Phyno – Parcel

A bit of Nigerian ringtone rap that just misses the sidebar…

[Video]
[6.88]Iain Mew: The lush yet fragile polyphonic ringtone symphony is a thing of wonder, especially once the drums start tripping over it but never quite falling. It’s a tentative first dance coming off magically and reminds me a bit of The Research. Phyno skipping authoritatively past doesn’t, but that works too.
[8]

Anthony Easton: The best thing about this is that ’70s-era glam robot saying the word “penthouse.” The next best thing is that rattle/electronic sound. The third best is how he moves between Igbo and English. The last best is that rattling percussion. There are no bad things.
[10]

Alfred Soto: Phyno’s hyperactivity complements the chintzy organ hook, then goes further with giggles and interjections. With a febrile backing track he could be magic.
[6]

Crystal Leww: That beat is wiling before anything even kicks into gear, inviting into a sticky, slinking, squirmy world. Unfortunately, when the song sets it off with the raps, the offbeat vocals take the listener out of that place. We get back there in the last 15 seconds or so, but it’s too little too late.
[5]

David Sheffieck: The beat stammers and seems ever on the verge of tripping over itself, providing an ideal counterpoint for Phyno’s smooth flow — which features one of the most deft and fascinating uses of Auto-Tune I’ve heard recently, obvious whenever it pops in but sneaking up on you every time.
[8]

Will Adams: The Auto-Tuned vocals drag this down considerably. It’s a timbre that never sits well with me, that atonal bleating sound irregularly peppered with the rectangular pitch correction. The song needs a stronger everything — hook, clattering beat, two-note synthline — to make up for it.
[5]

Brad Shoup: My instinct is to call this off-kilter, but I say it often enough that I probably need re-calibration. The froggy synth seems to be what’s throwing me, but there’s also a drum roll that’s gloriously unexpected. It’s a mite too long, but the switch between vocal approaches is the one smooth thing here.
[7]

Patrick St. Michel: Everything here seems wonderfully just out of step. The vocals can’t decide if they want to be swathed in Auto-Tune or not, the beat has a bunch of ideas, and even Phyno’s delivery seems to swerve all over the place. A little too discombobulated, but fun all the same.
[6]