when I wake up next to her every morning.

When it comes to giving people their deserved credit, David doesn’t come short at all. Joining forces with Adekunle ‘Adekunle Gold’ Kosoko in writing this classic, this song is golden and Davido did not even try to take that away from Adekunle Gold. Best believe me you will be very lucky to have Davido sing this at your wedding, one chance on luck I am willing to take.

CHECK AM
Davido who is not a jew, teams up with Oloruntosin ‘Teekay Witty’ on this one Produced by Teekay Witty.

Davido builds momentum with this quite solemn jam. Another love song which deserves a video. Someone tell me another way to go about an album track listing, I will wait. My advice, CHECK AM!

DISTURBANCE
I have always been a big fan of Peruzzi. One act who is obviously underrated. Sometimes being overwhelmingly talented comes at a cost, one Burna Boy had to pay. Hopefully Peruzzi can do that too, so he eventually gets his deserved dues.

This song has Peruzzi written all over it, but carefully and meticulously Davido made it his own. This shows that he has become comfortable with his voice and sings on his preferred key and finds the right progression to suit him irrespective of the songwriter’s voice pitch. This will soon become a disturbance on radio stations worldwide.

IF
Other than reminding you that this monster was produced by Tekno, I doubt if at this time Davido wants to answer any questions or say anything as regards this one. Song is already a global anthem. WE MOVE!

D&G
This is where Davido employs the services of the newly crowned soul train best artiste of the year Summer ‘Majini’ Walker. She has been enjoying airplay globally, this must have played a part in his choice. Co-written by Kiddominant, Sindisiwe ‘Lasauce’ Magoso Tolulope Agboola and produced by Kiddominant.

This song will not only satisfy Davido‘s fanbase, but also draw the attention of the world and Summer Walker’s fans to him.

GET TO YOU
On this one, Davido gives full credit to the song writers Kelvin Johnson, Richard ‘P2J’ Isong who also doubles as the producer. He takes no credit at all for writing input in this song. Honestly, you don’t come across that every day in the African music scene. Davido has a good understanding of his new and existing fanbase. I can tell he made this for the world but be sure Naija will not carry last on this too.

RISKY
I am again tempted not to write anything about this song which has already sold itself to the world. Co-written by Andrae ‘Popcaan’ Sutherland and Peruzzi, produced by Speroach Beatz, this is already a fan favourite. It is risky for any Dj to host a party without slamming this one several times.

SWEET IN THE MIDDLE
This is where you give credit to his A&R team. On a 17-track album, you put a song with title ‘sweet in the middle’ right in the middle. As obvious as that might seem, that’s a genius call to make. It could have been overlooked. Teaming up with Azeez ‘Naira Marley’ Fashola, Omoniyi Temidayo ‘Zlatan Ibile’ Raphael, Sadiq ‘Wurld’ Onifade. Produced by Oluwaseyi Onifade.

Davido gave us a quite different Naira Marley, at least this time not too explicit. Zlatan Ibile did a Zlatan on this one. He obviously knows how best to collaborate with A listers.

Wurld will most likely go down as an unsung hero on this song. He gave it a different touch. As much as you want to Zanku straight away from the track list, Wurld gives you a reason to fall back to your soft legwork without stress.
On a lighter mood, who would have thought Zlatan Ibile goes by the name Raphael. Talk about round pizza split into triangles in a square box.

FALL
Written by Davido and Kiddominant who also doubles as the producer. Nothing to say. Absolutely nothing!

GREEN LIGHT RIDDIM
For those who do not know and for those who know but have chosen to ignore, Davido shows the world how much of a songwriter Adeboye ‘Shaydee’ Folarin is. Also, with writing credit is Boash Charles Ifeanyi. This one is for the summer. At that time, this jam will be better understood. Song is produced by Oluwaseyi ‘Shizzi’ Akerele.

BIG PICTURE
Song writers of this beautiful piece are Artist ‘A boogie wit da hoodie’ Dubose (Real name Artist), Raymond ‘Dremo’ Aboriomoh Femi (Dremo is indeed a Femi if you know you know), Sergio ‘Gunna’ Kitchens Giavanni.

Everyone came through, but Dremo’s wordplay on this one is top notch as usual. Don’t stress yourself if you are not a big Davido fan, this is for the core fans and the global market. Produced by Raymond ‘Ray Keys’.

ONE THING
‘Wetin instablog wan talk again’ this is one line that got my attention from the album pre-release. If you have followed Davido over the years, you will understand his relationship with the popular Instagram page instablog. Produced and co written by Kiddominant, this is another song to show that A good time is a body of work that generally talks about what the C.Ronaldo of African music has been through in the past 7 years. I personally love the mellow. ‘Wetin instablog wan talk again’ will soon become a slang, I called it in first.

ASSURANCE
Produced by Speroach Beatz. This is that love song not every man dare sing. Lol!

BLOW MY MIND
Say what you want, I think Chris Brown is the most talented individual on the face of the planet. To get such talent on a well-coordinated song and a superb video should ideally cost an arm and a leg, but according to Davido, he did not spend a dime to get this done.

If you ask me, making a song that the most talented human on earth will jump on is a lot of work. This is a world anthem already and I must think this collaboration led to Low waist, another collaborative effort by both artistes on Chris Brown Indigo remix album. Kiddo! Kiddo!! Kiddominant!!!

COMPANY
Written in company of Abayomi ‘Yonda’ Adeniran and produced by Vstix, this is just a showcase of the chemistry between Yonda and Baddest. Just a calm way of almost signing out still having a good time.

ANIMASHAUN
Written and performed by both Davido and Yonda, this furthermore enacts the fact that the synergy between them both is blooming. Produced by Emmanuel ‘Fresh’ Bello, Davido signs off with this one. I just hope he did not lose a couple teeth with the very indigenous yoruba he infused in this one.

This has been a worthy 1 hour of good music.

Just like any body of work, be sure this will take some time to grow on you. More especially because this is a fusion of different sounds recorded at different places at different times on different journeys to different destination.

This is more or less a book of many stories.

If you ask how long it took me to come up with this break down, it took me an entire night of listening back to back to this body of work, maybe I am right, maybe I am wrong these represent my personal views and opinion about the man of the moment Davido and the project A good time.

Having been in and around the media, music and music business for over a decade and also blessed to have the gifts of big music ears and use of words, written almost a century of album and song reviews, this is one I really appreciate you for reading up until this point.

Thank you!