Wizkid the king of suspense? A Made In Lagos Review.

Wizkid’s the uncrowned king of suspense in the Nigerian industry, After years of starving his fans, supporters, and well-wishers, and intentionally keeping them all in the dark with undue suspense, as he’s been postponing the release date of MIL for a good number of years.

Wizkid brought his A-game in MIL, his growth over the years can be intuitively perceived on every single track, as a 30-year-old man with 3 kids, who’s in an idyllic, happy, relaxed, lovely, and stress-free state of mind; it’s only right for it all to reflect in his fourth body of work­­­-he’s even got a track titled “No Stress” to crown it all.

He didn’t fail to show off his heavy Jamaican influences over the years and he featured two Jamaicans to further iterate his love for Reggae.

Made In Lagos is a testament to the fact that Wizkid is indeed grown and sexy; that growth is apparent in his fashion-sense, his demeanor, his sound, and in every other area since his last project “Soundman Vol 1” which was released unannounced last year to the wide acclaim of THE Wizkid FC and the entire music industry.

Wizkid is greatly blessed and he knows it, even beyond the music, as someone with a tonne of deals and endorsements, spanning across fashion with Dolce and Gabbana, Nike, and just recently with Puma (MIL got sneakers from Puma to celebrate the project’s release), Banking with UBA ( an endorsement speculated to be about a billion naira), Vodka with Ciroc, FMCG with Pepsico, Telecoms with Tecno, Glo, among many other deals, he’s one of the most endorsed and celebrated African artists of all time. What’s special, and mindboggling is his deep gratitude for his abundant blessings, and how he attributes them all to the grace of GOD in his life. Wizkid, beyond the lights and reckless talk, is a spiritual, thoughtful, and attentive person, in every sense.

The album starts on a very high-energy note, Lagos type of vibe with “Reckless” as he sings about haters pray on his downfall, but he’s a born winner, regardless. And how his cup runneth over from his showers of blessings he stays up at night to count. He reflects how “I no dey give a man more than what he deserves cause they still dey bite the hand wey they feed em”- his disagreement with the smash hit

“Soco” producer — northboi readily comes to mind. He relishes how he’s the center of attention, especially with ladies; “no be my fault say the girl no wan free me now”, “girls em never give me bad energy”, “everybody dance for me, everybody asking for me”

The Burna boy assisted track “Ginger” is a quintessential tune to get hyped up from, with Burna going all in with his always “gingered” energy; a reason he’s the best person to work with on the record — “if you want make I ginger, give me the cocoroo” delivering his vocals eccentrically, as always and he had to be cut off the record for, perhaps going beyond what was expected of him. “ you know my style I can see the future, I no be Babalawo I just be singer…”

Wizkid sings about rubbing his lovers’ body as a lotion, while metaphorically comparing her to fine wine “like fine wine, you sweet when you whine that”, he goes “I be making money living reckless”; I feel that line belongs on “Reckless” for obvious reasons.

Skepta came through One hundred percent on the Sarz produced “Longtime” which easily passes as a “bad energy 2” the chemistry on a Wiz and Skepta collaboration is one for the books, we need more of them.

Skepta raps fluidly about a girl he met “I met her on a high street, she so sweet”, and goes on hyping his goons as Ciroc boys “everything mad when I pull up with the goons, Ciroc boys…” he gives a shoutout to Bankulli “ white tee, black hoodie, you see the sauce, big swag, Bankulli” while aggrandizing himself as he got more than enough bragging rights “big racks, you know that’s money out the roof”, “I been a boss, Starboy chat to me”

Starboy sings how the love he got for his girl is greater than money “ the love wey I get for you pass any money” and she’s the finest lady “nobody fine pass you tonight” and how his love is guaranteed.

On The P2J produced “mighty whine” she tells him to be her Mentor, instead he asks her to dance for him and give him “mighty whine” as “I dey find you truly” and how “ I no come here to dim your light” and he sings about his girls that kill his stress.

The legendary Damian “Jr Gong” Marley featured record “Blessed” is one highly spiritual record as their energies are well aligned; they’re both spiritually aligned and are both blessed, indeed.

