alpha ojini recounts the ideas and execution behind his second album "chvmeleon"
This is a guest editorial written by Alpha Ojini annotating his second album, Chvmeleon
January 19, 2020
I’ve been pushing the narrative that I’m a Producer Rapper, Songwriter and Engineer I also do other things that aren’t necessarily in a rap space and for other artistes. So I wanted to make an album that shows everything I can do, that shows my range.
Besides, being a rapper you need a certain amount of commercial appeal to make it to the mainstream. A lot of people don’t care of if all you can do is rap.
So I decided to combine everything I can do into a project and therefore show the potential to be a successful rapper in Nigeria
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“Chvmeleon” the title, comes from the fact that the chameleon is adaptable by nature. No matter the situation it’s in it always finds a way to be safe, escape from prey and to succeed in its regular life. So I thought to myself that the chameleon has to be my spirit animal. It was the perfect name for the project - someone who can adapt or change his style if that’s what is needed to be the best. So I just stylized the name a bit.
The album is a statement album of sorts. I want to say to people that i’m ready for the bag. Because I used to want to prove myself and build my portfolio. but i’m done with that narrative so on this album I put out songs with commercial appeal, making songs with the biggest artists like M.I, YCee, Ghost and even my peers making a name for themselves like Oxlade, Blaqbonez and more.
The album means growth. It means this is my time, I’m ready to do these shows, I’m ready to make this music and make money.
I've gotten to a space where I fully understood how to allow songs have a life of their own and not overproduce like on my first album. On this album, I allow my vocals to shine through and I even allow other artists space to be themselves. like on a song like ‘CalmDown” I’m not trying to prove that the song is my own. I’m looking at the music with an outside lens, I want people to enjoy the music as it is.
The theme of the project sonically, was split in 2 ways. I wanted to pay homage to what is popping right now in terms of rap. What people are enjoying right now leans heavily into trap even in production. I wanted to try my hands on making songs that could end up on an Afrobeats playlist. I want to be able to show that I could blend my love for rap with Afrobeats to give you music that you can enjoy. Something you could clarify as a fusion of Afrobeats with Hip-Hop because I’m not trying to compete with Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole sonically.
So I arranged the album in 2 halves, either way you’ll find songs there that you love.
"Intro (feat. Kemi Smallzz)"
Shoutout to Kemi Smallzz, who did the skit on the intro. I really wanted the voice on the skits to be Kemi Smallz and she sent me the voice note recordings the same day. The intro basically says the Chameleon is so slow its prey don’t even see it coming you won’t even see me coming. Because it felt like an eternity working on new music, so i was like y’all don’t even know what I am about to hit you guys with .
"Xo"
This song is me trying to tell people to give me my roses now while I can smell them. While I appreciate the compliments I get on my music and talent, there are some people who don’t know about me yet. So whenever they hear this song they are going to give me my props on the spot. On this song, I feel I cracked the code on how to balance rap, afrobeats and songwriting to make songs that the Nigerian rap space can really appreciate.
"HundredWays (feat. Psychoyp)"
This is a song that basically says that I’m going to share what I am making with my brothers. “Mama told me I’ll crush it’ so based off of that confidence, when I make this money I’m going to split it a hundred ways. Psycho YP had a track field to it so he was perfect to make the song a jam. I switched up the last part of the song because I was inspired by Sicko Mode (Travis Scott and Drake.)
"BagX2 (feat. Blaqbonez)"
The song happened on the spot. I had the beat ready and I was having a conversation with Blaqbonez about my streaming numbers not being as high as I would have liked. I wanted to do like a J. Cole type of project with no features but Blaqbonez helped me realize that there are lot of people willing to fuck with me and that I’m trying to tap into other fanbases. So I was like you’re here, let’s start with you. So I played the beat for him and he liked it. The song is basically 2 young legends going back to back.
"Numbers Interlude (feat. PayBac Iboro)"
The song came from pieces of another song I had done before called "Quarterback". I just chopped it up because I originally wanted the song to make the project, but It just didn’t fit the way the project was going.
