What is an album? Albums are the compilation of recorded tracks, supplied as a unit on any digital means, such as CD, Data, and other electronic devices, in the Nigerian music industry, album culture has been a thing.

Album culture is simply the traditional style of how an artist publishes their records to the audience, at a given pace, depending on their personal or managerial preference, Artiste either publish Singles or Albums,

Note! Albums are not just a bunch of irregular tracks and/or perhaps a random“hits songs” collection, rather a sonically coordinated piece with a directed theme, a smooth album must have a unique flow, sounds, and arrangement, in this context; a unique sound doesn’t connote monotonous sound, it simply the connection from instrumentals to balance the chord, harmonizing from the intro to the outro of a project.

At the early stage between the 2000s and 2010s, the industry literally embraced the album culture, producing sonically cohesive projects at various random.

This was the case in the early 2000s to late 2000s with artists like African China, Danfo Drivers (Moutain Black & Late Mad Melon), Olu Maintain, 2Baba, Timaya, Faze, Rooftop MCs, 9ice, P-Square, D’banj, Lagbaja, Mode 9, Banky W, Omawunmi, Wande Coal, Flavour, Edris, Eldee, Jazzman, all embracing the album culture.

In the early 2010’s artists like Duncan Mighty, Wizkid, Olamide, Burna Boy, Phyno followed suits with the traditional style.

Single’s style of record publishing in the Nigerian music industry gradually became a thing during the CDs to electronic medium evolution, around the first quarter of the last decade, with Tekno leading the movement.

However, an artiste may wake up and decide to share his work, or officially announce a released date for a single, even without making it a promotional
copy of any forthcoming project.

Mainstream artists that dominated with singles include Tekno, Runtown, and Davido partially. Tekno‘s debut album was released in 2020, almost 6 to 7years after gaining prominence.  At the time of his entrance into the music scene he released about 10 hit singles, the reason is best known to him or his management.

Runtown, on the other hand, wasn’t an album artiste basically, Having released his first album in 2015, his next project was released in 2020.

Davido was also known for his singles regardless of his debut project, reasons were because most of his records did well independently as a single and not as a whole, for example, Dami Duro, IF, Fall were all singles from his album that made serious wave independently, he broke the jinx with back to back release of two projects ‘A Good Time‘ and ‘A Better Time‘ in a consecutive year (2019/2020).

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The second half of the last decade was dominated by single releases, such as songs like Pana by Tekno, Mad over you by Runtown, If, Fall, Fia by Davido, Manya by Wizkid, Wo by Olamide, and so on.
It became a norm and trendy that made releasing an album looks like time-wasting to up and coming artists,

In 2019/2020 was a revolution for the Nigerian music industry, all the artists stormed the scene with projects, artists like Burna Boy, Davido, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Tekno, Olamide, Phyno, Flavour, Timaya, Runtown, Yemi Alade, Fireboy, Brymo, Patoranking, 2baba, L.A.X, Moelogo, Rekaado Banks dropped a project (EPs and Albums), embracing the album culture wave.

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It was indeed a cultural reset for the industry which yielded and encouraged the up-and-coming artists to start thinking about publishing projects.

Albums or EPs dish out the depth of a creative project, it touches every part and shows the full artistic prowess of a musician.

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Cobhams Asuquo has been into music for more than a decade; be it singing, writing songs, or producing, the man didn’t let his defect stop him.

He started as a music producer as far back as the early 2000s also doubling as a background singer for some of the artists he produced for.

It wasn’t until 2007 he became publicly known as a singer and performing artist when he featured on what became the wildly popular Nigerian campus favorite, Mo Like Jesu Gan by Dekunle Fuji.

Later on, he featured in the song’s music video, officially introducing himself to a very adoring Nigerian public and finally gaining some recognition. In 2008 he produced and dropped a verse on Lagimo which became another fan favorite, for the gospel duo Rooftop MCs.

