Vol. 1 : From 237 w/ Love

A carefully curated sonic experience.

Click here to stream full tape

A couple of people have hit me on Twitter like “Hey, we’ll like to start listening to Paysans (Cameroonian) music, so which songs do you think we should start with”, you know.

A couple of my Nigerian friends and so many of my Cameroonian friends who have been out of the country for a while who are just experiencing this “new wave of Cameroonian cool” as I’ll like to call it.

*Wizkid voice* “And ah wanna give a shalla to ..”

lol

.. Shout out to Bilola , because she asked me first about it 3/4 months back, which kind of sparked the idea and I’ve working on it since then.

I really thought it’ll be something simple to put together; so I sat one evening and tried to put together a playlist of 10 Cameroonian songs. You know, like the Cameroonian Urban Music “Starter Pack” … and I realized there is sooo much music.

And that it’s so much more than just putting a couple of songs together to build playlist but creating sonic pockets that present the ideas, ideologies (as I’ll put it) and philosophies that best represent our generation and the statement we are, collectively, trying to make.

So it’s not just picking songs and throwing them up together because they sound nice but it’s really about building a seamless listening experience all through.

Soooo! It took me a while.

Also, you’ll realize I didn’t name the songs or credit the artists. It was intentional. It really was done to protect those who already know the songs from spoilers. I’ll like everyone to experience and literally FEEL how these songs work together. I really wanted to avoid having anyone drawn or influenced by any given artist or the title of the song. The aim is really to have the listener put the songs in perspective … with respect to the other songs and the experience as a whole.

Like: how the first song transitions into the second song; how the third song feels with respect to the first, how do I feel after listening to all eight songs. That type of thing.

So that the listener listens to it the way we grew up listening to music.

Cuz I think I’m part of the generation that somehow, didn’t really experience CDs (and no, I’m not that old). Out here, CDs had a really short lifespan. Not as long as Cassettes’. And even when CDs got really popular out here, CD players on the other hand were still way too expensive for the average music lover. We still ripped CDs into cassettes and played on our Walkmans and radios. So I really remember what it felt like to listen to a tape from top to bottom without “skipping” (well, “fast-forwarding”, really) through any given song. And that’s the experience I wanted to share while putting this tape together. So that it’s not about the individual song, but the experience, these songs together, creates.

Also … our music is so rich and so exciting mehnn .. I won’t want you skipping anyone’s song lol

Abeg let me know what you think.

Stream the tape on Soundcloud in its entirety here

… and don’t forget to share.

Be kind to one another.

God dey.