Recommended Listen: M.I Drops New Project, ‘Rendezvous’ — Featuring Falz, Wande Coal & More
When Drake dropped More Life in 2017, he made it clear that the 22-track body of work was neither an album nor a mixtape, but a “playlist”. While most people saw this title as a shallow distinction, The Atlantic explained the clever move best.
“It’s framed as a sign of generosity, a bonus, another helping. The focus here is on Drake as curator and kingpin, bringing together a diverse set of sounds”, Spencer Kornhaber points out. That’s exactly what M.I pulls off on his surprise release, Rendezvous — which he also dubs a playlist.
M.I promised to finally release his fourth studio album in May — an album that was meant to have dropped almost a year ago. In the wake of that, the unexpected release of Rendezvous feels like both an apology and a gift to his very patient fans.
The 15-track playlist is not really about M.I, however, it’s actually about the impressive and diverse list of artists he has been able to assemble: Odunsi The Engine, Nonso Amadi, Terry Apala, Falz, Wande Coal, Cassper Nyovest, AKA, Moelogo, Tomi Thomas and many more.
The featured artists aren’t the only ones who get to shine though, the producers — from Jude Abaga to ChopStix — also get to do solid work. The standout tracks on the project are definitely “Playlist” with Nonso Amadi, “Jungle” with Tomi Thomas and Santi, and “Kososhi” with Wande Coal.
As solid as Rendezvous is, it’s a little strange that there’s not a single woman featured on it. It’s even stranger that the sausage party of a playlist comes right after M.I took to Twitter to declare that he is “an absolute feminist”. Well, maybe he’ll fix that oversight on his upcoming album.
Listen to Rendezvous below:
