Timaya's "Gladiator", Album Review

The music industry is a city where champions come and go. Some don't, they just create space for others to shine. They are masters of the game whose influence is felt by all and sundry. Such is the influence of Timaya, the Egberi Papa 1 of  Bayelsa. Though his career spans over a decade, his influence can be termed generational taking a cue from how he kick-started the blooming career of Patoranking and skales back in the days and the nervous creativity he has contributed to the Nigerian music space from his debut single up until now. As of today, Inetimi Odom a.k.a Timaya has his 9th studio album tagged “Gladiator” ranking tops in major playlists across all platforms.

The body of work released on the stable of Dem Mama Records on the 15th of August 2024 is a compendium of astounding creativity smeared with relativity and euphoniousness---a pointer to his legendary reign and his cordiality with A-list artistes like Alpha P, Olamide, Phyno, Mr Killa, Eugy Official, Tiwa Savage, Koshens and creatives (producers) like Masterkraft, Young D, Michon, Semzi, Jonny Blaze, Scarlet, Xtreme and others.

It comprises of 13 distinct sounds carefully created to resonate with the reality of his fans. They are grouped as lifestyle, sex and romance and inspirational, the only one-song group with “Blessings” that has Eugy Official, a Christian artiste featured on it. 

For lifestyle, first on the list is “Payback", a hip-cum trap beat song. It reiterates how much travails one goes through in life before the big breaks happen with stress on his own personal struggles. Others in this category are “Live-style", “Sweet Us", “Free", “Dey your Dey", “Na Money" and “Get my Money Right". They all dwell on carpe diem-- enjoying life to the fullest without worries.

The sex and romance category boasts of “Composure", “Treasure", “Whinin Criminal”, “In my Head" and “Smile". Of course everything is about women and from his words, we can tell that he is really not a fantastic lover, but a sex freak who loves to explore with women and he loves them dirty. 

Now, you will agree with me that Timaya carefully considered offering a little something to everyone. So if you're a sex freak, there's a lot for you. A lover, there is a lot for you. A gyration freak, there's a lot for you too. And if you're the morally upright with connections to spirituality, there is a little something for you. Lol. Have fun listening!