Music superstar, business visionary and international nomad Mr Eazi will release his long-awaited, decade-in-the-making debut solo album on Oct. 27, 2023, it was announced today. The 16-track album is now available for pre-order HERE.
The announcement arrives with the release of new single “Chop Time, No Friend,” and its accompanying music video, shot in Dakar, Senegal, by director Allison Swank Owen.
The buoyant “Chop Time, No Friend” is a playful return to the Banku Music sound Mr Eazi pioneered and popularized with his early singles and mixtapes, fusing the pulse of afrobeats with the more laid-back vibes of Ghanaian highlife music. “Chop Time, No Friend is a very common Ghanaian saying, something you will see written on the front or side of buses,” Mr Eazi says. “It means when you are eating, you don’t think about anybody. You are just focused on your enjoyment.”
For Eazi, the track’s lyrics are a way to express how he doesn’t let haters distract him from enjoying the fruits of his success. “It is touching on how people chitchat on me, but I am still focused on my enjoyment,” Mr Eazi said. “It is a celebration of self. I am saying everything I touch turns to gold. You can’t trouble me.”
“Chop Time, No Friend” was produced by Andre Vibez, the beatmaker behind Rema and Selena Gomez’s Billboard Top 10 single “Calm Down,” and Ghana’s KillBeatz (Burna Boy, Ed Sheeran), a key contributor to Mr Eazi’s breakthrough 2017 mixtape Life Is Eazi, Vol. 1: Accra to Lagos.
Allison Swank Owen, who previously collaborated with Mr Eazi on 2018’s “Lagos to London: The Documentary,” directed the “Chop Time, No Friend” video, which premiered on RollingStone.com. “The main inspiration for the video was to tell the story of the incredible creative energy happening in Dakar,” Mr Eazi said. “We wanted to feature the fine artists, fashion designers, and everyday activities that make Dakar an inspiring place to be.”
While the title of the forthcoming album remains under wraps for now, Mr Eazi has shared the full list of producers who contributed to the project. In addition to Andre Vibez and KillBeatz, these include Kel-P (Nigeria), Knucks (U.K.), Michael Brun (Haiti), M.O.G Beatz (Ghana), E Kelly (Nigeria), Type A (Nigeria), Stikmatik (U.K.), Yung Willis (Nigeria), Nonso Amadi (Nigeria/Canada), Phantom (Nigeria), Beat Butcha (U.K.), Venna (U.K.), KDream (Nigeria) and Mr Eazi himself.
Recorded over a two-year period between Ouidah and Cotonou, Benin; Kigali, Rwanda; Accra and Kokrobite, Ghana; Lagos, Nigeria; London; Los Angeles; and New York City, the album features some of Mr Eazi’s most personal work, as he dives deeply into subjects like love, betrayal, loneliness, and family, expressed through three distinctive acts.
In a first-of-its-kind fusion of African music and art, Mr Eazi commissioned visual artists from across the continent to create unique, physical art pieces to represent each of the album’s 16 tracks. For “Chop Time, No Friend,” he tapped Sinalo Ngcaba, a Johannesburg, South Africa-based visual artist whose work also graces the cover of Chop Life, Vol. 1: Mzansi Chronicles, the 2023 debut album from Mr Eazi’s dance music project, ChopLife Soundsystem.
As he traveled through Africa recording the album in 2021 and 2022, Mr Eazi forged relationships with visual artists whose work he encountered along the way. Noting a lack of collaboration between Africa’s exploding pop music scene and the continent’s fine art creators, Mr Eazi personally handpicked 13 artists, representing eight African countries, inviting them to collaborate in a process he describes as ‘informal and instinctual’.
“Inviting artists to create for the album was from my passion for creativity and expression,” Mr Eazi said. “I formed a true bond with many of my artist friends. The artworks visually unlock the ideas, emotion, and energy within my music.’
Each of the artworks created for the album will be featured in a multi-sensory exhibition experience, which will appear in Lagos and Accra before heading to 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair at Somerset House in London from October 12-15, followed by New York. Additional details are forthcoming.
