Nigerian polymath, XYZ is back from long musical hiatus. He returns with a loaded arsenal of music recorded overtime and specifically since the covid lockdown/pandemic took the world by storm. Up Nepa, the just released song, was one of the songs recorded in the first few weeks of the covid lockdown. This is going to be on the upcoming body of work, Made In Nigeria (which is a Str8buttah presentation all produced by XYZ himself).

The song is a conscious piece addressing the state of his country of residence and the ripple effect on the citizenry. For the uninitiated, the term Nepa is an acronym (National Electric Power Authority) and is known nationwide for epileptic power supply but you would hear the phrase ‘Up Nepa’ chorused whenever power supply was restored. This is till commonly chanted regardless of the fact that the company has been renamed PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria).

XYZ metaphorically employs the ‘Up Nepa’ phrase in a call and response format to make vivid the paradoxical existence of lack and abundance as a continuous lived experience of the Nigerian. He describes it as

“a neurological disorder marked by recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions associated with abnormal electric activity in the brain.”

The song also comes with visuals and you can see it mimic the epileptic idea of  the Nepa power supply as a mix of generated AI (Artificial Intelligence) art is used alongside real life performance by XYZ himself.

Go stream the song on Bandcamp

You can build with XYZ on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Soundcloud.