Wale Ojeyide

Wale Ojeyide terms his music as "broken jazz,” yet that term hardly does justice to its expansive diasporic bent. This tag probably applied more to Walls Don’t Exist, his debut recording he issued under the name Science Fiction last year. The most drastic change in Oyejide’s musical approach is that he’s no longer relying heavily on vocal samples and has actually contributed his own voice extensively to his work. While he resides in the U.S., Oyejide was born and raised in Nigeria and this background resonates strongly here while the music is also influenced by hip-hop. This approach yields intriguing results like "There’s A War Goin’ On,” where Oyejide adopts a political stance and vocal style obviously influenced by Afrobeat godfather Fela Kuti, while recruiting J-Dilla to lyrically bless the track, over rugged drums reminiscent of the renowned Detroit producer’s own "Fuck The Police” single. However, this is not his entire approach and the latter half of this record finds Oyejide applying dreamy electronic soundscapes to his beats whether it’s the chilled soul-jazz fusion of "Slow Down” or the earnest yet woozy tribute to hip-hop pioneers "This Is Dedicated To,” featuring one of MF Doom’s more strait-laced appearances. While Oyejide’s own voice often shows signs of wavering and is occasionally tentative, his conceptual vision is anything but, revealing a conscious and consistently inventive effort to represent his own sonic journey in linear form.