After a long hiatus, Peruzzi is back on people's rotations showing and proving to us that he just wants to achieve his goals by doing what he loves most, music. He no want wahala oh!
Starting off the previous decade as a medical student in Ukraine and ending the decade with almost 20 million streams as a well sought after artiste and songwriter after dropping out of medical school and moving back to Nigeria, Peruzzi proves that our destinies are in our own hands.
Peruzzi has been teasing us about releasing his sophomore album since the beginning of 2020. The original cover art and album listing was posted on his social media accounts to create the buzz of his incoming album, "Rum & Boogie", which will be his second studio album after Huncho Vibez (2019). The original Rum & Boogie album had 15 songs on the tracklisting and an extra 2 songs as bonus listings.
Old Rum & Boogie cover art by Duro Arts
The Setback: "Peruzzi Is Cancelled!"
Unfortunately, we could not get Rum and Boogie because Peruzzi encountered a major setback after his morality was questioned as a result of his involvement in a series of rumoured events. The DMW songwriter/artiste had a lot of controversies attached to his character which made him go MIA for a hot minute after denying the said rumours.
Peruzzi's press statement against allegations (2020)
As we know, “cancel culture” only lasts for a little amount of time, until you can get back into the good books of your fans. At the end of the day, those who dislike you will dislike you and those who ride for you will die riding.
The Come-back: "Still, I Rise"
The release of Southy Love ft Fireboy DML was honestly the DMW artiste’s saving grace which allowed him to get back in heavy rotation.
The amapiano wave which was a big frenzy last year made Southy Love a vastly played song; in addition, he collaborated with one of the music industry’s sweethearts, Fireboy DML, which also played a part in getting additional listens.
After the release of Southy Love, Peruzzi started getting his positive energy back and that birthed the release of Somebody Baby featuring his Label Head, Davido. Now, we all know any track Davido is on is definitely going to attract heavy attention and that’s exactly what happened with Somebody Baby.
Numbers don’t lie: Within the space of 2 months, the visuals for Somebody Baby has already surpassed 2 million views on YouTube. This single further shot Peruzzi to the top of every music lover’s watchlist.
Album Rollout: Luck or Well Thought Out Timing?
Peruzzi’s tactic for turning negative energy into positive returns needs to be studied.
“If e no be God wey dey run my race, i for no fit talk, dem for no look my face”
Juba (Bow), The first song off the Rum & Boogie album introduces us to a thankful Peruzzi who praises God for his saving grace against all the drama he has faced in the past year.
Let’s just say luck was on his part regarding the rollout of the album.
For Rum & Boogie, the anticipation made it long overdue & there was no better time than now to release this album. The build-up to the album really helped him a lot. Seeing the numbers he acquired on previous singles such as Gunshot, Lagbaja, Southy Love & Somebody Baby gave him the creative push he needed and all he had to do was follow up on that creative energy to drop the well-anticipated album.
Just like the likes of Davido's A Better Time & Wizkid's Made In Lagos albums, we can see that building up fans expectations for a project & dashing their dreams by not going through with its expected release is a sure banker to get the fans curious enough to keep their eyes on you.
This new marketing strategy helped Peruzzi. The album was already made known, so he did not really need to do much in terms of PR & marketing because it was not an entirely new project to fans.
Rum & Boogie, The Album
New Rum & Boogie cover art by Z4
Rum & Boogie, the double-sided 20 track album holds a very strong list of features (such as Davido, Tiwa Savage, Don Jazzy, Phyno, Patoranking, Fireboy DML). This draws the attention of not only Peruzzi’s fans but also the fans of each featured artist.
The album is a double-sided project which is divided into 2 parts - Rum & Boogie respectively. Abbreviated, Rum & Boogie is R&B, so Peruzzi shows the use of wordplay in picking the album name. Peruzzi in his normal comedic manner used some joke innuendos here and there, referenced some popular Nigerian slangs, and made use of a sample. The album highlights Peruzzi's diverse range of talents, soulful vocals, as well as his playful character.
Rum kicks off the album, giving us a more mellow/subtle & romantic vibe while Boogie, as the name indicates, gives us more up-tempo vibes heavily riddled with amapiano beats that we can 'boogie down' to.
Big shouts to the producers that did their thing on this album. The artiste and producer chemistry was very evident in this project. You can tell they all took their time to actually deliver on the vision he had for the songs that made the album. We can thank Speroachbeatz, Show Beat, Zaki Amujei, Mr. Eff, FreshVDM, V Stix, Clemzy, Lussh, P Priime, and Rexxie for this!
The album artwork is definitely one for the books. It shows how much thought was put into the creation of this project. I love that he decided to change the design from the old artwork. This new cover is a more modern take on the old artwork. The album also portrays the entire essence of the project. You do not need a soothsayer to know what the project is about - you're either drowning your feelings with Rum or jaiye-ing away with Boogie. The old artwork was done by the talented DuroArts. Shout out to the amazing 3D artist, Z4 for the new & improved artwork.
When listening to this album, I noticed that the song arrangements were somewhat organized. Each disk paints a picture of the story Peruzzi is trying to portray.
This album was too long. In this day & age, nobody is really trying to listen to a 20 track album, this is why we see a lot of EP rollouts nowadays. A lengthy album can easily get boring especially when there are only a few bangers in there. In Rum & Boogie’s case, the majority of the potential club bangers are on the Boogie side of the album. So, if (normal) people do not shuffle the album on the first play, the Rum side is the first they listen to. So, they have to go through 10 mellow songs before they start Boogie which has more of the potential bangers in the album.