"Pop"
This is my stadium or concert jam. One of the last songs I wrote on the project. While I was working on engineering Blaqbonez’s Mr Bombastic, I played my album for fellow artists that were coming and going, Superboy Cheque suggested that I needed one more song that when I perform it the fans will go crazy. Not necessarily because the song is mad but because it’s simple enough for everyone to hear the lyrics. Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Humble’ came to mind, so I decided to make a song like that. I made a banging beat and I wrote Pop to it. It is basically a Hustler’s anthem. “… See for this market everything cost, boys don suffer me I must pop.”
"HalfMoon"
I seriously think this is one of the most beautiful songs i have ever written. This is me appreciating black women of every shade. It is for the gyal dem.
"PDA (feat. MI Abaga)"
Initially this song wasn’t called PDA. I played it for MI in late 2018, in it’s former state and he liked it but I didn’t try to get him on it until later when I had the conversation of collaboration with Blaqbonez. It took a while for me to track him down and get him to record. When it finally happened during the session, MI listened to the song and suggested we tweak the song a bit being the genius that he is. I am grateful for that discussion because tweaking the song made it a smooth love song people can enjoy.
"OneKnee (feat. Ycee)"
I had never met Ycee in person before we recorded the song. One day he messaged me, that my songs were hard and that we should work together. Then I shot my shot and I played the beat for OneKnee. Although he made a comment that he didn't want to scatter the balance of the project, I was like bro if you're going to be on my project i’m going to scatter the balance. Then we recorded, he made the mad hook and to keep up the energy , I wrote my verse on the spot. It was such a vibe, right now this is my most played song on the project. I hope that this is the start of a good working relationship with Ycee.
"TongueSong (feat. Bella Alubo)"
The song was maybe born out of peer pressure. I thought Bella was going to be perfect for this, because her voice is silky smooth, and we had a working relationship before then. She wasn’t able to record her part till she came over to Ycee’s place on the day Oneknee was recorded. That day was just a massive vibe, 2 collabs in one day.
"SeeHeaven (feat. Ghost (SDC) & Oxlade)"
The song is about a girl that I like that didn’t reciprocate. I played this beat for Oxlade. He had something immediately, he recorded the hook and his verse in 15 minutes. [laughs]. After some time I wrote my verses on the song. Then one day in a twitter thread between Ghost and Paybac I shot my shot and asked Ghost for a verse. I don’t know what made him say yes, but he did so I sent him the song. I couldn’t believe my luck because at this point Ycee, Bella, Blaqbonez and Oxlade were already on the project. A week after he messaged me that his verse was ready. So I went over to his place and he recorded the verse, he was so chilled because he basically did A&R on the project, he’s credited on the cover.
"CalmDown (feat. GoodGirl LA)"
LA is such an amazing person. I just knew I would like her on my project. She initially recorded something on relationships but I begged her for something else since most of the project was about relationships already. That’s how CalmDown just came up from her mouth. I hadn’t written anything, she just gave me that hook, so it inspired me to write the story of the song. The song is about people who didn’t fuck with you when you were struggling.
"ThisMoney"
This song is from a real place it’s the most emotional song on the project. It’s a song for creatives out there. They know what it is to face your parents telling you to just use your degree instead of going through the uncertainty of being an artist. Because I have been doing this music thing since 2012, and it always felt like I was playing catch up and that I wasn’t going to make my parent's proud. That’s how dear this song is to me.
"Outro"
ThisMoney segues into the Outro. The Outro needed to be something super real. I got a friend of mine named Fortune to reenact part of a conversation we had on how I needed to make whatever I am going to do next count and how my parents were counting on me. The conversation was really special to us. He did a good job of reenacting the conversation so I layered it on the music to form the outro.
I’m really happy that I was able to share this album with everybody. It is still being streamed and it was even in the Top 10 when a lot of big projects were out at the time. I’m thankful that people accepted the album even without any massive promotion.
