Set to reverberate across the global music landscape, UNRULY is the glorious new album from renowned African music icon OLAMIDE. Arriving on August 9 via his YBNL Nation record label in collaboration with EMPIRE, Unruly , as featured in Billboard, marks an emblematic milestone for the Nigerian music legend as his tenth studio album. The intriguing title alludes to Olamide’s unfettered artistic approach in crafting this 15-track epic. Liberated from conventional constraints, the selection and creation of these songs were driven purely by his instinctual artistic impulse. As he puts it, “there was no contemplation on what I should do, I just did what I wanted to do, epitomizing the essence of ‘unruliness’”.
Propelled by its lead singles ‘New Religion’ and ‘Trumpet’, which have combined for nearly 100 million global streams already, along with endorsements from Billboard, Clash Magazine, Hypebeast, and Complex, among others, Unruly captures Olamide’s unbridled creativity, and approach to life right now. Recently recognized in Billboard’s ‘International Power Players’ 2023 list, the Nigerian luminary delivers genre-defying brilliance in this latest work, with the album’s rich soundscapes being shaped in collaboration with Grammy Award-nominated producer P.Priime (Wizkid, Burna Boy), acclaimed super-producer Magicsticks (Asake, Davido), and his long-time collaborator Eskeez.
Across his Unruly album, Olamide has masterfully curated a stellar cast of afrobeats’ brightest new stars, including Asake (‘New Religion’), Rema (‘Mukulu’), CKay (‘Trumpet’), BNXN (‘Come Alive’), and Fireboy DML (‘Shibebe’), with these collaborations underscoring Olamide’s dedication to nurturing and amplifying the new generation of leading artists within the afrobeats music landscape. More than just musical partnerships, these unions reflect Olamide’s deeper commitment to unity and progress within Pan-African music. With his legendary status, Olamide gracefully shares the spotlight to champion the genre’s new voices, and further amplify the rich tapestry of afrobeats music.
ABOUT OLAMIDE
Olamide is one of Nigeria’s biggest stars, and one of the most successful artists to emerge out of Africa, with over one billion streams of his music worldwide. Equally at home emoting over a buoyant afrobeats rhythms, as he is rhyming over a pulsing trap beat, Olamide is known for his multilingual-style tracks that showcase his abilities to rap and sing in English, Pidgin and Yoruba. His classic discography has birthed essential afrobeats classics – from ‘Wo!’, ‘Motigbana’, and ‘Bobo’, to ‘Fada Fada’ with Phyno, ‘Kana’ featuring Wizkid, and ‘Infinity’ featuring Omah Lay.
He is also the founder of YBNL Nation, which he has grown into one of Nigeria’s most influential record labels. Since forming the imprint more than a decade ago, Olamide has not only helped launch the careers of afrobeats royalty such as Fireboy DML, Asake, and Adekunle Gold, but has also built a creative community and platform that champions the authentic and innovative sound of Nigerian music. The African icon’s impact and artistry have also garnered the acclaim of global tastemakers such as Billboard, Pitchfork, Forbes, Rolling Stone, and The GRAMMYs, among others.
Olamide shared his classic debut album Rapsodi in 2011, and has since dropped more than ten massive projects including the more recent 2021 album UY Scuti, which has amassed over 200 million streams, and 2020’s widely successful Carpe Diem that birthed the massive hits ‘Infinity’ and ‘Loading’. So far in 2023, every song he touches has turned to gold, whether it’s ‘Kpe Paso’ with Wande Coal, or ‘Amapiano’ and ‘New Religion’ with Asake, and as he shares his new album Unruly, Olamide is showing exactly why he is one of the biggest stars on the continent.
‘UNRULY’ ALBUM TRACKLIST
1. Celebrate
2. Jinja
3. Problem
4. Gaza
5. Doom
6. Trumpet (featuring CKay)
7. Come Alive (featuring BNXN)
8. New Religion (featuring Asake)
9. Shibebe (featuring Fireboy DML)
10. Mukulu (featuring Rema)
11. Hardcore
12. Supplier
13. Life Goes On
14. No Worries
15. Street Jam
CONNECT WITH OLAMIDE: Instagram – Twitter
MEDIA & PRESS: Please direct all inquiries to Ayo Adepoju: [email protected]
