A Review of Seyi Vibez Billion Dollar Baby Album. Seyi Vibez Billion Dollar Baby Album is A New Dimension to His Artistry

With a running time of 29 minutes, it’s eleven tracks long and features A-list artists like Simi and Mayorkun, Including production credits from FreshVDM, Rexxie, Enta, TBM, Dips, and Que. He tells his personal story about his journey and prowess as an artist while exploring themes of Love, Hustle, and street-oriented Inspiration, with his vocal manipulations, technique and cadences, rooted in Fuji and Hip-Hop influences.

The street-inspired artist “Seyi Vibez” has been on the music run for over a few years as an underdog artist turning lead into gold. However, his rise to prominence started in early 2019 when he dropped his first hit song titled “God sent” - the song which was taken off his debut album titled “NSNV” which means “No Seyi, No Vibez” with eight tracks without a single feature.



The name “Balogun Afolabi Oluwaloseyi” doesn’t sound familiar; nevertheless, you must have heard the brand name “Seyi Vibez”. Ever since he got the attention of the streets, which makes the large chunks of his main audience, he hasn’t stopped dishing out hot street-inspired songs. For an artist whose style of music evokes hustle, prosperity and a strong desire to acquire wealth, Seyi Vibez derives most of his inspiration from money. It reflects in his incessant exploration of the theme. Perhaps, this is the main obvious reason why people stereotype his entire style of music appeals to “Yahoo boy” & “Hustlers”, ranging from all his blistering songs hitting the street like “+234”, “Bullion Van”, “Realise,” “Billion Dollar” and many more.

The 27-year-old Ikorodu-born artist always tells the story of young hardworking people (read as hustlers) on the streets. His recent album release: “Billion Dollar Baby”, which got the attention of the music industry and also got the first spot on Apple Music’s album chart, is a strategic album to strengthen and stamp his profile as one of Nigeria’s most in-demand Street-Hop superstars.

The album opener, titled “BD Baby”, takes Seyi Vibez on an emotive sonic journey where he croons slowly on soft piano chords and interjection of saxophone solos. In this song, Seyi Vibez tells the story of his journey to stardom and gives praise to God as the reason behind his success. The slow tempo beat sees Seyi Vibez saying, “I no fit hear all the haters talk, ’Cause I’m writing songs all night long, Say the young G getting too lit, Never let the fame get into me.” The chorus follows the trendy pattern of background singers, which was backed by the auto voice of the female artist “Reehaa” and crowd vocals.



For an artist who has been stereotyped as singing about pains, struggles, and money, Seyi Vibez broke the stereotypes with a love song featuring Simi titled “Darling”, where the two artists glided on romantic waves of a mid-tempo afro-pop beat. This isn’t Seyi Vibez type of theme, so he falters, but Simi’s contribution saved the song. Seyi Vibez sings about her desire for a lady she admires. His chorus lyrics: “You high pass palmi, God bless your mummy for this your body, I want to lavish all my money, on top your body,” nods to this fact. Simi’s sonorous voice added enough spice to the song and made it a perfect Afropop-bop track.

Seyi Vibez didn’t stop at singing about love on the second track; he pushed it even further on the third track, which he titled “Ife”, a love song that got its chorus from “Eji Owuro” - one of Shola Allyson’s old classic songs. The part of the sampled lyrics was autotuned and didn’t make it sounds appealing enough. The intro was emotional, the voice of a lady trying to get the attention of Seyi Vibez through texts and calls, but he’s focused on his hustles. The Amapiano log drum beat, the crowd vocals, the rattling shakers, and the humming violin melody make up for all the obvious errors of the track.

There’s a reminiscence of the opening track mood on this song titled: “Saro” - an Amapiano instrumental laced with Afrobeats production that makes the Amapiano less obvious on the track. Seyi Vibez won’t stop telling his life stories and day-to-day struggles. He dished out his usual wisdom-filled words when he sang: “Let my troubles go, o di’bag oo, Them ah ask ‘How I take survive?’ But I tell them ‘Aye l’oja.’ Who notice if I no dey online?”. The non-stop saxophone sound adds nothing spectacular to this song; it only hinders the full articulation of this track.



