Zaylevelten is Not Your Saviour on “B4SAVEME” EP

Tenski won’t always save us. 

Yes, for the better part of two years, rapper Zaylevelten, or ‘Tenski,’ as his producer alter-ego is known, has fulfilled his promise to “save us”. And yes, the music that’s emerged within that window has been mind-bending, just a few years shy of earning undisputed era-defining status. But the promise of the musical genius is also one of imperfection, of moments that betray the pedestal, as with most innovators behind forward leaps in genre sonics. Prolific output eventually coalesces into a lull in quality. For Zaylevelten, that lull appears on his latest EP, B4SAVEME. Same ol’ Zay, same ol’ Tenski, not much saving. 

To be fair, unlike some of his colleagues, the Ikorodu-born rapper hasn’t exactly declared himself Hip-hop’s saviour. Think of the tag more like Rema’s “Somebody save me” evocations on his 2019 Freestyle EP—rooted in the exploration of emo and cloud rap themes that have also found their way into rage rap circles. Zaylevelten’s ascent arrived on the wings of genuinely innovative music which—coupled with work by the likes of Mavo—has been touted as an alternative to mainstream Afropop. In lieu of a discography recap, it’s easier to begin with his second album, October 2025’s then 1t g0t crazy and its November deluxe; the former being the best project of 2025 by a country mile.

Zay is the chief reason why all your ‘What to Expect in 2026’ listicles touched on the Nigerian underground scene. The architect of a jaw-dropping run that began with the success of maye in May, and has only looked up ever since. Watching clips from Zaylevelten’s 15 December, 2025 edition of his Craziest Show on Earth concert series, or his Homecoming performance earlier this year, one can tell that this is a phenomenon on the rise. Once Aizay, now the UG king. And so, one can understand the temptation to read extra meaning to B4SAVEME. There likely is, but not in the way many would be inclined to think. 

Zaylevelten taps into his Afropop ancestry on EP opener, Tease Me, a track he’d previously teased on his social media. The song samples and interpolates Wizkid’s Tease Me/Bad Guys from the 15-year-strong Superstar album—as culturally significant a record as any. Producer and frequent collaborator Trill Xoe retains the xylophone-esque keysnotes, bass drums, and kicks, introducing synths and shakers for one of Zaylevelten’s rarer affectionate performances (like call me on his debut LP, before 1t g0t crazy). “Me wey talk I no fit do love song/Me wey talk am say I no fit for,” he sings on the second verse, blaming kpo (weed) in a call-back to Butti Vybez, the outro on then 1t g0t crazy (“I been wanting use this beat do love song, but igbo change my mind”). It’s the romantic in the rapper, a unicorn that barely, if ever, rears its horn in his music horns. Save for Tenski’s discordant mixing—more feature than bug—Tease Me excels as an intro, capitalising on an already catchy hook in a display of radio-friendliness. 

All of that mushy vulnerability fades out on the follow-up track, named after late South-African rapper, AKA’s alias, SuperMega. Sorry if you got your hopes up, but this isn’t a homage to the late rapper. Instead, Zay returns to familiar drill and 808s territory on what’s a B-side track. B-side to his last album, that is. It’s like an attempt at recreating Fly and Pawon but generically written around a hook comparing him to ‘Superman’. The best part of SuperMega is Zay riffing on fellow UG talent, Egertton’s tag (“See I done come but I no be Eger[tton]”). The worst part is how repetitive the lyrics and production choices sound (the “Yami” ad-libs left much to be desired as did hearing “Califo-za” from Gbona). He’s done braggadocio much better before to have a record this banal. Then again, this has been a recurring critique of the UG scene: one too many songs sound like poor copies of earlier hits.

London’s eerie soundscape washes this malaise away almost immediately as Yeye Talk begins. It’s a welcome collaboration, given London’s work with Rema (RAVAGE EP, HEIS) and Zaylevelten’s track record of riding bouncy minor chord-heavy production. The intro is quite similar to Idanski as are the drums on the Fimiguererro-assisted show me luv, which makes it all the more pleasing when he interpolates the latter later in the song. Arrangement-wise, Yeye Talk is the standout track. It hop-skips between sections seamlessly, utilising Zay’s auto-tuned drones to their maximum effect. He even gets away with incorporating lines from his older songs, calling himself “Mr. Pawon!” Same ol’ Tenski, really. “If it’s not about money, then it’s Yeye Talk” against “If it’s not about money, I no send” from Banku. It’s quite clear that the rapper is more than comfortable exploring the same subject matter, with the same stylistics. 

Unfortunately, knowing that makes the final track a rather painful listen. It’s disconcerting to listen to 3 of 4 songs reference Pawon, almost as if Zay hit a creative roadblock and, in forging on, decided to lift as much as possible from his archives. On Update, he sounds far removed from the instrumental—like the vocals from a separate recording where attached to ELEMEN3’s drill beat. Delivery is staggered, constantly chasing the beat and not in the manner that has made this sub-genre a fan-favorite. The street-hop elements sound off. Hook sounds tired. For a song about updates, there’s barely any update to older material—except of course, his plug moving from Wuse 2 to Ikoyi. 

B4SAVEME exhibits the same fatigue as music released by contemporaries in the past year: an obsession with material living that easily decays into redundant emptiness. In 2026 alone, we’ve heard scottyolorin’s OLORIN PACK, Egertton’s EGERTTON, and ARTSALGHUL’s 2l1t, to name a few, with Mavo’s BUSINESS bound to be released by the time you read this review. Thematically, all are the same. But the problem isn’t even the thematic preoccupation, as it is how similar-sounding records are. Spectacular records are housed on the same tapes as return-to-sender music. It’s settling way too early in the movement’s life cycle to not be a concern.  

In Zaylevelten’s case, B4SAVEME is a prelude to the main thing, like how his locked in EP preceded before 1t g0t crazy which itself preceded then 1t g0t crazier. This might explain why earlier 2026 singles, Muzz and Go Again, weren’t included on the EP. Additionally, the EP’s cover depicts the rapper in an all-black ensemble, standing over a figure laid flat in a green head-wrap and jeans, with an AK-47 to their side; a possible reference to changing eras. An even more significant factor is that all four tracks weren’t self-produced. 

Notwithstanding, there’s frankly still only a little less pessimism. Just a little less. You don’t go from an Album of the Year contender to an EP that isn’t even the best released in the third week of July 2026—and that’s without accounting for New Music Friday drops. EPs are notoriously tricky in defining an artist’s next direction, but the valleys of B4SAVEME do have one wondering to what extent the rapper is exhausted. Even as a throwaway EP, even as an EP to whet fans’ appetite, this is some head-scratching stuff. Then again, it’s a function of the space Zay occupies in the music scene that makes this writer so concerned. There’s no saving us here.