Since the release of his breakout single, Cash App, Bella Shmurda has commandeered the sound of the street with gusto. Also, enjoying the kind of societal and class transcendence, predecessors like Olamide, Zlatan, and the likes did with his fusion of key elements of Afropop, galvanic drums and temperamental keys, loose but engaging narratives rife with anthemic street slangs and a demeanor that screams audacity with the kind of swag those before him walked with. His debut EP, High Tension, came and went without fanfare as it dwelled largely on unrefined sounds, not as genre transcendent as the likes of Rush and the just-released Party Next Door. However, riding on the new path these singles cleared for him, with their huge references to his evolution, Bella Shmurda returns today, in tune with a new persona that overrides the Shmurda of the past, on the eight-track High Tension 2.0, a real persona-definer.
According to Bella Shmurda, he’s on a mission to connect West Africa to the rest of the world via a different pipeline than that used by the likes of Wizkid, Burna Boy, and Davido. With a Dancehall Afropop marriage as his backdrop, he fuses this experimental street sound with conscious and resonant messages ranging from street allegiance on the likes of the introductory track, Out There, to aggressive patriotism on the ensuing World, to love and lust on Soldier Go, Far Away and Lako and autonomy and defiance on Rush and Champion.
Bella Shmurda, in his usual comical but introspective state, defines High Tension 2.0:
“new light in a new form, high voltage lightening that strikes against all odds, a star that cannot be stopped from shining and a power that always penetrates“.
This vivid imagery symbolizes his journey in music so far and echoes the creation process of the EP.