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MUSIC<\/p>\n
The respected producer has gone global on the strength of his work with Asake. On M$NEY, he soundtracks the Nigerian star\u2019s most personal album yet.<\/p>\n
Magicsticks<\/span> has been one of Afrobeats\u2019 most definitive producers since the turn of the decade. With his percussive-driven records, he\u2019s offered a vibrant soundscape for the continent\u2019s artists to coast over, and none other has translated his skills in such spectacular style as the Nigerian artist Asake<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n M$NEY, the new album from Asake, is sufficient proof. An assured showcase between the longtime collaborators, Magicsticks produced eight out of its thirteen tracks. \u201c[Asake] is someone that knows what he wants, and he\u2019s intentional about that on this project,\u201d Magicsticks tells OkayAfrica<\/span>. \u201cHe didn\u2019t really want to do too much; he just wanted to express himself, not with too many words, though. It\u2019s a reflection of where the artist is at.\u201d <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Magicsticks allowed Asake to test his ideas, and the project’s curation was a shared responsibility among the creative team. The songs on M$NEY<\/span> crystallized across several cities in the world \u2014 Lagos, Dubai, Miami \u2014 anywhere the roving impulse of composition met them. This meant that Magicsticks was often around the consistently touring Asake, insisting on a Nigerian sound even though they were in faraway cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n When OkayAfrica<\/span> first interviewed Magicsticks<\/a> three years ago, he introduced himself to a mesmerized audience with Mr Money With The Vibe and Work of Art<\/span>. Back then, he recounted how \u201c[he] started producing by remixing people\u2019s stuff, trying to add more percussion to the music I downloaded off the internet. That is how I got the name, Magicsticks. It came from me being a drummer because the major thing in my production is the drums.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the final touches are added to a song, Magicsticks explores other tonal possibilities, as is evident on M$NEY<\/span>. \u201cI start with drums when I\u2019m at the studio by myself,\u201d he explains, \u201cbut talking about the direction of a project, we can\u2019t base that on a drum level, because a project is more than that. Some songs came before the instrumental came to life, so there are different directions to this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n He expands further on this direction. \u201cWe just keep improving, in the sense that on the M$NEY<\/span> album, we tend[ed] to work with a lot of people,\u201d Magicsticks says. \u201cIf you look at the credits, you\u2019ll see a lot of people there. Not just artists, creatives, instrumentalists, vocalists, and stuff. It\u2019s more intentional, more intense. On a song like \u2018Amen,\u2019<\/a> we had three different choirs from three different countries. The first choir did their thing, we were loving it, but we still felt like we needed more, and we needed the people to sound a little bit different other than Nigerians. So the second choir was in the US and the third from the UK, before we came to the satisfaction that \u2018this is good now\u2019\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n On \u201cGratitude,\u201d a dazzle of airy and percussive instruments abounds. Listen closely to the bassy pump in the drums, which sounds so similar to Fuji, yet hovers just a few levels beyond. The trumpets float with the lightness of morning clouds, as the sea-evoking notes swirl underneath. Above this Magicsticks-curated masterpiece, sit the praise-laden vocals from Asake, dispensing in his mellifluous Yoruba a familiar cache of cultural references.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWHY LOVE\u201d<\/a>\u00a0is unarguably an Asake classic; it\u2019s the oldest song on M$NEY<\/span> but still sounds fresh within the project. It\u2019s not so much the dramatic atmosphere as the elements that subtly enforce that scene: the shekeres and sudden synths. Asake knows how to turn romance into theater, and Magicsticks is his stage director. On \u201cOba,\u201d Magicsticks turns into sheer delight the groovy bounce of Bobby Caldwell<\/span>\u2019s 1978 classic\u00a0\u201cWhat Won\u2019t You Do For Love,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which Asake has performed over previously as a medley of \u201cNzaza\u201d during his\u00a0Red Bull Symphonic<\/a>\u00a0performance.<\/p>\n \n
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