EP Review: Alpha Ojini’s Tears Are Salty for a Reason Explores Male Vulnerabilities
Alpha Ojini blends genres—pop, afrobeats, hip-hop, jazz, soul—in his search for healing.
Although a rapper and singer, Alpha Ojini is also a producer and sound engineer who has produced, mixed and mastered songs for artistes such as M.I Abaga, Blaqbonez, PsychoYP, Ycee, A-Q, Loose Kaynon, among others. Real name Ebuka Alex Ojini-Ntamere, the Imo State indigene taught himself to rap, sing, produce, mix and master while he was an undergraduate student at Madonna University. In 2010, he released his first studio project No Silence and between then and 2014, when he went on a three-year hiatus, he put out two more projects—Road To R.U.S.H. (2011) and My Own Horns - The JazzRap Project (2014).
Both his debut and sophomore LPs—Half Price (2018) and Chvmeleon (2019)—improved Alpha Ojini’s visibility in the industry. Both projects featured acts such as M.I Abaga, Blaqbonez, Oxlade, Ycee, PsychoYP and Ghost (of Show Dem Camp). On those projects, Alpha Ojini exhibited his thoughtful-yet-playful lyricism and excellent production skills. His latest project, Tears Are Salty for a Reason, a six-track EP, finds him staring inwards and unearthing dark, painful experiences bordering on personal and familial relationships. In an unsurprising move, he produced five out of the six songs (the other one is produced by Nigerian music producer SynX) and mixed and mastered the entire project.
Nigerian singer T.O.D steals the show on “Doublespeak,” which incorporates jazz elements into its hip-hop beat. She is heartbroken and full of regret as she belts out the wrongs done to her by a lover. She comes to the realization, from which she draws strength, that the relationship will not work and it is no fault of hers. On his part, Alpha Ojini, although equally brokenhearted by a lover’s wrong ways, does not provide a detailed reflection like T.O.D; but when he raps, “I guess my toxic trait is holding shit in when I should be crying,” he subtly reveals the bedrock of the project.
On the pop number “Odeshi,” which features Nigerian singer Ogranya, Alpha Ojini narrates his tale of loss and depression. In 2007, after returning from church, Ojini’s mother slumped and died; he was the only person with her when that happened. He raps about how his father told him not to cry because men should only hold in pain, not reveal it. Ojini reveals how this advice, which he took, has had negative ripple effects across his life and within himself. The song’s title, which loosely means, “It does not leak,” is an allusion to the term mostly associated with the popular Nigerian vigilante group Bakassi Boys, who are known for their voodoo-enabled impenetrability.
Nigerian afro-soul singer Maka delivers a chorus in the personae of a young woman who recalls maternal advice about not losing her virginity until after marriage. In both verses, Alpha Ojini employs sarcasm as he raps about a man who only wants sex from a relationship. The song ties into the concept that truthfulness about one’s intentions should surpass deception in a relationship. On the production side, “Roses” has a jazz-influenced groovy tune with its horn blasts and drums.
“I cannot come and lie and say I want you/When I don’t really really need you,” Alpha Ojini sings on the afro-pop tune “Namaste,” which features Nigerian singer Tomi Owo. He advises listeners to resist the urge to enter a relationship just because they feel pressured by society; Ojini believes that by doing so, they can avoid discomfiting people with the emotional baggage that they haven’t cleared. In the chorus, Tomi Owo is in a world of her own, happily declaring her affection to a romantic interest. The song segues into a piano-and-saxophone-led outro where Alpha Ojini declares that he is willing to give love a try.
On “Everything,” Alpha Ojini serenades a love interest with affection and romantic promises. “You make the stars come out/You make it better when my constellation of scars come out,” he raps. In the background, Tomi Owo provides soothing harmonies that complement the dreamy mood of the track. On “Husband Material,” Alpha Ojini boasts that he is worth the chase and will no longer settle for less. To his female admirers, he sings, “I’m not your Romeo/But I’m husband material/Better hold me o.” Subtly, Ojini heals himself of his fears and inadequacies: he tells himself and the society that he is enough.
In a promo video for Tears Are Salty for a Reason, Alpha Ojini spoke about the challenge of injecting years of trauma, in a musically appealing way, into the project. “I think I made it work,” he said. “The music choices; how I produced the records, the collaborations on the project; my tune, how I emote on the records, whether I’m rapping or I’m singing. It’s one of my most introspective and most vulnerable [project] but I think I struck a good balance making music that people will also enjoy while relating to the reality on the record.”
He was not lying.
Go HERE to stream Tears Are Salty for a Reason.
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