Cruel Santino — SUBARU BOYS — FINAL HEAVEN Album Review.
No matter what name he goes by, Ozzy B or Santi or Cruel Santino (as he’s currently known as) is no doubt a trendsetter, a frontrunner and a leader of the new school of the Nigerian and African music scene. His first ever widely known project titled “Suzie’s Funeral” sparked a rebirth or reincarnation of the sound of Nigerian music. It was like a transmigration of the music soul into another dimension or body. He and a host of new music beloveds like Odunsi, the Engine, Idris King, Wavy, the Creator, GMK, Genio Bambino, Lady Donli and others, artists, tastemakers and producers alike, helped to create and curate the modern Alte movement as we know it. This movement represents the new generation of not just music but art in Nigeria. Tracks like “Gangster Fear” and “Jungle Fever” both by Santi and Odunsi heralded the youthful, vigorous, rebellious and fresh spirit of the wave that was about to hit the Nigerian scene.
Fast forward to 2019 when the new movement had started taking a hold and cementing its place as a remarkable phenomenon within the realms of Nigerian and African music, with successful releases of projects like Odunsi’s “Time of Our Lives” in 2016, Bridge’s “Regular Trademark” in 2017 and DRB’s “DRB 10” in 2018 all to much critical acclaim, Santi dropped his widely revered “Mandy and the Jungle” album in 2019, which was his first project, also dropped shortly after the release of Odunsi’s first album titled “rare”. With tracks like “Rapid Fire” with Amaarae, Shane Eagle and Tomi Agape, “Icy” with Odunsi, Maison2500 and Izzy, “Freaky” with Bridge and Nonso Amadi and “Sparky” further establishing the Alte sound as majorly a blend of afrobeats with other genres like hip-hop, R&B, pop, dancehall and funk, Santi became a new-school superstar.
Now we are in the era of the Subaru Boys. “ Subaru” is a Japanese phrase which basically means “unity” or a constellation of stars. After so many prior delays due to the pandemic and creativity issues, Santi finally released the Subaru Boys — Final Heaven album on March 4th through his Monster Boys imprint which has a joint venture deal with Interscope Records, one of the first of its kind. With the release of this project, Santi or Cruel Santino further advances or evolves from what the Alte sound was originally about, which was basically fusing the traditional or indigenous afrobeat sound with other popular world genres. This project in fact serves as a whole new redefinition. Although bearing a modest number of references to and influences from the parent sounds and ideas, “Subaru Boys — Final Heaven” takes a very much more computerized, futuristic and digitalized approach with sprinkles of Jap-anime themes, settings and aesthetics. As the artist himself explains in a prior released promotional video for the new project, “…I’m going to make this Subaru world a [whole new] universe, so that when you hear it, when you enter it, you know you’re in Subaru”, while referring to the out-worldly experience he was about to create for the listeners.
The very experimental album is divided into 5 parts, each with it’s own themes and essence, guiding the potential Subaru initiate into an anime-inspired fairytale with a somewhat esoteric or more bluntly obscure message. The album generally features heavily synthesized trap beats with soft and dreamy hi-tech-version afrobeats. Some of the tracks on the album that lean a little bit more to the afrobeat or version01 Alte sound are the playful and mischievous “Mermaid Aqua” song, the very energetic “Final Champion” song and up-tempo “Sa-Kurachan”, with easy-to-catch, fun and stimulating lyrics like “…uh, ah, cucaracha, hey, cucaracha, yeah, yeah, yeah…” and “…Subaru boy, mermaid in the water no fit touch me, werey touch me, werey touch me…”. Standout guest appearances on the album come from Skepta, Koffee and Amaarae while production credits go to Santi’s frequent collaborators like GMK, Genio Bambino, Tochi Bedford and others, as well as Santi himself.
This album marks a whole new chapter in Santi’s career and the ethos still remains the same: constant evolution and transformation and constant challenging of the status-quo. This album definitely shows Santi’s wide exposure and reach through the music references on the project, as well as his high creativity and musical dexterity. This project, to me, bears a lot in resemblance to A$AP Rocky’s “Testing” album in terms of the level of experimentation, the level of work put into branding, packaging and the overall output and the relative timing of the project and the real world. The album is way ahead of its time but it’s definitely beautiful to experience it now. A Subaru boy for sure.
