Outlaw by Victony

BACKGROUND

I think I speak for us all when I say Holy Father was a masterpiece. Surprisingly, many people do not know about the artiste who arguably carried the song, Anthony Ebuka Victor, popularly known as Victony. He makes music for the young and broken. With his idols being Drake, Juice Wrld, Post Malone, and Kendrick Lamar, it is no surprise as to how he manages to sing to a wide range of beats and rap as well(though lately he’s been doing more of singing). His unique voice is what makes him stand out from the rest in the Nigerian music industry. He dropped an EP in 2020, Saturn EP, whilst pursuing a degree in engineering. Talk of a versatile king, huh? He was also featured in Burna Boy’s album. He has been described as “An artiste with a soft blend of Rema’s artistic style and Santi’s range”. He was involved in a fatal car crash in 2021, which led to the loss of his close friend, but he went back to making music shortly after he was discharged from the hospital. 

Outlaw

Earlier this year, he dropped one of my favourite eps of all time, “OUTLAW”. Victony has believed in the ‘outlaw’ philosophy since the advent of his career in 2017 when he dropped his hip-hop mixtape “outlaw king”. His EP is a sonically exciting trip. He partnered with producers such as Tempoe and KTIZO to produce a 20-minute masterpiece with 7 songs. Let’s get into the individual songs, shall we?

Outlaw

The first song, “OUTLAW”, starts the album off with the iconic line “we are the champions” by popular rock band Queen. It could be a reference to them in terms of how they did what others in the industry didn’t want to do. They were sort of the outlaws of their time. Produced by KTIZO, He talks about how he’s a loner and how his haters will never see him down because he is always going to keep winning, “if you hating you go vex tire”. The beats and the lyrics of the song are powerful and uplifting. You can listen to this song to cool off or to get motivated because, as he said, “been through hell so me skin kinda ready for the cold world” the tougher it gets, the greater the reward. It might not be your normal Afropop song you’d play at all times, but it’s a great listen. 9/10.

Chop & Slide

We get back broken Victony in the second song, “CHOP & SLIDE”.  He talks about how his girl does not want his love, just sex. He laments how she doesn’t want to do lovey dovey things, but he on the other hand wants to do those affectionate things and give her the sex too. This song kinda gives a perspective on how females use men for sex, contrary to the popular opinion suggesting otherwise. He loves her but she just wants to ‘chop and slide’. This is the story of how he fell in love with his fuck buddy. This song is more relatable and easier on the ears than the first song. It recently grew on me as well. The instrumentals are perfect for the mood the song sets. 8/10.

 Apollo

My least favorite song on the album “APOLLO”.  This song has arguably the best instrumentals in the EP but has zero substance.  It is more of a song you play in the club, the perfect club Afropop with the expected splash of amapiano beat. A great song to play in the background. It has the most energy in the EP as well. 7.5/10.

All Power

Moving on to “ALL POWER”. Victony doesn’t hide his love for backsides. when I first heard the chorus to this song, I found it really funny because you’d be shocked to hear someone who just survived a fatal accident say, “All power belongs to your Bumbum”.  This song is basically the “stan” of afrobeats and instead of a person, it’s talking about the human bum. I’m sure ass lovers are going to enjoy this one. It also focuses more on instrumentals and vibes than lyrics; well there’s not much to expect since it is dedicated to ass. 8/10

Jolene

One of my favourite songs off the EP, “JOLENE” comes next. This song gives off immaculate vibes. I don’t even understand what he’s saying 60% of the time but I love listening to the song. From what I understand, he’s talking about another girl, and yes, he mentions her bum. I remember the first time I heard this song was when I visited my friend Randy and he played it to me. I disliked the song at that time, but it has grown on me so much. KTIZO and Victony always do something special when they come together. Perfect instrumentals, great song for almost every mood too. 9/10.

Soweto

Another favourite; “SOWETO”. He sings about how much he’s in love with a girl’s body. Victony uses many phases of his voice on this one. You feel it in the chorus, especially when he says, “girl if you Balenciego”. He doesn’t forget to mention the girl’s amazing back in this one too. I’d like to see this girl whose bum has him so mesmerized. This song also has terms and languages which are native to his homeland, but the vibes are amazing. Tempoe produced this one, and he did an amazing job at it. Crazy instrumentals as usual. 9/10.

Kolomental

Victony goes back to the substance afrobeat in the outro “KOLOMENTAL”. He talks about his struggles in school and life and how he doesn’t understand how and why he goes through some things. As a fellow student of mathematics, I felt it when he said, “I no fit calculate the calculus”. He speaks, again, about how being an outlaw makes him a loner and how he believes in God’s plan for him. The chorus is a single word, but the way he says it with different phases of his voice makes it so pleasing to hear. The entire song is basically him saying, “If I try to understand what’s going on I’ll go crazy”, thus the name. This is the perfect outro to this album.  Amazing vocals and insane production and instrumentals. The music video was also stunning 10/10.

Summary

This EP feels more like an album than an EP. Apart from the length, it has all the features of an album. Great from start to finish. Every song is amazing, and I hope they get the recognition they deserve. I’m excited to see what else Victony has for us because this is just the beginning of great things, he’s just 21, so there’s way more to come. My overall rating of this album is an 8.8.

 

Check out some other songs from Victony, especially his Colors performance, Many Man, and “Pray”