Too bad fun doesn’t translate to “not meh.” Another fun, and perhaps the most poppy song on the album is “Some Kind of Way,” which features an electronic pop beat, autotuned vocals, poppy, positive lyrics, and sounds better live. “Trampoline” showcases the “fun” Jidenna is having on this album. An R&B-inspired chorus that just contains the phrase “white niggas,” in this case, just did not sound good. The political charged song “White Niggas” showcases Jidenna’s great lyricism while also showcasing how forgettable the actual music can be on this album. To bad some of the album tracks aren’t this good. It’s a nice touch and fits the African atmosphere Jidenna loves to incorporate. This character, who I believe is an African member of Jidenna’s family, comes in and out during the tracklisting to share wisdom to Jidenna. Along with the album, this song also introduces a recurring character. This song features pounding tribal drums and background vocals that really put the listener in the world Jidenna is painting. “A Bull’s Tale” talks about Jidenna going back to Nigeria to bury his recently deceased father, and is actually one of the most entertaining and weird tracks Jidenna has released. Such include: “Trampoline,” “Bully of the Earth,” “White Niggas,” and “Adaora.” But, let’s stop talking around this album and start discussing some tracks. Similarly to “the Let Out,” this album’s non-singles started to grow on me, but I have to be realistic and conclude that I most likely will not go back a listen to some of these tracks. What could leave me disappointed are the album tracks, and some really do do. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Well, Dominic, because you hyped this album up so much, anything less than a masterpiece would have left you disappointed.” And to that, you’re kind of right, and to counter, if you’re going to release fourteen, 8.5/10 at worst, quality songs, I am going to expect a stellar album and not surprisingly, all of my standout tracks from this album were released before. To give Jidenna credit, “2 Points” was also a Vevo Lift performance (then entitled “98 Points”) and he managed not to absolutely ruin it with a watered down studio version.īut I am actually glad that these tracks were watered down and included on this album, because it really shows how disappointing this album is. I would suggest “Helicopters – Live (Vevo Lift)” and “Some Kind of Way – Live (Vevo Lift).” Jidenna managed to take two songs with so much energy and power when performed live and turn the latter into a boring, autotuned mess and take all the life out of the former, while also adding a track which could have been okay on its own if it wasn’t for the “Helicopters” portion leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Take out both “Helicopters/Beware” and “Some Kind of Way,” and replace them with two great songs he released before. Here are two ways to make this album better. Going into the album, Jidenna created a sentence to describe what he wanted the album to feel like, and it was: “A sacred, romantic, magic carpet ride, driven by the African James Bond, but powered by Tesla.” Opinions The original title of the album was rumored to be “Long Live the Chief,” the same name as his second single and the sixth track on this album. He finished out the year of 2015 with releasing the singles: “Long Live the Chief,” “Knickers,” and “Extraordinaire,” causing the rumors of a debut album. Roman GianArthur),” which was featured on the EP: Wondaland Presents: The Eephus along with a remix that featured Kendrick Lamar.įrom the Classic Man release onward, Jidenna has officially and unofficially released twelve songs, eight of which appear on his debut album The Chief. With the signing came his debut and breakout single entitled “Classic Man” (feat. After graduating from Stanford in 2008 Jidenna worked full-time as a teacher and part-time as a musician before signing to Janelle Monáe Wondaland label in 2015. Born Jidenna Theodore Mobisson to American and Nigerian parents Tama and Oliver Mobisson, 31 year old Jidenna is an American biracial rapper who’s been trying to carve out a career in music since the early 2000s.