Nigo — I Know NIGO! — Album Review
Hip-Hop | Producer
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Nigo is most widely known as the fashion design extraordinaire behind A Bathing Ape (Bape for short), and is currently the lead fashion designer behind Kenzo. However, he is also a pretty renowned record producer as well.
While I had obviously known of the artists aforementioned fashion design background, I hadn’t really listened to any music from Nigo until this year. But with the release of his sophomore studio album, and the first in 22 years following his 2000 record Ape Sounds, it felt like the perfect opportunity for me to see what he musically had up his sleeve.
The way I see it, I Know NIGO! works kind of like a compilation album of sorts. While Nigo lays down the beats, he enlists the lyrical talent from many renowned rap artists Admittedly, this was what got me interested in the album in the first place.
I was fortunate enough to have listened to a few of the teaser tracks that heralded the arrival of I Know NIGO!. These included “Arya”, featuring A$AP Rocky and “Hear Me Clearly”, featuring Pusha T. I didn’t manage to listen to the collaboration with Tyler, the Creator, in the form of “Come On, Let’s Go” until the full album was release. But ultimately, that song was the final stamp on my decision to fully review this record.
As these three aforementioned tracks had shown, Nigo definitely shows a knack for complimenting the artists that feature on his record, with the power of productions that aptly compliment the styles of each artist.
While this is ultimately the primary thing that drives the appeal of the record, there are also a few instances where this production had the opposite effect. The best example to pick from would be a track like “Heavy”, which isn’t a bad song by any stretch of the imagination. But while both the drill-inspired beat provided by Nigo, and the bars from Lil Uzi Vert were great in their own right, they simply didn’t match up very well.
But fortunately, I can say that this is a minority on the album overall, and much of the songs actually feel like they would sit comfortably on other albums released by each featured artist, whilst also feeling unique enough to shine on this album.
Given that Nigo is primarily accommodating the styles of the featured artists through his beats, it allows for a lot of diversity across the album, while all being unified under the glitzy hip-hop aesthetic (one that also feels apt for Nigo’s many contributions to hip-hop culture as a whole). However, this does detract ever-so-slightly from the narrative and structure of I Know NIGO!.
But all in all, considering this is my musical introduction to Nigo as well, I am more than happy to have discovered him and his many versatile beats. I would say that if Nigo is to release a third album, I would love to see it express more of Nigo himself, and stray a little further away from so many feature. Needless to say though, I Know NIGO! is a highly enjoyable listen.
Favourite Tracks: Want It Bad | Remember | Come On, Let’s Go
Least Favourite Track: Paper Plates
Republic Records | UMG | Victor Victor Worldwide
