One of the hottest tracks on our airways happens to be Soweto, an afro-tempo hit release by Afrobeat’s hottest soft-spoken artist, Anthony Ebuka Victor, popularly known by his stage name Victony.
Victony has been on a slow, steady climb since he made his debut with a mixtape on SoundCloud titled The outlaw king, and this is the reason he is still goes by the sobriquet. After the mixtape, he went on to make covers of international hit records like Bodak Yellow by Cardi B, Moonlight by XXXTentacion and On the Low by Burna Boy. The fast-rising artiste who is signed to Mainland BlockParty & Jungle Records has songs in Afrobeats, Hip Hop, Alternative Hip Hop and R&B genres to his name.
Victony-Soweto. Official Video. Credit: Vevo Sound|YouTube
Credit: On the flip side, his featured artist is also a popular producer Michael Chigozie Agwu, well known by his stage name “Tempoe”. Tempoe is a sensational and notable producer in the Nigerian Producers scene, with his catchy tagline “Mad!” It is easy to recognise when he is behind a production. The 25 year-old music producer is worth all the fuss he gets. The most popular hit single he produced for Ckay, Love Nwantinti has gone four times platinum in four countries.
Victony has dropped hits back-to-back since he made his debut. The artiste has a spectacular record when it comes to dropping club-bangers. From his early tracks More to Maria, and Pray to Chop & slide, to his recent releases Many man, Kolomental, All Power, Apollo, Jolene and Soweto, it is notable that the hit-artist has refined his sound, rather than alter it to make it more mainstream like most artists are wont to do.
Soweto has a light reverberation from the start with the strings of the guitar to when the artist jumps on the beat and starts to drop serenading lyrics. The track has the most glissando bounce in the Afrobeat’s scene right about now. The lyrics express the artist’s admiration – he is in awe of a woman’s beauty.
The production on the chorus is done to perfection, the beat is in a rhythmic sync with the lyrics, the chorus is the climax of the song. It goes …
Girl if you balanciego
I give you paper
Oh no go do me Diego, my Maradona
Girl if I lap your soweto, na Maphorisa
Girlie your back e be tornado
And I go follow your craze go
Craze go
He doesn’t seem to be saying anything particularly deep with the lyrics, the end rhymes alongside the upbeat vibe is meant to have its audience bobbing heads, which it executes quite well.
All power to Victony for his songwriting skills and to Tempoe for the Mad! Production (pun intended).
Give Soweto a listen and be sure to have it become a quick fave on your Afro Playlist.
Didi Dan-Asisah is an art enthusiast and critic. She lives in Lagos.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
