As the third installment of his three-part EP series, ItheEP completes the trilogy Moelogo began telling with 2020’s ME and Myself. “It feels like I've completed a relay, having passed the baton to myself,” the Lagos-born, London-based singer-songwriter tells Apple Music. “With this release I've finally crossed the line on my own time, not competing with anyone else. ME was more about me just explaining how I felt as a human being. Myself was me understanding the problems I had during my life and then finding the solutions. I felt like I was spreading my wings, getting ready to take over the world and grow more.”
This 11-track EP sets the tone with the minimalist “Things Fall Apart” shining a light on the artist’s modern take on acoustic music. It’s a red herring, though, because the rest of the EP boasts 10 beat-heavy Afrobeats songs, ranging in topics from politics (“Boju Boju”) to no-strings-attached hookups (“One Time”). Central as Moelogo (born Mohammed Animashaun) is to the project, he is also assisted by a myriad of features, including Bella Shmurda, Adekunle Gold, Laycon, Reekado Banks, and more. “I just wanted to work with people that respect and love me for me,” he explains. “I felt like everybody on this project didn't give me any hassles. It's like Avengers.” He gives us a rundown on ItheEP below.
“Things Fall Apart”
“I was going through a really hard time and trying to find myself, trying to understand what love meant, because I felt like I didn't know. People never gave it to me. I always gave that out. This is me just breaking free and just speaking out saying, ‘You know what, I'm tired of this. I'm going to love myself.’”
“Wahala” (feat. Qdot)
“I remember I wrote the song at 4:53 in the morning. I woke up, I listened to the beat. I slept and I woke up again and I started humming something and it was a melody. I said, ‘I'm going to write a song about how it's your problem if you don't like me. I have no problem with you at all, anybody.’ Don't go around begging for people to love you. If they can't understand you for you, that is their problem.”
“Jaiye” (feat. Bella Shmurda)
“‘Jaiye’ means ‘live life, have fun.’ The song is speaking about me being blessed. I've been blessed since I was born, since I was in my mom's womb. Now I'm growing up. I'm going to continue living my life. I have no power; in life we don't have control. The person who has the control is Almighty God, or whatever anyone believes in. Our job is to be good, to do good to people, love people, be ourselves, and have fun.”
“Who Talk” (feat. Adekunle Gold & Ria Sean)
“When people make other people feel like they can't be something, because in their perspective, that thing is a bad thing to be—that’s what the song is about. You can’t—especially for women, right—you can't say a lady's a prostitute and she can't make it in life because you don’t agree and are not happy with [her] decision. That is her way of trying to find something for herself; to feed herself, her family; and to be something in life.”
“Fontainebleau” (feat. Krishane)
“‘Fontainebleau’ is like a fantasy I created. It’s me saying to a lady I want to meet, ‘Let's go and meet at Fontainebleau. Let's just enjoy ourselves.’ Krishane is an amazing singer-songwriter. He's Jamaican; he’s the son of the legendary [Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist Barrington] Levy. He and his father are Jamaican reggae royalty. I’ve been a fan of his music from way back; I always say that when it’s the right time, you feel it, and this was the right time to make the song.”
“Goody Goody” (feat. Alpha Ojini)
“I did a song for Alpha before; I love the way he raps. ‘Goody Goody’ is just a song for the ladies. It’s me saying, ‘We're going to have the best time of our lives.’”
“Stay Easy” (feat. The Cavemen.)
“The Cavemen. are beautiful, amazing singer-songwriters. I met them online and I tweeted them saying that I would love to make music with them one day. Literally five minutes after, in my DM they were like, ‘Yo, we're a big fan of yours. Let's get on it.’ This song just means that you take things easy and stay steady. Don't think about things too much.”
“One Time” (feat. Reekado Banks)
“This song is a bit naughty. I’m literally saying, ‘Let's have fun for one night. Just one time, one night. I don't want to tell you that I want you to be my girlfriend, and I don't want you to tell me to be your boyfriend, or wonder what we are going to be.’ I've been a fan of Reekado Banks since he started. I feel like he doesn't get enough credit.”
“Care About Me” (feat. Laycon)
“I knew about Laycon from Big Brother Nigeria, and I kind of fell in love with this character. He was calm and collected. When he came out of the Big Brother house, I reached out to him. This idea had come from how sometimes I look at what people tweet and write songs based on that. So the song was like, ‘Don't come into my life and pretend that you care about me when I know you don’t. Just be real and say you're here for the good times and you don't really care about me. At least I know, and we both know what you're doing.’”
“You Sef” (feat. L.A.X)
“This song is just talking about how people want to take from you. They don’t champion me, but they want me to give them my money and my time. They want me to be there for them when they aren’t there for me.”
“Boju Boju”
“It's like a game; it’s like hide-and-seek. In this song I wanted to say to the people that our government is playing hide-and-seek with us. They play with our lives. They're not worried about how we're feeling, because to them, we're just going to make noise online. We're not going to do something about it. They've kind of seen that, yeah, these people make noise online and tweet about stuff, but no real change comes from that.”