In 2014, he released his debut hit single, Ordinary People which has gone to achieve status as a timeless classic.

The multi-talented singer clocked 39 years old on the 6th of January and to celebrate the music icon, mp3bullet.ng has compiled a list of songs you didn’t know were produced by him.

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Darey- Not the Girl

‘Not The Girl’ would forever be remembered as one of Darey‘s best timeless pieces. The emotional R&B love ballad sees Darey sing about the painful knowledge that his love interest’s heart no longer belongs to him.

The song is taken from Dare’s sophomore album ‘unDAREYted’ and was written by him and Cobhams.

Rooftops MCs- Lagimo

Rooftop MCs consisting of the duo, Soulsnatcha, and Sokleva came into the spotlight with their hit song, ‘Lagimo’ which ruled in airwaves from radio to television between 2007 and 2009, totally redefining what gospel music has been known to be prior to RoofTop MCs.

When roughly translated as a whole from Yoruba to English the chorus means, “if my head will swell up in pride, beat it back into humility”.

Cobhams apart from producing the song also featured on the song in which he dropped a powerful verse.

Modenine- Cry

‘Cry’ which features the soulful vocals of songstress Nnenna, is the second track on Modenine‘s 2007 album E’ Pluribus Unum released under Questionmark Entertainment.

‘Cry‘ is his most successful award-winning single to date. The song brought him on the radar of even non-hip hop listeners.

The song tells of two tragic stories, one of a new mother who becomes a widow the same day she gives birth and two friends turn archenemies due to being in rival gangs.

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Asa- Jailer

Cobhams and Asa both rose to international acclaim as a result of their collaboration on Asa’s platinum-selling debut album, “Asha“.

One notable song off that album is the Socio-political commentary song, “Jailer“. The song is a reflection of the political climate in Nigeria and the rest of the world.

It has also been interpreted to be a metaphorical commentary on how society has become prisons and some selected people have become ‘Jailers’. Cobhams is credited as a co-writer of the song.

Omawumi- If You ask Me

“If You Ask Me (Na Who I Go Ask)“ is a soulful yet socially conscious track that tells the story of an abused child.

The song’s chorus which takes the call and response format has become a popular slang used on the street whenever someone is asked to narrate a befuddling story.

Banky W- Strong Ting

‘Strong Thing’ is a romantic ballad off Banky W‘s 2009 “The W Experience” album. The song alongside the hit classic, ‘Lagos Party‘ was released before the full album.

Chidinma- Kedike

After winning the third season of Project Fame West Africa in 2010, Chidinma launched her career with the Cobhams-produced, ‘Kedike’.

The song was the third single off her self-titled debut album, “Chidinma“. The name translates to “Heartbeat”.

Djinee- Ego

Djinee released the impressive Afro-R’n’B song, ‘Ego‘ way back in 2006. The song which rocked airwaves at the time of its release is a timeless classic.

Maintain- Catch Cold

Way before Olu Maintain had people dancing to his classic, “Yahooze“, he and his cousin Tolu under the group name Maintain had released a number of hit songs, and ‘Catch Cold” is one of them.

“Catch Cold” which was produced by Cobhams samples American rapper, Ludacris‘s “Area Codes” song.

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Shola Allyson- Eji Owuro

Shola Allyson came into the limelight with the hit song Eji Owuro (2003), which was the soundtrack album for a film of the same title.

The song also led to the release of a full album of the same title that produced other hit songs. The song’s lyrics have been sampled in different hit songs which tells of how huge the song is.

Top 10 Classic Nigerian songs you didn’t know were produced by Cobhams

• Darey Art Alade- Not the Girl
• Rooftops MCs- Lagimo
• Modenine- Cry
• Asa- Jailer
• Omawumi- If You ask Me
• Banky W- Strong Ting
• Chidinma- Kedike
• DJINEE- Ego
• Maintain- Catch Cold
• Shola Allyson- Eji Owuro

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