Album Review: Okenyo - The Wave

Even naming a song named 20/20 shows our host's chutzpah.

Urthboy - Elefant Traks' head honcho (and so basically Okenyo's boss) was the shining star of a song of a similar name a decade ago. Here, Okenyo redefines her mentor's earlier achievement and in so doing reinforces the fundamental message of this release: Okenyo is a formidable artist and a formidable person.

It's difficult to see past Woman's World. Only from time to time does a song feel like such a product of its time. And it's only the rarest gem that feels genuinely necessary. This is both. An angry victory march, a tour de force; forceful, urgent, confronting, essential. "You weren't ready for it to feel this nice", we're told. Quite so. Demons is immersive and swoony. Iso has a pleasing, pulsing drive; a hint of paranoia and the gentlest suggestion that the beast is always lurking just around the corner.

The Wave is a reminder of why we listen to rap music. Vastly more than the 'boom-bap, boom-b-boom-bap', it is a genre that allows an artist to share their personality (whether genuine or invented) with those of us listening. Here Okenyo has managed just that. Wonderful stuff.