Very few have done what Cuppy has done irrespective of her background: Live life at her terms, enjoy the music like she should and take us through every turn of her growth so we have seen her at her most barest but Cuppy is a pop princess, more than a DJ and she confirms this with her new body of work which holds one of the finest collaborations and pairing a Nigerian album has seen in recent time. It is the ‘Original Copy’ and a body of consistency.
She warms you in to the album with opening ‘Epe’ – her roots featuring another amazing songbird Efya trancing vocals. Rema and Rayvanny deliver single-delight with the next track and Cuppy chanting the later part of the hook “Jollof on the Jet” makes the record a lot more memorable.
Wyclef is Cuppy’s almost Nigerian and older lover on ‘Wale’ (with an accent, of course) as Cuppy opens the track with quite a surprising effort.
Fireboy DML was in his element on ‘Feel Good.’ A dance floor filler. Take another listen at the outro by Mr. DML. ‘Original Copy’ is sensual, ragga (dancehall) is usually the best language and ‘Cold Heart Killa’ is the result. Darkoo held his own.
The interlude clearly communicates and sees the need for Ms Florence to reiterate that she has done it her way- we have definitely not seen anybody like Ms. Florence Otedola before Cuppy.
Stonebwoy gifts Cuppy a sure Jamaican smash with ‘Karma’ – brings back memories of the era where dancehall had a global boom and the female artistes the genre belched. Cuppy seems to shine with the dancehall/ragga genre.
‘Litty Lit’ has to be the one track we all couldn’t wait to listen to after we saw the tracklist. It is steady running all-vibes-and-turn-up record. The new (normal) party is not noisy. Teni seems to freestyle it all non-stop.
’54’ features Juiian Marley and Sir Shina Peters calling for Sodarity. SSP has a lot of fun on this record and brings his cheerful self.
‘Guilty Pleasure’ featuring Nonso Amadi. The beat halt before the hook drops or when Nonso begins his verse is out-of-the-body, literally then Cuppy delivers the very first Ycee snd Ms. Banks (released) record with ‘P.O Y.’ Off this record, Ycee and Ms Banks owe us a joint EP.
‘Labalaba’ is the all-girls fix-my-wig anthem. Seyi Shay on the hook is all you need to cement this: “Bye bye to jagajaga, bye bye to jatijati.”
— da –d for www.soundcity.tv