SAMAD’s debut EP, “SAMAD VOL. 1,” has been out since November 6. Its eight songs carry Pheelz, Bella Shmurda, Boy Muller, Jaido P and Lil Frosh, and the credits show most of it was built with a small, familiar team.
He announced it on November 4 as “my debut EP,” and the tracklist followed a day later. Apple lists the project as “SAMAD (Vol 1)” under his own Samad Music Worldwide imprint.
Two of the songs are already known. “LAGOS” with Bella Shmurda arrived as a single on September 4, and “TIME” followed on October 23. They close a busy run of releases that started with “Oreke” in February 2024 and passed through “Hildabaci,” “Body” and the Zlatan-assisted “JET” this May.
Haystixx Jboysings is the key name in the credits. He produced “TIME,” “ELI ELI” and “WORLDWIDE,” engineered “DANGER” and sang on “LAGOS.” The two also shared a 2024 single, “The Plug.” Moxie Yankee engineered the opener and co-produced “GIRLS” with Anasoundz. Shally the Champion produced “LAGOS,” Thasoundz and Gipex made “PRAY,” and Dunnie wrote, produced and sang on “DEBUT.”
“DANGER” is where an outside hand takes the controls. SAMAD said the Pheelz song was “produced by the man himself,” and Apple credits Pheelz as producer. In the preview it is the most drum-driven track on the EP, pushing at a constant level from start to finish.
Elsewhere the set leans on melody. “DEBUT” opens soft and layered, swelling a little before the clip falls back. “TIME” is the brightest record here, with guitar from Pec_dastringz and a lift in its middle stretch, where SAMAD sings, “One day I’ll be great just like Alexander.” “GIRLS” is the loudest preview and the heaviest at the bottom end, while “WORLDWIDE” closes quietly, building slowly from a sparse start.
“GIRLS” is also the song he has talked about most since release. “The girl wey I sing Girls for jus block me now now,” he joked, and on November 8 he wrote that “Lil Frosh went crazyyyyyyyyy on Girls.” Jaido P is credited as a songwriter on the track.
The guest list gets the attention, but the credits tell the clearer story. After close to three years of singles, SAMAD has made his first full set mostly with the producers who were already around him, Haystixx chief among them.
Listen on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ng/album/samad-vol-1/6829858682
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7sKLvIv5OHgBSodHUw7REp