Hello and welcome to my weekly playlist; This week we will be focusing on Naija R&B which is my favourite. Anyway, before we get into the music, let me get you familiarized with R&B as a genre of music.
R&B which is Rhythm and Blues is an African-American genre of music that was developed by Black Americans in the 1940s. It combines soul music, pop music and hip hop. Rhythm and Blues are known for soulful music and singing. It has its own distinctive rhythm, repetition of verses and notes, and a blend of instruments.
So as not to bore you with too much history, let’s get right into my playlist, it consists of 10 Naija R&B songs that I recommend;
# 1: Want you- Oxlade
This song is number one because it is my all-time favourite, the only reason you won’t love this song is either because you are tone deaf or you just don’t relate to good music. First of all, Oxlade as an artiste has wonderful vocals, his riffs and runs are perfect (if you don’t know what riffs and runs are, just come to student village for music lessons) and he just has a way of singing straight to your heart and soul. The song itself is talking about how a person wants his partner all night long and basically just expressing his love for the person and how he’ll never leave the person. After reading this article and you’re listening to this song, just be singing it to your books and studies. YOU WANT YOUR BOOKS!!! I recommend this song for when you’re just alone and you want to vibe. Get your headphones, and plugin and enjoy sweet vocals and good sound.
#2: PLAYBOY- Fireboy DML
Well, our number two is Oxlade’s gee, One thing I can say about Fireboy is that he has never dropped a bad song, all his songs are bangers back to back. He’s not a smooth vocalist but he finds a way to create songs that fit his voice and captures his listener’s minds. This song is basically for when you need that motivation that you’re badass because Fireboy is basically telling us how he’s a bad guy in this song and how everybody wants to roll with him and “play with a big playboy like him”. If you’re having issues with any subject and it’s giving you a hard time, just plug in and vibe to how “when you drop it’s an anthem” (see how I’m relating everything to studies?…..lol) Anyway, this song has instrumentals that are to live for, remove the vocals and the beat you’re getting is still fire. The producer certainly did a good job and Fireboy did justice to the beat.
#3: Again- Wande coal
What is a Naija R&B playlist without Wande coal’s soulful voice? Wande coal has a way of capturing our hearts with his voice from when he was in Mo’hits till now. Once you hear Wande coal’s voice, you’re immediately hooked because he has great control over his voice and knows the right time to go either high or low pitch. So this song like most R&B songs is for a particular person, assuring her that “she will never be the same again” because of their love but look at it in this manner; after getting admission into the university and graduating, your life will never be the same again. T for Tenkz
#4: In My Bed Rotimi ft Wale:
This one is R&B with a bit of rap in it because our brother Rotimi featured Our other brother; Wale.
This song says there’s a meeting in my bed…Please let the meeting be with your books oh or with your headphones, forget whatever other things were said in this song and just vibe to the beat and wonderful voice of the artiste. Also, forget that Rotimi kept shouting baby yee…He doesn’t really mean it.. he was trying to say books but said baby instead. Please if you are not 18+, disregard this song, it is not for you.
#5: Soundgasm Rema:
Let’s pretend that soundgasm doesn’t sound like something else and just focus on the smoothness of Rema’s voice and how wonderful this song is for when you want to just wind down and listen to good music.
I like how much Rema has grown with his sound, didn’t really like him much after ‘dumebi’ but when I heard this song I got hooked because this song is smooth and has the right Rhythm. If you plug in your headset and listen to this song you’ll be catapulted to another world.
#6: Eko Miami Maleek Berry:
This 2018 hit by Maleek Berry is one of the best songs to vibe to if you’re feeling ‘Young, fly and free’. This song is the perfect song to unlock your weekend mood and mode; there are no classes tomorrow, time for Faaji and turn up all night. Just remember not to go out alone and don’t drink and drive and if possible don’t take alcohol at all. Just stick to cocktails or better still just turn up at your house and blast this song all night on your sound system.
#7: Beautifully-Fave
I know what you’re saying…..Yes, finally a girl on this list. Fave is a newbie in the music industry and she broke in with her soulful voice that we heard in ‘baby riddim’. For me, this song is like a sequel to ‘Baby riddim’ and Fave is effortlessly a good singer and she has a wonderful way with words. If you are a girl who is in support of expressing her love for a guy openly then this song is for you. Okay bye.
#8: Wait for you-Melvitto ft Oxlade
Are you lonely? Do you need someone to call? Okay then, this song is for you, Oxlade definitely is the person to turn to if you are feeling lonely because he will fill the void you have. The vocals in this song always make me emotional. please listen to this song more than once to get the desired effect…lol
This song says call me when you need anything, because you got my number, so don’t be shy to call student village when you are having difficulties with any school-related issue because we will always be available.
#9: Before you wake up-Adekunle Gold:
We all know that Adekunle Gold is a wonderful artist, Anyway, is tomorrow your wedding? If it is not after this song just go and start planning a wedding because this is your wedding song o.
I wonder why most R&B songs are love songs but please how do you even want to sing zazuu with this kind of rhythmic beat…The first line of the first verse of this song inspires me to just drop everything I am doing and go on holiday….
#10: Commando-King Promise:
And this is our last song, King Promise is actually not Nigerian but he has found a way to gain fame and love from Nigerians because of his affiliation with a lot of Naija artists and even his sound is becoming similar to that of our Nigerian artistes. King promise has a way of adding his indigenous language into his songs without it being totally noticeable.
We have come to the end of our playlist…please listen to these songs and tell me what you think about them and tell me what song you think should have been on this list.
