Can Asake attain the "Holy Trinity" with upcoming album 'Lungu Boy'
The YBNL-Empire buzzing artiste in an attempt to achieve a trifecta victory, is about to release his fourth project and third album in the span of three years.
Nigerian ace singer and performer, Ahmed Ololade, popularly known as Asake, has announced his third studio album, and the frenzy of another project by the Neo-fuji act has instantly taken the air.
Asake, who was signed by Nigerian ace rapper Olamide in 2022, immediately set the ball rolling with a self-named EP 'Ololade,' after which he followed with his debut album 'Mr. Money With The Vibe' later in the same year. Just like the early days of his label boss, Asake has gone on to release projects every year since signing, with another studio album scheduled for release this Friday, August 9, 2024, which features heavyweights like Nigeria's Wizkid, American rapper Travis Scott, British's Stormzy, and Brazilian singer-songwriter Ludmilla on the 15-track project.
What is this "holy trinity" talk about?
Holy trinity being a Christian belief that prophesies the unity of God the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit conceptualises equality, stating that the three heads of the Trinity come from a single source. As an allusion to this concept, the "holy trinity" in this article allude to a creative work being of the same spectrum or quality even though created in differently.
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Like many greats who have not just shown consistency but consistency in quality as regards churning out albums, Asake, having released two exciting albums, is on the verge of achieving the "holy trinity," or what many might know as a three-peat or trifecta.
Citing other fields, Real Madrid achieved a "holy trinity" by becoming the first club in modern football to win three consecutive UEFA Champions League titles: 2015/16, 2016/17, and 2017/18. Lionel Messi with his Ballon d'Or run in 2009, 2010, 2011, Larry Bird with his NBA MVP run from 1983-1986, Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Amateur with his 1994, 95, 96 run, amidst others. All of these greats have shown excellence by doing it not just once or twice but propelling themselves into the hall of fame of the greats by doing it three times in a row.
For an artiste to achieve a "holy trinity," the released albums have not only to be of quality in terms of themes, cohesion, delivery, and a lot of other technical qualities, but also have to be commercially successful and accepted by the public.
To give context, some of the Nigerian artistes that have achieved a trifecta include P-Square with their albums 'Get Squared (2005)', 'Game Over (2007)', and 'Danger (2009)'. Olamide with 'YBNL (2012)', 'Baddest Guy Ever Liveth (2013)', and 'Street OT (2014)'. Burna Boy with 'Outside (2018)', 'African Giant (2019)', and 'Twice as Tall (2020)'.
Brymo with 'Oso (2018)', 'Yellow (2020)', and 'Esan (2021)'. ShowDemCamp with 'Palmwine Music 1 (2017)', 'Palmwine Music 2 (2018)' & 'Clone Wars IV: "These Buhari Times" (2019)'. Kizz Daniel with 'New Era (2016)', 'No Bad Songs (2018)', and 'King of Love (2020)'. Falz with 'Stories that Touch (2015)', 'Chemistry (2016)', and '27 (2017)'. M.I. Abaga with 'Talk About It (2009)', 'MI 2: The Movie (2010)', and 'The Chairman (2014)'. 2baba with 'Face 2 Face (2004)', 'Grass to Grace (2006)', and 'The Unstoppable (2009)'. Reminisce with 'Alaga Ibile (2013)', 'Baba Hafusa (2015)', and 'El Hadj (2016)'. Other artistes like Fela, Lagbaja, Sunny Ade, and a slew of others have also achieved this feat.
Asake's Album performance so far
After watering the floor with a 4-track EP 'Ololade' which was an introductory project for a wider audience that saw a fresh neo-fuji yet urban Asake with introspective songs like 'Trabaye' and 'Baba God' and smash tunes like 'Sungba' and 'Omo Ope', Asake went on a spree of smash songs, arguably one of the greatest run the modern Nigerian scene has ever seen (2019 Naira Marley in mind). An insane run of 'Omo Ope', 'Sungba', 'Sungba '(Remix)', Bandana, Joha, Organize 'Palazzo', and 'Peace Be Unto You', 'Terminator', which gave the world an impressive solo run that saw him bag the sought-after number one on Nigeria's Apple music chart with six records—the highest a Nigerian artiste has ever achieved.
Making his presence known with this insane run already, the YBNL act cemented his stay in the hearts of people with his debut album 'Mr. Money With The Vibe' released in August 2022. The debut, which was an instant favourite due to the appealing singles that had been dropped off the project already garnered momentum, and continue on that path. The album debuted #1 on streaming charts across Nigeria as well as #66 on the Billboard 200. Although many might argue that 'MMWTV' was largely a compilation of smash tunes, it still had exciting mid-tempo gems like 'Dull, 'Nzaza', 'Ototo' etc., which brought balance to the project, showing the artist's versatility. The singer eventually went on tour with the album, selling out the 02 Academy Brixton Arena consecutively for three days.
READ ALSO - Fans react to Wizkid, Stormzy & Travis Scott being featured on Asake's 'Lungu Boy' album
On June 15, 2023, Asake followed with his sophomore album 'Work of Art,' a 14-track highly cohesive album. Taking a different approach from the previous year and project, the fans didn't get to enjoy a lot of lead singles before the album. The singer dropped an African folk-inspired 'Yoga' that initially got mixed reactions due to how foreign it might have been to the "energectic" Asake brand. '2:30' & 'Amapiano', which featured label boss Olamide, followed to easily track back to the familiar brand.
However, on the album 'Work of Art', as Asake penned on the 6th track 'Basquait," the singer made it known that indeed he is a "walking poetry" and "a work of art." Unlike 'MMWTV', which was heavily hit-based, 'WOA' sees a much freer, experimental, and intentional Asake who has had a lot of time to reflect and shake off pressure.
On this sophomore album, he dictated the flow of music at his own will, and it made it a more cohesive and quality album than his debut album. Documenting the hand of God on his life in the intro 'Olorun,' to the optimism of the sun shining on everything we do on 'Sunshine,' to the infectious 'I believe' themed on breakthrough, to the soul-stirring love tune 'Remember' and the commercially successful 'Lonely at the Top'. The album was the perfect sophomore that showed confidence, comfort, and growth as a creator. Asake went on to tour the world with this album, including selling out the iconic 20,000-capacity 02 Arena in the United Kingdom.
What does the future hold?
Having secured two successful albums in the bag, post-WOA has been filled with features; his appearances on Sarz's 'Happiness', Ayra Starr's 'Goodbye', Tems' 'Get it Right', Victony's 'Stubborn', Olamide's 'Uptown Disco', and Ashidapo's 'Brother' have all been very impressive, with the Tems and Olamde feature being the least lauded.
Asake opened his 'Lungu Boy' page with an amapiano-infused pop tune collab with British ace rapper Central Cee and is set to close the page with a trifecta in his career.
Of course, the 29-year-old has shown consistency over the years and has equally shown qualities that allude towards achieving this remarkable feat, but only his performance on the upcoming project will either achieve or mar this attempt.
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