Seriously, Let's Talk About Blaqbonez's Album - Young Preacher
Young Preacher is an album that underscores Blaqbonez's position as the most culturally relevant rapper now.
Seriously, let's talk about Blaqbonez's album - Young Preacher.
The 14-track LP from the Chocolate City rapper is one of 2022's stand-out projects. Young Preacher is the perfection of Blaqbonez's red-pill philosophy towards sex and relationships.
His brutal honesty and willingness to take on other serious issues, such as abandonment ('Cause I'm a real ass nigga/If I ever have a kid, he'll be a real ass nigga/'Cause I'ma raise that nigga, I ain't gon' dip like my daddy, ah/We talkin' now but it was hard in the beginnin'), finances, and stardom, ensure he is doing more than biting on the toxicity fad in R&B and rap.
Blaqbonez, however, does this without taking himself too seriously. He reflects the laissez-faire attitude of the times. On 'She Like Igbo', the sex is transactional, and weed is easily accessible. The song embodies the 'not here for a long time but a good time' mantra of FWB/hook-up trysts.
Blaqbonez knows who he is and wears his unique identity as a toga. He is a Lothario on the lead single 'Back in Uni'. On the Naija/Mzansi track 'Fake Nikes,' featuring Blckie, Cheque, he bucks the trend of financial irresponsibility by saying no to expensive sneakers over financial security. Instead of splurging cash on designer brands, he openly admits to rocking fake Nike sneakers - a faux pas in these drip-obsessed times.
The rapper might not lose his head buying expensive gear, but his joker-inspired blue hair is firmly tucked in the thighs of the next Instagram baddie that Mark Zuckerberg's algorithm throws up. His dancehall persona Mr Boombastic on 'HOT BOY,' says"Bomboclaat me spread her leg like gymnastics/Me part it, eat that booty me nah care if it's plastic/Long as she looks like Nancy Isime, I put that booty in the air."
When the beat switches, Blaq takes over and imagines doing an unsavoury thing to IG influencer Diana Eneje.
The rapper offers a theory of why he is built like this- "Maybe it's abandonment issues/Might need therapy someone to see to/My dad left me mum had to hustle.”
When not fixated on fashionova courtesans, this nouveau riche libertine flips an Asa classic to talk about the paranoia of poverty and why he is not into excessive balling - "Still actin' like I'm broke and in the trenches, it's part of me/So pardon me if I don't buy too many Hennessy/Don't stare at me, I just got rich and I ain't used to it/I'm stackin' on mils so I don't lose to it."
Blaqbonez's latest offering is an unabashed testimonial of a young man from the pulpit of pleasure and purpose. As he flips Gen-z Nigerian classics (pree the title track and ‘Loyalty’), he speaks his truth, fitting into the modern perception of love and monogamy. While he embraces the pleasure fame has given him, he brags about his rap accomplishment and touches on his relationship with his father.
Young Preacher is an album that underscores Blaqbonez's position as the most culturally relevant rapper.