Hi, everyone. Nothany Waitano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd. It is time for, yes, a review of this new Rema album, Heis.

We have a new record here from a Nigerian singer, rapper, and songwriter, Rema, his sophomore LP, and apparently this dude calls himself "The Future". However, I can't really deny that there is something to that claim, because while you could argue that Remais one of many at the moment, a viral face in this growing global wave of Afrobeats, the trendy West African blend of pop and rap and sometimes dance hall, as well as a myriad of other things.

Rema's approach to this genre, though, at least to my ears, is pretty fresh. And with this short little record, I think in a way, he is proving just how elastic and blurry the boundaries of this style of music are. Because to put it bluntly, the production on this record – yeah, these are not the beats you get on your typical, especially pop, crossover type Afrobeats album – what Rema is bringing instead is a really interesting mix of synthetic perks as well as hand drums, cinematic group vocal passages and chants, lots and lots of analog synthesizers, like stuff straight out of the '80s, lots of very fat, aggressive square waves and sawtooths, some pretty epic string sections here and there as well.

This is very distinctly an Afrobeats record in terms of its grooves, its melodies, Rema's approach to vocals. But by that same token, a lot of the time, it feels like the production on this record pulls from some very recent, big-budget, over-the-top industrial rap, psych trap records. Think Kanye West or Travis Scott to an extent. Even the very spacey sexy and solemn closing cut on the record, I think, is something that weekend fans could gravitate to.

Again, I just don't hear a lot of Afrobeats records out there quite like this. This may be a personal shortcoming on my end as it is very difficult to navigate this world of music as a complete outsider just merely through the internet. But when it comes to artists in this field who are getting the type of traffic and attention Rema is , it's not often that I hear beats and instrumentals that a refined left-field approach. I mean, some of the synth work sounds downright Mike Dean-esque at points. One of the only reference points that I can think of that reminds me of some of the production on this record is a long underappreciated Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek side project, Africa Hitech, which the whole point of that music was to take all these West African musical ideas and filter them through this experimental UK electronic a lens.

And while I do think there are parallels there to what Rema is doing, by comparison, I would say what he does on this record has a much wider appeal. Not only are we getting pretty catchy song structures on this record, but vocally, he's a pretty charismatic guy. He is quite capable, whether he's singing or rapping, doing some combination of the two, or even rhythmically rapping here and there on some beats.

While at times I do feel like his similes and the substance and depth of his lyrics could use a little work. He still brings a lot of character to the table and knows his way around a chorus. So between having a great ear for beats, having also a knack for melody and flow, and a good amount of vocal versatility, he has a lot going for him.

Now, I will say by comparison, I don't think his singing voice is quite as stand out. And the songs where he's leading with that tend to blend together a little bit here and there. As long as I'm complaining, another major issue with this LP is that the songs, a lot of the time, are just too damn short, or at least they're cutting off some greater type of potential by just merely hovering around two minutes and change much of the time.

There are some tracks like the opener where Rema is able to really build up momentum, a lot of layers along a very peppy tempo, a linear progression. But then on other tracks, the brevity of these songs really boxes him into these very scant, straightforward song structures where there isn't a whole lot of room to stretch out, like on "Azaman" as well as "Hehehe", which is a track that had so much more that I think could have been dug into, considering how much of a funny little switchup it is from the rest of the record, especially in the first half. But the length at which it lasts, it just feels like an over extended intro.

But despite these issues, I still think Rema is mostly headed in the right direction on this album and the midpoint of this record provides some really decent highlights, like the grouped vocal passages and string sections that sound like they're straight out of an epic desert journey on the title track. A really amazing combination of sounds that pair very well with Rema's song vocals. There's "Ozeba" as well, which is just complete madness between its skittering rhythms as well as analog synths.

Those chants of "Ozeba, Ozéba, Ozéba", it's a complete and utter banger. There's an intensity to it that I can't really deny. Plus the wrapping on it, I find it just be so funny and vibrant, really just filled with life and energy. It feels quite cheeky as well. It's almost as if Rema has someone in mind who he's mocking as he's delivering these bars.

Then the following "War Machine" is this dystopian West African trap epic with rattling high hats and a grimy feature to boot. "Egungun" is a moment where I feel like Mike Dean production inspiration returns to the fold a bit. Esthetically, what I'm getting off this track is something like out of a Don Toliver album, but the bare bones, bass-level musical genetics coming through are all West Africa are all Afrobeats. Of course, Rema's nimble flows and standout choruses really sell the song along the way. Now, I think the record's unique production choices start to dry up in its very final moments, unfortunately. Really, the only redeeming quality of the end of this album is how personal Rema attempts to get on the lyrical side with the final track.

Outside of that, though, I do think the record could have finished stronger and lasted longer, too, because at the end of the day, we're talking just 11 tracks here that span just only 27 minutes, which, considering how animated and full of character the vocals are, how epic the production is, much the time and how good some of the choruses are. This is some great quality stuff that I just only want to hear more of. I want to hear these ideas fully fleshed out and pushed to their limit, which is really like this album's greatest mistake and shortcoming. It just could have gone further.

So while, yeah, there are some tracks that pale in comparison to others in this tracklist, there are moments where I wish this album was doing more when it's onto something, which it is most of the time. It's really onto something, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 7 on this record.

Have you given this album a listen? Did you love it? Did you hate it? What would you rate it? You're the best, you're the best. What should I review next?

Anthony Fantano. Rema. Forever.