Cultural Canvas - Baba Kuboye (Afrobeat) A deep affection for afrobeat music and Nigerian culture permeate Baba Kuboye’s latest album, “Cultural Canvas”, a 10-track collection of sultry grooves imbued with Kuboye’s hazy, sultry saxophone. In a celebration of his African heritage and culture, “Cultural Canvas” celebrates a love for life, self-discovery and the power of music.

It is of no surprise to us that Kuboye was raised by a family of musicians, as the album boasts of a bevy of musical maturity. From the genre blend of afrobeat, dancehall, hiphop and big band, to the incorporation of live instrumentation (including Baba’s saxophone), to the cultural touchpoints in the lyrics, this project comes fully baked with experience and depth. The instrumental arrangements are musically complex and multi-layered, giving you so much more than your standard plug-in generated pop albums of today.

We also get something we don’t typically get in our music these days—a bass lead vocal! Baba Kuboye reaches Barry White levels of deep, resonant, rich vocals that roll into his songs like a quiet thunder. With much of the instrumentation sitting higher in the mix, Kuboye is given all the room he needs in the track to take up the basement, at times acting as both lead vocalist and bass line. We highlight a few of our standout tracks below.

Album opener “Soft Life”, for which we get both the radio and extended edits, is certainly a crowd pleaser, and serves as a great introduction to the album as it epitomizes the style and flow that will follow. Kuboye exists in a swirling verb, backed by a lively band and backing chorus as a simple chord progression in the keys presses the song forward with tension. It has a steady build, conveying the feeling of being swept up in a stream, with each new instrument helping push you further downstream. The benefit of live instrumentation is on full display here, with the track becoming more than the sum of its parts. You can quickly picture hearing this in a smoky after hours jazz club.

“Konko” is similarly crowd pleasing, with a call out hook we can imagine Kuboye would have no trouble getting the audience to participate in when performed live. While most of the album feels timeless, “Dey for you” sounds like it was pulled from today’s top afrobeat tracks, infused with elements of modern R&B to make what we think is the album’s lead track for playlisting and crossover appeal. There's also a flare of retro in here, with the "down for my baby cuz she down for whatever" chant feeling like a 00s era Joe feature. This is the one that we can't get out of our heads. Our favorite for sure—a real hip winder.

Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the heart of the album—”WA ZO BIA”—an emotional rap sendup of Kuboye’s ancestral home. “There are two countries in Africa, Nigeria and the rest.” Who are we to disagree? We also give special mention to album closer “Igbala”, a spoken word meditation/incantation about self discovery, self love and inner peace.

From the heart and musically robust, Baba Kuboye’s “Cultural Canvas” is a triumph.