Protect Sarz At All Costs
Who is Sarz and why should we protect him?
According to Sarz, he is a custodian and curator of African culture through music and Africans must be able to see themselves and their culture in him and hence protect this sound through him.
For the average Nigerian, Sarz is not a new name. I can never forget being in secondary school and hearing Beat Of life ft. Wizkid for the first time in 2012. That is a sound that never leaves you and as I kept exploring his productions through the coming years, I grew a different understanding of what African music could be through his work. He has given us so much good music over the span of his career, be it under his own artist name or simply working as a producer for other artistes, you don't even realise he hasn’t given us an album until till this.
Protect Sarz At All Costs allows us to see Sarz as the accomplished producer he is today and to ultimately see the future of African music through his eyes.
An album's intro tells us what mindset we should walk into a project with and this intro, Grateful starts off with gratitude affirmations. We see Sarz and Wurld set the scene of a mind at ease with solemn instrumentations and passionate lyrics followed by Ndlovu Youth Choir presenting an acapella rendition of, and perfect transition into one of the lead singles of the album Happiness ft. Gunna and Asake. Sarz is obviously telling us a story of peace and ease, he seems like he's at a place in his life where things are aligned and peace is his objective. Peace that might also be linked to a sort of wealth and financial comfort he's apparently gotten over the past few years as we hear through songs like Getting Paid ft. Asake & Wizkid and Billions ft. Lojay, in which these artistes sing of the wealth, pride and social ascendancy that comes with working hard.
While listening, I kept in mind the fact that Sarz enjoys presenting artistes in ways that might be new to their audiences and it's very evident in a song like Mademoiselle in which we see an unlikely spotlighting of artistes like Shallipoppi and ODUMODUBLVCK in a sexier environment, especially because they are artistes we are used to hearing take a more street approach to the African sound. Interlocking their verses with artistes like French-Congolese singer Theodora and Canadian R&B singer Zeina, balances out the energies within the track.
With projects like the aforementioned Beat of Life and Sarz Is Not Your Mate, his 2019 electronic-leaning EP, Sarz has always showed us that he is the king of energetic, blood-pumping sounds and although he has showed his range with projects such as I LOVE TROBUL, his 2019 collaboration with Wurld and LV N ATTN, his 2021 collaboration with Lojay, we understand that those slower songs are not usually the ones that populate the airways (because Nigerians like to dance) so I was pleasantly surprised to realize he leaned heavily into the softer, r&b and reggae interpretations of his music with this album. Songs like BMF ft. Fireboy DML and Jamaican artist Byron Messia, Body ft. Joeboy, Nice n' Slow ft. Wurld and African Barbie ft. Teni & Libianca relax the nerves, lean into the romance and sexiness, and tell the people to loosen their waists and whine. I personally love a good whining song and appreciate a producer with the skill set that Sarz has, giving us more of that sort of music.
Sarz has also proven to be a producer that permits the artists he works with to explore their lyricism and vocal range in ways that feel truest to them. Hearing songs like In A Mustang ft. Qing Madi who stands today as a key part of the future of African R&B and Loved Me Then , a song about unrequited love which features Lojay, one of the best songwriters and artistes in the game currently, reminds us of the value he places in letting artistes walk hand in hand with him in this musical exploration. I enjoy that Sarz is a curator who returns to his past influences because he has stayed in collaboration with his key artists like Lojay and Wurld through the years and obviously values their contributions to his sound as he features both of them multiple times throughout this album.
He doesn't leave us without bringing some of that experimental energy we know him for with Up ft. Victony who I will say was the right choice for this because the mix of his raw and distinct melodies, the relatability and pride in the lyrics and the African house instrumentals provides a heart-thumping environment. African electronic and house music is expanding globally and as a producer who has explored the sound through his career, I appreciate hearing a different range of artistes he imagines on these sorts of beats.
After listening through the album, I can affirm without doubt that Sarz is the culture and hence, should be protected at all costs. As a producer who has always found ways to give back to the culture and branches connected to it, be it through his Sarz Academy; a non-profit with an objective to foster talent and encourage creativity and entrepreneurship, or his numerous collaborations with budding and fresh artistes, he understands what we need to hear and has given us a space to express who we are.