Jeff Akoh goes pop on Lokoja

It is this path that Jeff Akoh, who won the Project Fame talent show years back, is trying to avoid. He is working in a crowded field these days, so there’s no room to fail. What is a man to do?

For Akoh, the trick is packing all of Iyanya’s lessons into one album. So while he sings throughout—and really the boy can sing, especially in the R&B mode—he has reggae-dancehall, party jams and sex pop on his debut album Lokoja, named for the town of his forebears and its famous confluencing rivers. (Several sounds meet on the album.)

One of the album's songs ‘Halima’ employs the popular sound of 2017—a little Tekno, a little Mr Eazi—and makes a rather sweet tune. By the time Kenya's Khaligraph Jones comes on, all he needs to apply is some icing, which he does with style.

This is good but you can tell that this style of singer and competent rapper is almost entirely a thing of the past. Even so, it is a bit of a surprise 'Halima' was not promoted by Akoh’s label. It has features hard to argue against: a familiar yet innovative beat, sex and lust in the lyrics and a very good rap. It is not always that a clear bid for hit music works in the way ‘Halima’ does, and when that happens more is needed. But because the songwriting across the album doesn't exactly stand out, it is hard to shake off the idea that a large part of Halima's success comes from Benie Macaulay. In case no one is sure, producer Macauley then scores another success with 'Closer' featuring Terry Apala.

The album's other producers do not have the same success. Not even the always reliable Cobhams, whose produced and co-written song here 'Shokolokobangoshe', sounds like a minor version of his own song 'One Hit'. Most of the other producers appear to be working older models for pop songs. A song like 'Control', with its many strings, has no chance to find a Nigerian audience. It is noteworthy that the inventiveness of syncopations and percussion sounds in much of contemporary Nigerian pop is absent.

That outdatedness is hardly a bad thing but this is an album that clearly craves popular success. As with such off-mainstream acts like Ric Hassani, Jeff Akoh doesn't embrace his quirk fully enough. And like Orezi on his own first album, Jeff Akoh ends this album displaying a blurry personality. On such songs like 'Toju E' and 'Nana', an idea of what he is—a Nigerian act with American gloss—offers itself up. But you can't be sure.

At almost an hour, Lokoja spends too much time in different directions—a little like a contestant seeking to please different audiences at successive auditions. It's admirable but just look how even the delightfully bold attempt at funk, 'My Girl', gets lost in all of the genre switches and mood mixes. It's an understandable impulse as pop is where the money is, apparently. But for an act as talented as Jeff Akoh, it might have been better to present himself first—and record some more songs with Benie Macauley.

Artist: Jeff Akoh
Album: Lokoja
Label, Year: Temple, 2017