Music critics and Netizens on Twitter have said Seyi Vibez experimented with and sampled Asake’s styles in this album, and this particular track just justified the assertions. It’s easy to spot on “Chance (Na Ham) where Seyi Vibez sampled Asake’s viral hit track titled “Organise” when he sings: “Chance (chance)/Tell them, tell them to make dem give me chance (chance)/’Cause if na jazz (jazz), e go cast (cast),” one could hear the verse on Asake’s organise that says: “organise, some of our wise, every other person overwise”. Although, Portable was the first to sample it on his song titled “Azaman”. It’s a fuji-inspired song with its melody entrenched in the driving rhythm of the vocals. He sang mostly in Yoruba and Pidgin, where he made use of street lingo. The log drum and the layered percussion give the song the energy it needs. This would be a viral hit song due to its free-flowing singing and chanting that makes it relatable to dance to.

In the mellow-tuned Amapiano track “Billion Dollar,” produced by TBM, Seyi Vibez asserts his assurance of success in life and also sings about his desire to acquire wealth worth “a billion dollars”. He dished his usual wisdom quotes of advising people about time and why one should not waste it but work hard and raise their head high”. It’s a song of hope.



The intro used in “Bullion Van” is a popular clip excerpted from one woman’s voice in a court saying: “I’m emotionally stressed, I’m emotionally downcast”. Seyi Vibez unfurls his money leanings again on this track when he sings, “Where money dey I go dey there (eh I go dey there)/No ask me why I no sign to label/Omi o lota oo/Water e no get enemy/Any weapon against me no fit prosper (Amen),” Comparing himself to Water and infusing a Bible verse prayer, he asserts that he has no enemy. He flowed again on the Amapiano while using the male crowd vocals. It’s a vibe-giving, hypnotic song.

“Gangsta” is one of the pop-leaning songs on the album. Produced by QueBeat, Seyi Vibez’s vocals float smoothly on the mid-tempo best. He sings, “Never met a girl like you for my life/Say, I no fit lie, I dey kill for your body/Make dem dey try, dem no fit off our light.” It’s another love song with an efficient verse and attention-grabbing production.

The pre-released “+234” titled track meets Seyi Vibez in his cheery state of mind where he changed from being romantic to needing time to enjoy his life, singing: “okpor, okpor, okpor, make I chop life on the low” it’s an upbeat song that will stand out well as a club banger.



On the slow-tempo “Ten,” Seyi Vibez and Mayorkun put up a good shift in complementing each other’s vocals. The song jeers at haters and detractors and expresses appreciation to God even when there’s no money, “Even when money no dey, make you give thanks to Almighty/In every situation (in every situation, yeah),” Mayorkun sings. It’s not one of the best songs on the album, and the song lacks the energy that could have revived the song’s composition.

On the groovy catchy album closer, “Bank Of America,” produced by Rexxie, the highly infectious laid-back Amapiano tune sees Seyi Vibez celebrating his achievements, it’s an anthemic song, and Seyi Vibez talked about his ability to win a Grammy in the future. It’s more like a party song for Seyi Vibez, as the album ends on a celebratory and happy note.



Judging by Seyi Vibez’s previous releases, it’s safe to say that he mastered the art of telling relatable stories in his songs. And on this, his debut album: “Billion Dollar Baby”, is a big testament to the fact that he sure knows to craft an album with perfect sonic cohesion from the first track to the last track. His vocals were sharp, his lyrics were pristine, and his delivery was superb. The production on this album is hard to fault, and if need be, the producers - Fresh VDM, TMB, ENTA, QueBeat and Rexxie-who worked on the album to produce classic beats deserve to be given their accolades and flowers for a job well executed.

Ultimately, This album is just excellently cohesive and hit-packed. The harmonies, emotions, and crowd vocals employed in the tracks connect with listeners. It’s a 7/10 project that further proves that Seyi Vibez is here to stay.

Do you think this is a classic debut album from Seyi Vibez? What can you say about his style of music and how he capitalised on the recent proliferation of the Amapiano sound mixing it with Fuji and Afrobeats? Let’s know your thoughts.