Wande Coal released “Kowope” on Thursday, November 12, his first solo single since KING COAL in June. He announced it eight minutes after midnight in four words: “KOWOPE IS OUT NOW.”
The song opens on percussion alone for about ten seconds before the full groove comes in, and he holds his first line back until almost the half-minute mark. It moves at an easy pace of around 104 beats per minute, slow enough for his runs to stretch across the drums. Juls produced it, Oluwatosin Drums plays percussion and Gladness Sonzi plays guitar, according to the credits on the official audio on YouTube. There are no guest vocalists, so it is Wande Coal alone for all three minutes and 50 seconds. In the closing stretch the percussion pulls back and the track thins out under his voice.
The official video is on YouTube now. It takes the owambe from the teaser into a TDM Bank hall, with guests in gele and aso-ebi waving hand fans at the counters, while Wande Coal, in a bright blue agbada marked WC, deals with a suited “Top Decision Making Executive” at the desk. He also appears in a living room with stacks of dollar bills, on a gold-tiled balcony above the party, and later in a white suit under a tunnel of lights. Cinematographer TG Omori shot it in Lagos, according to the official YouTube description, and a TG Omori logo appears in the opening. On Wednesday Wande Coal counted down to midnight with photos captioned “MR KOWOPE AND HIS GIRLS” and “KOWOPE SETTINGS.”
KING COAL, his 15-track album, came out on June 26, and his Apple Music discography lists no solo single from him between that album and “Kowope.” In the meantime he has turned up on other artists’ records, among them “Ndewo,” Phyno’s duet with him from Phyno’s album Let That Sink In, out October 30. Black Diamond Entertainment is the label on “Kowope.”
Stream “Kowope” on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.