years ago, which now seems like a decade ago, when rap music had just discovered ola dips.. there was another young man making waves down south. he was compared to dips and even said to be better than dips, I had even heard at the time that he had been a household name in the south by the time yung6 touched down in lag to start his grind. I committed the mistake of a young music enthusiast by putting tribe before the music and argued blatantly that dips was not in the same league with this man. then ola dips got signed and this dude would only grow simultaneously down south. they call him Eriga, finally i decided to check this rapper out. a final listen, one last attempt and I chose the work "Trip to the South
13 tracks later and I’m saying Eriga will become a major force to reckon with if he continues with the tenacity and ingenuity which he portrayed on the earlier mentioned project. he managed to resurrect a style used by greats like tupac, dagrin, olamide,a feat many have tried but failed, he has succeeded, in doing what exactly?? Eriga has succeeded in giving undiluted original rap mixed side by side with the music. where most rappers have focused more on their punchlines thus serving us with empty bars that carried no message.Eriga has focused more on passing a message on the beat at the expense of punchlines, originality at its finest,the Trip to the south, to me, was a successful project that achieved its primary Goal which was not to create awareness, eriga had been doing that for years,instead the projects main goal was to send a message to whoever cared to listen, the message was short and simple "buckle up"
his choice of features was on point,every artiste featured is a master of their own various form of sound,each artiste had something to prove to the industry, trip to the south was the best platform to prove industry. They were on the same mission. orezi blessed the track, skales showed why he’s one of the best dancehall musicians we have at the moment, Duncan mighty proved the old saying "if you got it, you got it". and my favourite collaboration on the album came from an unexpected artiste, "biggie man " which he featured Lamar. erigas collabos were good but when he had to go solo, he did it with dexterity n confidence . can it compete internationally, I think that’s left to the artistes target market but locally Eriga is going to make waves,if he hasn’t started yet. the language makes it appealing to the average Nigerian music lover. olamide did it with Yoruba because he was comfortable in it when he had to switch to English he didn’t force it, pidgin is erigas home ground, it’s another advantage for the young rapper from the south. but I think the biggest factor likely to spur eriga is the distance. he had come from far south, a journey which he himself claimed to have had second thoughts about on various occasions. going back to the south as a failure is not an option. he was proclaimed king of the south by the people and he has been a true king in every right, backed by the support of the whole region he has enough fan base to start a coup but then things are different in Lagos.it’s the city of yellow and black buses that welcomes nobody.creating your own kingdom in lag city takes time and a part of your soul but there’s no going back Now, he’s in the big league but with his raw talent, consistency and the added financial backing of anonymous, the trip from the south might just have started and maybe it won’t be long before we start feeling the "Trips of the south"