Bonginkosi Ntiwane09/10/2018
I didn’t understand why Priddy Ugly joined Ambitious Entertainment, he was already getting traction without the backing of any record company.
He left the company in July this year, after having signed just a year ago. During his short stay at Ambitious, he released his debut album E.G.Y.P.T. But now having left the company, Priddy has repackaged the project and dropped a deluxe version a few weeks ago. The title is an acronym for Everything Godly Yearns Patience and Timing.
E.G.Y.P.T is very personal album which reveals a number of things about Priddy Ugly; his closeness to his family, his ambitions, his sense of spirituality and his fondness for cars. The latter is clearer on the song Karapao. At times, he worryingly sounds like AKA on the track though.
This deluxe version is missing tracks he did with former stable mates at Ambitious like Saudi and Emtee. Including the song he did with Shane Eagle. Ycee, who replaces Eagle on 02Hero is nice on this version but the first version had more weight with Eagle’s verse where he flexes about being a successful independent artist. Which made perfect sense, because Priddy Ugly came up as an independent artist too.
When the Karrots beat dropped, I immediately thought of Nasty C’s Do You Dig. The Naija-sounding Look Alike should be pushed as a single, it would be a favourite for a lot of South Africans who have this new found appreciation of modern Nigerian music. Priddy Ugly sings throughout the song.
Priddy probably hates himself for the decision to join Ambitious because it’s a really messy and confusing situation due to the missing songs. I think he should’ve rather released an EP with new tracks and a different title.
One of the new tracks for this deluxe version is, HO$h HO$h which features Wichi 1080 and Youngsta CPT. It is grimy as the track he did with the Cape rapper, Come To My Kasi a few years ago. Youngsta’s verse is purposefully dope, but I would like to hear him switch up his flow once in a while. But nice as the song is, I don’t think it fits into the E.G.Y.P.T concept of the album.
Bontle’s contribution into this album was a pleasant surprise. I liked the texture of her voice, especially on the title track, E.G.Y.P.T. I thought the poetry by Candice Modiselle at the end of Lucky’s Interlude should’ve been made an interlude on its own, not at the end of the track.
It’s a decent body of work, but I still concede that he should’ve rather put out new songs as an EP or mixtape. It’s the kinda project that’ll please those who like rap, but also not too heavy for someone looking for catchy joints.
