DJ Neptune’s ‘Greatness 2.0’ opens with a Waje, Ladipoe and Laycon collaboration titled ‘Rise Up’
Since emerging in the early 2010s with his maximal interpretation of Afropop that weaved together R&B, hip-hop, and dancehall influences, DJ Neptune has had a constant presence at the forefront of the genre’s vaunt to global popularity, while trying to imbue popular music from west Africa with his more experimental ideas. “For me, as a DJ-producer, there are ideas I have in my head that the artists, most times, are necessarily not thinking up,” he tells Apple Music. “There’s really no rules to how I make music, I just want the end results to be great.”
The success of 2018’s Greatness was a vindication for Neptune’s innovative approach, and on his follow-up, the Lagos-based artist pairs his technical virtuosity with hit-making gravitas. “The idea behind it is just to kick off from where I stopped with Greatness,” he explains, “and then produce a bigger album and project.” Across an album that kicks off with the aspirational messaging of “Rise Up” and closes with the loved-up swag of “Nobody,” DJ Neptune (Imohiosen Patrick) engages his phalanx of collaborators in meaningful conversation.
Listen to ‘Rise Up’ on Boomplay below.
