Jidenna might have only just released his third studio album, but he’s already got another on deck that fans of his more Afro-leaning sounds will be very excited about.
In May, the multi-talented Nigerian-American star dropped off his latest LP, ME YOU & GOD, which he wrote and recorded during the coronavirus pandemic while holed up in Downtown L.A.
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Sonically tapping into the psychedelic soul and funk that he listens to at home, it’s a departure from his previous albums, The Chief (2017) and 85 To Africa (2019), both of which — from a production and songwriting perspective — are steeped in pride for his African heritage, which is something his music has been synonymous with since arriving on the scene in 2015.
Speaking to HipHopDX, Jidenna explained why his latest release was devoid of the Afro vibes. “I wasn’t in Africa the majority of when I made this project,” he said of ME YOU & GOD. “When I did 85 To Africa, I literally went from Atlanta to South Africa and Nigeria; so you can hear that.
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“When I made my first project The Chief, I was in Atlanta but I had moved from Brooklyn. We had a parlour in Brooklyn and I moved to this big mansion in Atlanta, and if you listen to the sounds you can kinda understand those two environments.”
ME YOU & GOD was mostly recorded in California which meant Jidenna didn’t have the same African influences on his doorstep to help shape the sound of the album like he did previously; therefore “it felt unnatural” for him to force it into his creative output.
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Another reason he chose not to make ME YOU & GOD an African-inspired project was because he had a chip on his shoulder about the glowing reception today’s African music trends are getting, admitting that fair-weather fans turned him off slightly — even though he’s glad African artists are finally getting the shine they deserve.
“I’m one of the factors of why the trend, at least on the U.S. side, caught on,” Jidenna told DX. “And I think it’s more than a trend, but early on people were like, ‘Is this gonna be a fad or not?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ I knew that. But after seeing it now, with some people I’m like, ‘Y’all didn’t even like African music a second ago.’
“I’m happy that it crossed over but part of it is that chip operating in me. I was like, ‘I ain’t even gonna do that shit for you. Go get it from everybody else. I’m gonna go this way.'”
But despite his reservations, he does have an “Afro-dance fusion record” in the stash for fans who want ‘the old Jidenna’ back.
“I made a second album,” Jidenna revealed. “I didn’t just sit here the last three years and make just this [new album]. I made a lot of music. I made too much. I made one like an Afro-rock record and I made more of an Afro-dance fusion record — I don’t wanna call it Afrobeats or Amapiano but it has all that in there.”
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On why he didn’t release it before his latest album, Jidenna candidly stated: “Because honestly, I’m just a rebel like that.”
A release date for the project has yet to be announced. In the meantime you can listen to ME YOU & GOD here.
