Review: Trigmatic & A.I go highlife with ‘Motromodwo’

A reasonable measuring tool of how successful A.I has been under the year in review is written all over the compositions – self and partnered – he’s jumped on.

And on what is his latest collaborative material, he proves just how much of a ‘fixer’ he is. Whether a self-penned piece or one with creative direction from a participating collaborator, A.I has not failed. He is yet to.

The playlist goes; this year alone, we’ve been blessed – and this is matter-of-factly – with a garland of well pieced art from him. When they came, they broke conventional mainstream justifications, sidestepping the established order to gain direct entry into urban radio’s sometimes skewed playlist.

While he may not have been gigging major, save for a few including a recent one in S Concert, A.I has remained decisively relevant. Till date, and months after release, his Grind effort with Vision DJ is one of local radio and night club’s most requested songs.

What expectantly draws ears to A.I’s music is his Unique Selling Proposition (USP); voice.

This is it. Very few musicians this part of the world get to make use of their voices the way A.I comes through with his. With controlled nasal and throat placements, he makes utter waffle of sticking within known, vocal coordinates.

On the latest co-authored piece with Trigmatic, both find a fine balance and put their strengths to use in an enchanting manner.

Motromodwo, produced by Oteng, is highlife relived. It is contemporary and combines first, second and third generations of folkloric palm wine music influences to give off a modern feel that swings from Pat Thomas, Ofori Amponsah, Alhaji K Frimpong and King Bruce to Osei Vasco.

How A.I manages to breathe life into the material he works on, is why these cats go for him. If you revere Obrafour along the lines of how well of a hook master he is, then in A.I you have a mini, possessed soldier full of soul. And that is exactly the good thing he leaves Motromodwo with.

Sticking to his lone-tearing style, he injects into the song, a punchier cohesion that offers its tails and extreme loose ends a narrative about ungratefulness so powerful, so moving, too. The rendering – easily masterly from a man underrated and less talked about – is importantly euphemistic but equally polices itself into an extension that makes it beautiful in the end.

Despite frequent cross referencing of hypocrisy throughout the piece, it is the complete songwriting, and A.I’s unconventional delivery that makes it soft for essential listening. The blurting, weaving and transmittable voice technique makes it very gentle it can easily cure uninvited piles.

For the uninitiated, what A.I does to Motromodwo is a projected hit like it did for Grind. Motromodwo is A.I coming back all over again after Shine on E.L’s Bar III, and Tsi Obenk? Mi with Kojo Cue.

Against recent hit-seeking vocabulary of where to find tit-owning mistresses in town, and whether they’ve had butt or nose jobs, A.I on Motromodwo is none of that – in fact, he shies away from addressing issues of ex shags, which is much the case these days – but at the same time, manages undertones that are more conscious and teasing.

On Motromodwo, there are no blurs, and no slapping of unwanted verses; once Trigmatic decided A.I was going to do the singing, it was him. Just him; and he goes after the ingrates in a croakier yet sexy tone that elevates him from the big, fat crying-baby we fell in love with in Anger Management (2014) to a grown, old young man of good standing who can finally take revenge.

Listen below