It’s no news that Nigerian music duo, Wale Davies (Tec) and Olumide Ayeni (Ghost), known professionally as Show Dem Camp’s influence cuts across rap and alternative music where they have carved a niche with critically acclaimed albums in a career that spans nearly two decades.

They recently released a new album titled No Love In Lagos, a collaborative effort with The Cavemen, a highlife band consisting of sibling duo – Kingsley Okorie, a bassist, and Benjamin James, a drummer and Nsikak David, one of the Nigeria’s finest guitarists, composer and music producer.

For the last six years or thereabout, the rap veterans and The Cavemen have both drawn from the same creative well. They initially built an underground following in the early 2010s with the release of Clone Wars Vol 1, the first installment in an extended line of stellar rap mixtapes and albums that houses the sort of witty lyricism, sharp wordplay and relevant social and economic observations that rap heads and career no-sellout vets live and breathe for.

Their 2013 Feel Alright was, however, their first real dalliance with the mainstream. The Juls-produced highlife-inspired record teased a burgeoning sound that would become fully realised four years later on PalmWine Music Vol 1.

Speaking on their new project in a recent interview on The Ebro Show on Apple Music, SDC as they are also called, shared insights into why they named the album, No Love In Lagos.

According to them, the title reflects the reality of life in Nigeria’s economic and entertainment capital Lagos where an everyman-for-himself philosophy is the order of the day.

“Everybody is hustling, and everybody cares for their hustle. It’s like I’m not collectively looking at anything; I’m just trying to get mine,” Tec explained.

Released on August 9, the album continues SDC’s brilliant storytelling that combines with The Cavemen’s neo-highlife music and Nsikak David’s magical strings to make for a captivating album.

With powerhouse features from Obongjayar, Tim Lyre, Moelogo, and Ruti, and helmed by super-producer Spax, No Love In Lagos is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between two duos at the forefront of Nigeria’s alternative scene. The project opens with an ‘Intro’ track that features a brief but intimate spoken word performance that is awash in a cascade of warm instrumentation; but it’s the eponymous lead single that truly sets the tone for the project.

The title track pulls together the respective duo’s strengths: Tec and Ghost bookend a sonorous and sticky hook – courtesy of Benjamin’s elastic falsetto and Kingsley’s more measured tenor – with ruminations about Lagos’ frigid and unforgiving dating scene over slow, rhythmic drums. The track is also peppered with melodious guitar riffs courtesy of the prolific Nsikak David, who appears alongside The Cavemen and SDC throughout the entirety of the album.