Several weeks ago Malawian rapper Phyzix went on a marketing tirade of sorts releasing single after single, week in week out from his sixth studio album Captain Long John. The album hadn’t been released at the time but the campaign managed to create some buzz on social media; this was helped by the fact that his wedding was taking place at around the same time. Anyway the project is finally out and here’s a review.
The album came with a lot of pomp and did hype behind it due to Phyzix’s intense marketing efforts. When I got my copy and played it I did not have very high expectations that this project would be vastly different from his previous material. I was not wrong. The album has a familiar sound and covers a lot of material that has become commonly associated with Phyzix. If I were to sort the songs in the album in half based on category I’d end up with aggressive, macho bravado tracks on one side and love songs on the other. That sums up the album in as far as the overall lyrical content covered. The project has a total of ten tracks consisting of full-length songs and interludes. The total run time is 61 minutes; a huge chunk of which is contained in the outro which is 23 minutes long.
Musically it’s a mix of trap, afro-beat and hip hop and it features collaborations with longtime collaborators The Dare Devilz as well as Janta, Bucci and Keli Kay. All in all it’s a average album that does not have too much to make it stand out from what’s available on the market though it does have some good songs.
The length of the project in as far as track count is concerned is more like that of an EP. Four out of the ten tracks are not really songs per se. The first and last tracks are an intro and outro respectively. In both instances we listen to what sound like voice messages from various people mentioning how they got to know Phyzix and what they like about him; nothing worth listening to really. One listen is more than enough. Track number five is a short interlude by the late Dr Myles Munroe, which is followed by a beat where rapper/producer Dominant 1 scratches various phrases taken from Phyzix’s previous five albums. If anything this acts as a showcase of D1’s skills. This leaves us with six actual songs which is about the length of an EP. So it felt like I was short-changed when I bought it expecting ten full length tracks only to find six. The four other tracks feel like they were just put there to make the track count reach ten so that it could be marketed as an album.
This is not the type of album that I find replay value in. The stand-out track for me is Mfana Olusa which is a track that displays Phyzix’s strongest suit; aggression and comedic rhymes. Baby Ya Old Skool is also worth mentioning. It’s a track in which Phyzix commends a girl for being “old school” and having values that are rare in this day and age. The other tracks are not bad, but they are not that special either. Having three or four more full-fledged tracks would have really helped to add some meat to the project. A music video for Dekha was released in early May, before the album was released. The second video (Mfana Olusa) was officially aired on TV just a day ago and will be on the It’s Only Entertainment YouTube channel.
You can stream or purchase the album via the usual digital outlets; iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify and Deezer via the links below.
iTunes - http://apple.co/29gveRy
Apple Music - http://apple.co/297PB2w
Amazon - http://amzn.to/29bZb1H
Spotify - http://spoti.fi/29aJ7S2
Deezer - http://www.deezer.com/album/13470137
Captain Long John Tracklist
Enter The PioneerDekha (Ft. GD)Baby Ya Old SkoolHoneymoon (Ft. Keli Kay)Dr Myles InterludeCredentialz InterludeOne Meets Two Part 2 (Ft. Dare Devilz)Mfana OlusaZili Bwino (Ft. Bucci & Janta)Exit The Legend
