Panshak Zamani aka Ice prince is considered one of Nigeria’s ever blazing rap artists, who is popularly known for his exceptional outfit and eccentric lyrical flows.
Unfortunately, his future in the Nigerian music industry might be uncertain due to the constant release of lukewarm songs unable to earn him hit records, awards nor impressive commercial success since 2014.
Ice Prince rose to fame when he released his lead single ‘Oleku’ back in 2011 and positioned himself as a force to reckon with in the Nigerian music industry.
His songs once hits in Nigeria and worldwide, have recently been struggling. None of his newer works have matched his days of ‘Oleku’, ‘Superstar’ and ‘Aboki’. With his current struggles in the industry, lots of music fans have the feeling that he no longer has the proficiency of surviving in the music industry.
The pop star, earlier in 2019, tried to re-launch his music carrier when he featured Phyno and Falz on his single ‘Feel Good’ remix but unfortunately for him again, the song was unable to bring him back on the map.
In a recent twitter battle between some music lovers, some fans consider the newly released single ‘Top Up’ as the rapper’s ‘bounce back’ song while a majority of his fans seem not to be impressed with the song in all aspects.
On the recently released song, the rapper was able to harness his rap skill and melodious rhyme in such a fabulous way to suit the dance hall song. On the lyrics, he proclaimed his love for his woman and telling other guys and girls to stay away.
The lyrics of the song are clear, entertaining and engaging but a major downside to the song was instrumental.
The song, which was produced by Jonny Blaze and Stadic, obviously needs improvement as the beat was ‘wack’ and conventional with no sophisticated sound pattern in any way, thereby making the sound equivalent to songs produced in the 90s.
The music would have sounded better if producers like Rexxie, Pheelz, Young John, Sarz, Masterkraft, Spellz, Killertunes Cracker Mallo among other good producers had jumped on the beat.
Also, having another singer on the song would have gone a great length in balancing the melody of the song as the second verse of the song sound boring.
What the rapper may need right now is a reset on his creative process. Perhaps he needs to go back to the basics of his art, write new songs, get good music producers, get ghost-writers to help out with the composition and have more than just “yes-men” sanctioning his every move.
Nonetheless, the Nigerian music industry in recent times has become a game of survival of the fittest, the stronger ones have remained above waters while the weaker ones keep drowning. The stronger ones can be described as those with increasing talent and creative mindset and the weaker ones can be described as those with little or no creative mind-set.
Ice Prince used to be one of the strong ones in the music industry, but it seems the key to the door of his musical inspiration and talent has gone missing over the years. We only pray he recovers the key. (NAN)
