Premier rap duo, Show Dem Camp has released their latest Long Play album, Afrika Magik, a sonic love letter to Nigerian culture, drawing inspiration from the golden era of Nollywood and the Africa Magic channel that popularised Nigerian movies in the 2000s.

A masterpiece in genre-bending production, seamlessly blending Palmwine music, highlife, R&B, and Afrobeats, the album’s opener, Libations, sets the tone with its floating jazz cadence and adulation to Nigerian music legends like Sunny Ade and William Onyeabor.

Almost entirely produced by longtime collaborator Spax, the album sufficiently translates its ambition. It features an impressive lineup of guest artistes, including Moonchild Sanelly, Lusanda, and Tems, with whom they have collaborated on the hit single, You Get Me.

Listening to the LP for the first time, one feels the charge through to the neo-soul bounce of Spellbound, where Lusanda’s dreamy vocals muse about wanting a lover to stay. Similarly, Moonchild Sanelly maintains a spirited showcase on Magik, and both South African acts are just a duo from an album with 11 features.

Commenting on the LP, the duo, comprising Olumide Ayeni (Ghost) and Wale Davies (Tec), explained that they wanted to create a project that pays homage to the DIY spirit of early Nollywood, where young people picked up cameras and started creating without a formal industry.

For Tec and Ghost, Afrika Magik is a celebration of their artistic integrity and creative freedom. In a world where selling out is often seen as a negative phenomenon, the duo is unapologetic about staying true to themselves and their art.

“The term ‘selling out’ is when you are not true to yourself. Being true to yourself is when you are creating something, especially with our kind of working relationship; we bounce ideas off each other. We have deep passion for music; we have our ears to the streets. Being true to yourself should be the main goal of any artiste,” Ghost said.

Interjecting with a philosophical viewpoint, Tec said. “I think it depends on, ‘what is success to you?’ I think that is the first thing you have to define as an artiste. For me, success is to have created music with my friends and people I care about, to tour with that music, to reach fans with that music, and most importantly, to say where I’m at this stage of my life.”

“If I go back and listen to Palmwine 2 or to Clone Wars, I can tell the phase I was in. It gives me an outlet to process things, to actually share things, to manifest things into fruition,” he added.