Mykah’s Long Time Coming EP is modern Nigerian music personified, expertly touching on the different unique subgenres contained within the larger Afrobeats genre. Born Aramide Babalola, Mykah has created a reputation for himself producing and engineering music for various artistes like Davido, Eugy, Ozuna, Maleek Berry and LADIPOE. While he helped other people bring their musical visions to life, Mykah as well has nurtured aspirations of making his own projects and stamping his artistic imprint on them.
The result of this aspiration is the ‘Long Time Coming EP’ which aptly named, is Mykah’s sophomore project packed with years of experience and technique on the artiste, producer, and audio engineering end. Mykah taps artists like Egar Boi, Morello, JHAE, Skillz, Morientez, D3my and Rine to assist with vocal performances here. These collaborators floated through the project with a refined flow that showed expertise. The atmosphere had been carefully crafted by Mykah’s silky smooth beats that complement the various styles the featured artists came with.
Opening up the project with Intro, Mykah’s Banku bounce instrumental accompanies Edgar Boi’s high-pitched announcement that this project is a long time coming. Intro transitions to Felony, another Egar Boi featured song that dips feet into soft amapiano log drums that manage to mesh into Egar Boi’s incessant questioning of a lady’s love for him. The Long Time Coming EP is distinctly defined by soft vocal mixes, striking melodies and the trademark afrobeats bounce manifesting under different subgenres within the genre’s canon.
The topics Mykah chooses to explore are staple afrobeats subjects– they broach on love, women, a desire for luxury and enjoyment. However the approach these featured artists take in executing their assignment oozes intentionality in both the writing and melodies of choice. Water, which featured Skeelz is a spiritual and hypnotic rendition over psychedelic synthesizers and a dancehall bounce which reinforces the sheer range within Mykah’s skillset. The mix and production shine bright all over this project as they ensure that the music melts into the ears.
This is not Mykah’s first outing making music, he had created the ‘I Dey Knack’ album in 2020 and followed up with two singles in 2021. Mykah over the years had gone on to build a community of over 150 thousand people on various social media platforms. He has created multiple tutorials to assist aspiring producers in getting better at their output as well. And this transition from teacher to practitioner really shows in Mykah’s ‘Long Time Coming EP’. It is not every day one finds such a sonically cohesive project within Afrobeats as a genre.
Long Time Coming EP is a definitive entry into Mykah’s catalogue as producer, executive producer and mix engineer. It is a distinct offering of Afrobeats finest allure– the chill and soft bounce. Definitely worth the wait!
