Across an unprecedented album run starting at the crack of the 2010s, Olamide established himself as Afropop’s premier synthesizer, pulling threads from konto, house, hip-hop, and neo-soul to create music that was a reflective mosaic of the streets, experiences, joys, and people of Lagos. Starting with the vociferous rap cuts and open-ended hooks that populate his classic sophomore album, ybnl, to the effusive soliloquies of Baddest Guy Ever Liveth and a full pop pivot on Eyan Mayweather, Olamide defined street-pop culture for over a decade, melding street acclaim with mainstream sensibilities. A pair of albums, 2020’s Carpe Diem and 2021’s UY Scuti, hinted at the growing global appeal of the Lagos-born superstar. So, the December 2021 announcement that his next album could conceivably be his last made heads turn. Every update and teaser that followed was met with bated breath and fervid attention. True to the standard that he has set across his two-decade career, on Unruly, the YBNL head meets the present of Afropop without losing touch with the dynamism and word-bending alacrity of his street-pop origins. The foreboding bounce of “Gaza” ebbs into the luxurious trash-talking of “Doom” and, taken together with the boom-bap grit of “Hardcore” and the hood-inspired “Street Jam,” shows Olamide’s knack for crafting rap lines that showcase his hip-hop cred. True to form, he remains an artistic chameleon, teaming up with new-gen stars on songs that explore his sultry side as he expands his sonic empire. “Shibebe,” with YBNL signee Fireboy DML, is peppered with enough peppy sexual references to lift a room’s temperature, while “Come Alive” with BNXN is a liquid-cool request for a night out on the town. In between examining his place in the game and egging on sexual experiences, Olamide is also leaning into newer fields: accepting the jagged edges of existence on “Life Goes On” and finding peace on “No Worries” to bring balance to a project that ties all aspects of his journey and, hopefully, leads him on new adventures.