Album – The Certificate
Artiste – Duncan Mighty
Guests – Timaya, Double Jay
Producers – Duncan Wene Mighty Okechukwu
Record Label – Young Wealth Records (2016)
Duration – 51 minutes
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Duncan Mighty Official Certificate tracklist (back cover)
(Young Wealth Records)
Using the term ‘comeback’ to describe an artiste is a euphemism to describe the irrelevance of the musician. That’s the word that is constantly being linked to Duncan Mighty, the strongman of Port Harcourt who has put the city on the map of Nigerian music, and continues to do so. There’s no need for ‘comeback’. Duncan Mighty never left the scene.
The Niger Delta native’s previous records have been on a steady supply of his content. From the two classics “Koliwater (Fully Loaded)” (2008) and “Ahamefuna (Legacy)” 2010, to the more niche-catering LPs – “Footprints" (2012), “Grace & Talent” (2014) – Wene Mighty has never left. He has maintained his music, diversified his business via dabbling into political leadership in his home state (Rivers), and stayed strong on his recording.
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Duncan Mighty showing off his wad of bills
(Instagram/duncanmighty)
His new album “The Certificate” has him in keeping with his signature sounds and elements, as he chases fulfilment and upliftment on this one. Duncan Mighty digs into his best works, studies the formula that made him become a champ, and replicates it on this work to effect. There’s the boastful, gimmicky home anthem on ‘Port Harcourt girl’, which was born out of the success of his famous song ‘Port Harcourt Boy’. His pop credential after all, makes him the first born of the city, and he aims to give back on the song ‘Tinubu. It’s easily one of his best tunes to date, a profound dose of euphoric folk and pop fusion that lingers long after its last seconds are exhausted. ‘Hataz’shares a similar throbbing energy, but this one is sunny, almost tropical and speaks on an all-encompassing topic.
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Duncan Mighty
(pulse)
Mighty makes this album more representative of the excitement in the city. So he brings all the influences from his past works. The reggae is here on ‘Na lie’, and on the title track, he resorts to his love of Latino influences from the banjo. ‘Onyinye’ swaggers along as a proud promethean creation which is a confluence of all his core topics (love, positivity, thanksgiving, and inspiration). While the minimalist ‘DJs Anthem’ is an ode to the disc jockeys who have continually kept their corners with Duncan Mighty.
Just like his first ever album, Duncan Mighty has not chased change or altered the basics of his music making process. The beats are uniquely minimalist and safe, employing processed synths and beats, and guitars that are played live and chopped up to sound like they have been sampled. This runs through the entire album, making it sound fresher than all of his other projects, but retaining his signature DNA at the centre. This is not a ‘comeback’ for Duncan Mighty. It’s an extension of his whelming influence from the Niger Delta, to the rest of Nigeria.
Rating - 3.5
Ratings
1-Dull
2-Boring
2.5-Average
3-Worth Checking Out
3.5-Hot
4-Smoking Hot
4.5-Amazing
5-Perfection