Damian Marley is one highly inspirational thought-leader and he never fails to dish out wisdom “self-preservation. Self-elevation… self-celebration” “go for the big leagues, no relegation, let’s celebrate life, kick back and take five and give thanks to the source that create life” while relation how his son growing so fast is a big motivation for him “ to give it 100 no stop at 90” and “praise the almighty”

Wizkid sings on feeling blessed and not stressing with his guys. He reminisces on his past, what he’s seen and how he just wants his lover to cool him down.

The P2J produced “Smile” featuring H.E.R leaves you smiling sheepishly, Wiz sings about learning from his mistakes, doing anything for his love with no constraints as he’d “run inside a building of flames to be with my love” and thanks GOD for his lover, as she’s just a blessing to him.

HER delivers excellently with her stellar vocals as she sings solemnly about her lover who’s the only one for her and makes her feel lucky, she goes “ love me cause it feels right”, he’d do whatever she Say and not hurt her “ love make me feel amazing inside” As her lover makes it easy and there’s “nothing I won’t give and nothing I won’t do” she emphasizes.

On “Piece of me” featuring Ella Mai there’s a great synergy between them, Wiz goes about the sweet energy he shares with his lover, Ella Mai came through with her A-game “piece of me, come and get, come and get it baby, piece, yeah yeah yeahh, oh my.., uuuhhh” and how “you control and mix it, I’m your portion”

In the sexy tune “No Stress” he raves about his pretty lady that has her own but need some love and raves about the many things she tells him, when they vibe, leaking her secret “she tell me to say” * 1000 and that’s been an element of Wizkid’s music for the longest time, as the women in his life are always telling him stuff which he gladly shares with us. He should keep sharing. We love to hear it.

He went on to shoutout his south London, Asian, African, And Jamaican ladies.

The only track on the album with two features, by design I suppose — the Juls produced “True Love” featuring alternative artiste Tay Iwar and Jamaican act Projexx is a solid tune to be added to your sex playlist, Tay Iwar’s vocals are truly special, as he sets the tone for an exceptional heartfelt love song, Wizkid goes “baby girl I want make our soul feel like one”, Projexx closes the tune on a great note, he’s indeed a talent and worth the feature, although I’m hearing him for the first time; shoutout Wiz for the connect (he’s the only artist on the album I’m hearing for the first time, will check him out)

On “Sweet One” , Wizkid sampled Young Thug’s “Killed Before” adding to the rich blend of sounds, Wiz delivered yet a killer sexy tune, singing of needing her love “opopopo” meaning plenty.

The Tems featured, legendury beatz & P2J produced “Essence” is a massive tune by all metric, Tems delivered with her high-octane energy “I believe time is of the essence” “I try to teach you, but I don’t need some lessons” “draw me outta my mind” and asserting: “you don’t need any other body”, “only you fi hold my body”

Wiz came through excellently “we dey together day and night’ “ stroking your body”, “loving your body” they created magic, for real.

Blaq Jerzee produced “Roma” featuring Terri is perhaps the only party tune on the album, Terri outdid himself on the record, “tell me all the things I like, you dey always talk my mind” “omalicha give me sweet loving” “Gbedu go drop see Erima go whine, she go Dance ooh” and Wiz matched up his energy leaving our ears burning, quite literally.

On the London and Kill September produced ”Gyrate”, Wiz is all relaxed and laid back, however, in a party mode and sings of having no worries, but to gyrate with his people.

Wiz closed the project in a spirit of gratitude with “Grace” as its apparent his life and musical journey is a tale of grace after grace, he also reflects on living his life on the low and minding his business as he’s quite known for “stand real tall when I send no one tonight” but “steady I dey my lane” as he runs his race in his lane.

Wiz over-delivered on MIL in my opinion, and it’s definitely worth the 600 years we waited for it. The quality of production, the sax, the vocals, the well-thought-out features, it’s all a really rich blend of world-class quality, top-notch tunes on tunes, that gets better with every single listen, giving you the option to repeat as many times as you’d like to, and still get swept off your feet.

I can’t help, but reflect; when are we getting another album from Wiz? after MIL, omo, it could be in a Millenium or so. Regardless, we should relish MIL, as it’s all we’ve got.

Wizkid is definitely Made In Lagos.