Notice I said “potential” bangers for the Boogie side of the album. There’s no doubt that it has bangers but there is potential for the songs in that part of the album to go further past the Nigerian market. With great branding & marketing, it has the potential to do better than it is currently doing. Peruzzi’s marketing regarding this album was quite lazy in my opinion. In the current era of social media marketing using platforms such as TikTok & Instagram reels can help push this album’s reach further.
My personal preference in this album was the Rum Disk. I’m a sucker for romance so this side of the album resonated well with me. His wordplay in addition to his meaningful, yet comedic lyrics played a huge part in fueling my choice as well. See Love and Murda have me in a chokehold.
By the time I was done with the Rum, I had to take a break to listen to & digest the Boogie side because there’s a great difference you have to adjust to in terms of the tempo.
Going straight into Boogie after listening to Rum will have you like:
Boogie was fair play for me. The production on this side of the album was better than the Rum side, but I personally feel like the amapiano beat was overdone/overused here - like we get that Southy Love did well but please, other beats exist. I would really love to hear Peruzzi on a highlife or palm wine kind of beat.
Isolova is my favourite from the Boogie side which brought the album to a great end.
My Top 5 Songs
5. God Forbid (Prod by Clemzy)
I've literally been anticipating this song since Peruzzi recorded this little tease video in 2019. When I heard it on the album, my heart jumped for joy! As a strong Nollywood propagandist, the mention of the Nollywood femme Fatales (Domitilla & Karishika) was one of the elements of this song that grabbed my attention. I love that it's a very playful song but Peruzzi still chooses to make sense out of it. The lyrics are easy to follow and understand. The pace of the beat also helps for his delivery to be easily digestable.
"One thing go lead to one thing"
If you know me, you know a phrase I live by is "Na from clap dance dey start" meaning that trouble usually starts slowly, which is basically what this song is about. Peruzzi portrays himself as a well sought after man that babes don't want to free. He clearly knows that if he entertains them, one thing will lead to another and he's not ready to risk losing his main girl for a short term fling with these thirsty pies.
Peruzzi's God Forbid tease video (2019)
4. Baddest featuring Don Jazzy and Phyno (Prod by Lussh)
I've absolutely missed Don Jazzy's baritone voice on songs!!! This song added an amazing touch to the album! I love how these three Igbo men complemented each other smoothly, Peruzzi also allowed them to shine in their own unique ways while also doing his thing. It was so well arranged that there were no overpowering verses or hooks from the artistes and their adlibs add a fun element to the song. The highlife beat on this track gave the Boogie side of the album a very calming effect.
The trio sing in a battle to show the lady of interest who they think is the "baddest" why she should choose any of them.
3. Isolova (Prod by Lussh)
You can tell Peruzzi was just vibing at this point. His playful character truly shines through on this one and I love that it was used to bring the album to an end. Don Jazzy's adlibs also added some extra flavour to the song.
Isolova tells tales of thieving individuals that have been caught red handed. He first of all references babes that have casted runs in the industry then proceeds to shade an artiste who attempted to steal his song.
2. See Love (Prod by Zaki Amujei)
The beat on this was amazing. Peruzzi flows on the beat with his rhythmic lyrics. It is actually a kinda confusing song because in one breath he is hyping himself up and promoting freedom of speech but in the next breath he's talking about a babe that he's passionately in love with. This goes easily unnoticed because of how much the beat slaps.
"I resist the urge to shalaye"
Peruzzi talks about resisting the urge to explain himself to people that do not matter on issues he has no control over. He doesn't want bad energy and he's going to keep going higher regardless of what anyone says. I guess this was a sandwich method to kind of lowkey tell us he is no longer interested in trying to fight the allegations levelled against him.
1. Murda (Prod by Mr Eff)
The way I've rinsed this song???? Should be honestly illegal at this point. I legit cannot get tired of listening to it, and then he had the audacity to sample Wande Coal's You Bad??? Peruzzi dear please take all my streaming coins from this track!
My first time hearing a Mr Eff production and I love him already. Peruzzi complemented this beat with body positivity riddled lyrics. Again, he hypes his love interest up on this one and appreciates her in all her glory, flaws and all.
e-Rated's Rating and Final Thoughts
Hmm I wonder how Peruzzi would have turned out if he had continued on his medical school journey. His story shows that taking that leap of faith and believing in yourself can yield fruitful results. Peruzzi's currently making big bank as a songwriter on a lot of mainstream Nigerian songs through his royalties earnings from interactive streaming platforms.
The album takes you on a roller coaster of emotions from a romantic aspect, to the humorous aspect, and then down to the grooves.
In conclusion, this was a good album but its lengthiness was a major detractor. Also, the two different tempos on both sides did not help as this creates confusion for listeners- especially for those that do not pay attention to album arrangements and just enjoy strictly for their listening pleasures.
A 10 track album would have been nicer with a good ratio of the mellow songs & uptempo songs. Releasing the two disks separately would have been a much better decision. It would have also helped him analyze his insights better to know which disk resonated better with the public.
Ah what manner of REVIEW IS THIS. THIS IS TOO BEAUTIFUL. I didn’t pay attention to Rum & Boogie and I didn’t finish the album at first listen but your review opened my eyes. I so much love the album now especially the Rum part I wish he dropped them separately. Thank you so much for this album review now I’ve good music to listen to. Please don’t stop 🥺🥺