On their joint project with fellow Nigerian duo, The Cavemen., and guitarist/record producer and composer Nsikak David, the tight-knit group, Show Dem Camp, embraces the harsh truth of love, its cruel parts, and experimental forms all at once, merging hip-hop with modern highlife music.
It has been an inspiring, tough journey for Tec and Ghost (members of Show Dem Camp). From meeting at a rap battle, realizing they had the same rap name to creating a group that went through so many transitions, the duo have since made a name for themselves, with their trademark “Palm Wine” music and fest, a show that sees them tour around the continent. “No Love In Lagos” is an open album, open to all forms of stories centered around love in Lagos, but offers a moving testament to Show Dem Camp’s style and perseverance, with new additions. The album’s single “Johni” says it all, proper West African highlife music, but The Cavemen’s influence is heavily felt here. Kingsley’s high-pitched voice steers the wheel, with lyrics that are elevated by drummer Benjamin James. “No Love In Lagos” carries the same aura, just slowed down a bit, peak Show Dem Camp/The Cavemen music, serenaded by carefully struck strings through the fingers of Nsikak David. The rap here is sleek, embracing both experimentation and yes, tradition on their terms.
Four songs in, and you’d realize the project is well created, having one of the most enduring units dedicated to free improvisation and modern-day highlife composition. Led by Nsikak’s sweet guitar sounds and backing vocals that “stay cavy”, Tec and Ghost can pen down some of the brightest verses, tackling hardship in Lagos and everyday life. This approach is evident in “Why” and “Fall”, with the latter embracing Lagos humor, and jagons, delivered in the form of pidgin. The album’s feature list understood the assignment, Tim Lyre’s infectious hook is widely received by a psychedelic Lagos production, handled by Spax, the overseer of it all. However, Ogbonjayar brings the most affecting moment to the tape. “OMFTR” is presented in a faster tempo, but you can hear Ogbonjayar’s claims here, he talks his sh*t while the song is painted with synth melodies, with familiar patterned drums that move you to the dancefloor.
The most striking moment takes place on “Blessings”, a slow and reflective brotherly record fueled by Moelogo’s writing skills and preference for semi-doleful melodies. He helps SDC appreciate all that life has offered, both the good and bad parts. It’s their best rapping performance on the album, with amazing lyrics, they can conjure powerful feelings from sparse chords by Nsikak David. Rusi controls it all on “Train”, a fully-fledged Afrobeats song coated in plaintive vocal fragments, layers of choral harmonies, and a groovy beat. The outro flexes the quality of highlife production here, a nervy synth mesh with insistent drums pushing through vocals and themes reminiscent of classic highlife and Afrobeats.
An SDC/Cavemen project would always bang, two entities that pride themselves in original West African sounds. The objective was clear, stay original AND CAVY; they did just that, an album that tilts toward traditional songwriting while refining their unique approach to production.
