vector the viper
Jagaban vs KingKong the review
Jagaban and KingKong are two songs that stand out on account of their striking similarity instrumentally. Anyone who has listened to “King Kong” by Vector da Viper, and had the opportunity to listen almost consecutively to “Jagaban” by Ycee, will immediately be struck by the almost identical percussional elements adopted by both songs. They share enough qualities to incite suggestions that they were created by the same producer. These speculations though, are false, and similarities can simply be attributed to the “season”. As I explained earlier, “percussions” are in vogue, and hence, proliferate use of it by all is something that we should come to expect. Still, distinctions can be made among these two songs taking the spot-light in this article, with other elements apart from their collective instrumental use, being taken into consideration.
To start with, their similarities are several. They are both rap songs, hence both artistes adopt a standard arrangement of lyrics more informally known as “bars” in their songs. Vector’s lyricism as of late, has tilted towards the indigenous, hence, “King Kong” despite its foreign brand, utilizes local parlance, just as well as “Jagaban” which seems more obviously indigenous in its title, in reference to former senator and governor of Lagos state Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The two songs also have a single titular boastful theme that the artistes identify themselves as, and is repeatedly emphasized throughout the course of the songs. Vector posits himself as “King Kong” a figure of speech identifying his dominance musically, while Ycee, seemingly attributes his influence presently and potentially to being like “Jagaban” or the former governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who in reality, despite his retirement from political office, still continually exerts his influence financially and politically. Both artistes also utilize energy in the delivery of their lyrics to match the percussional urgency both songs exhibit.
Where they differ, is in vocal quality. “Jagaban” has a unique element inherent in its artiste’s vocal output. Ycee, who is relatively new to the music scene in terms of success and popularity, appears to carry the song, placing emphasis on certain words and involuntarily, making listeners pay more attention to his vocals and lyrics than to the instrumentals. Ycee’s voice is notably gravelly, hence his energetic deliveries pack more punch. He attempts despite this, to inculcate a foreign element to his vocals by affecting an accent, an effort that I personally deem to be unnecessary and unattuned to the theme and tone of the song.
Vector on the other hand, a veteran rapper with a relatively illustrious career under his belt, delivers “King Kong” in his trademark pseudo Indigenous and animated style, but in my opinion fails to pack a punch vocally. The instrumental accompaniment appears to do all the work, with Vector seemingly going “along for the ride”.
Vector as a rapper as proven his mettle several times, and one of his strong points as a lyricist has been his clarity of expression. As much as this song does tick a lot of boxes in regards to the quality and ingenuity of its instrumentals, its vocal strength strikes me as weak and its message passage was uncharacteristically blurry, in comparison to Vector’s other work.
Thus, in rating “King Kong” by Vector on a personal scale of 5 stars, I’ll give the song 3 stars, but mostly on account of Vectors pedigree, and the quality of the instrumental accompaniment.
“Jagaban” on the other hand despite its seemingly “seasonal” participation instrumentally, displays a similarly appealing quality in its instrumental production, with the added advantage of a much stronger vocal rendition by Ycee. The unforgivable flaw to the largely Indigenous song, was the foreign accent affectation, an inclusion that automatically denies the song a star on my personal scale of 5 stars.
Hence, in rating “Jagaban” by Ycee on the 4 stars left on my scale, i’ll give the song, 3 and a Half stars, on account of the strength of Ycee’s vocal delivery, and the relative and arguably more indigenous relevance of its title.
Both songs regardless of my critique, are going to fit right at home in several forms of the Foreign club scene, as well as the Nigerian. They both possess enough percussional strength to be club anthems for many a reveler to toast to. Hopefully, the flaws pointed out and criticized in these songs would be improved upon by each artiste in their subsequent projects. Till then, have fun dancing to the two songs, and indeed all popular Nigerian songs, from every outlet they might be played through.
