Award-winning artist Rema has released his second album called Heis featuring the Kenyan choir Red Fourth Chorus.
This isn’t the choir’s first collaboration with a secular artist, their most popular song in Kenya to date is the collaboration with Sauti Sol “Kuliko Jana”.
In this project, the choir lend their harmonic voices to the title track stylised Heis based on the Greek word for number one – heis.
Given the meaning of the album’s title track, Red Fourth’s lyrics sung in Kiswahili make more sense. They praise him for being the champion, calling him the greatest, the best, the most talented and the most talked about, which is a nod to Rema’s worldwide success.
This references his song “Calm Down” which won him the MTV Video Music Awards’ inaugural Moon Person for Afrobeats and subsequently became the first African artist to lead a track that earned over one billion streams on Spotify.
The choir sings:
Ni nani mnoma, ni nani hatari sana? Ni wewe
Ni nani anabamba, ni nani mkali sana? Ni wewe
Ni nani anatamba, ni nani anavuma? Ni wewe
Ni nani aweza, ni nani ndo bingwa, sasa? Ni we, ni we
It’s not a leap to say that the album’s imagery paired with the angelic singing of Red Fourth gives the song a sense of foreboding and drama – a juxtaposition that essentially adds to the narrative of the piece and the whole album.
Rema had previously made headlines after a section of his fans accused him of Satanism following his sold-out show at London’s O2 arena in which he featured relics from Benin culture as he said in an interview after the debacle. In Heis, he doubles down on the imagery.
While talking about the album, he said its creation helped him get back to his roots.
“The success that has come with AfroBeats is slowly changing our perception of the sound,” Rema said. “Everyone is chasing something that the whole world can enjoy but we got to keep our roots which is very important and this project has helped me bring back that essence, that energy.”
In the same breath, he also calls it a reset for his fans preempting the eventual criticisms it may receive.
“It (the album) is also a reset for the fan bases’ ears. It may not be my music; they may put the blame on my music saying, ‘What kind of song is this? Why are you doing this?’ but it might not be me but what you have been listening to over time,” he said.
The album
Best known as the, rave lord, a nickname that emerged after he dubbed his previous album ‘Afrorave’, Rema goes in a different direction in Heis, offering a wilder, imposing and almost overwhelming intensity that gives listeners a sense of danger and manic genius that borders on madness.
Staying true to his African roots, he goes back to the 60s and repurposes the highly percussive composition style pioneered by Fela Kuti while keeping the album modern by sampling Lana Del Rey in the track “Villain.”
Album highlights include the lead single “Benin Boys”, an anthemic ode to his hometown.
The track features Nigerian rapper Shallipopi and upon its release, set the record for the second biggest opening day streams for a Nigerian song on Spotify.
Other stand-out tracks include “March Am”, a rip-roaring sonic joyride produced by P Priime. The track is fraught with heavy drums, invigorating car revving sounds and growls.
Additionally, “Yayo”, is a psychedelic earworm teeming with youthful exuberance and brazen lyricism.
Heis is available to stream on all digital platforms.
Tracklist
1. March Am
2. Azaman
3. Hehehe
4. Yayo
5. Benin Boys
6. Heis
7. Ozeba
8. War Machine
9. Egungun
10. Villain
11. Now I Know
