Review – Selasi’s ‘Love Me Or Leave Me’
Selasi is a particularly intriguing performer. Born in Ghana, the African performer voyaged to America to make a name for himself in the music industry. Since his musical pilgrimage to the states, he’s been involved with an incredible schlew of performers, all aiding him in crafting a wholly unique, heritage-infused hip hop sound. ‘Love Me Or Leave Me,’ a dynamic powerhouse of soul and hip hop influence, exhibits Selasi as a potentially versatile performer.
Let’s dig into it.
As aforementioned, Selasi injects his musical style heavily with African influence. This is remarkably welcome and his harnessing of his homeland’s sound creates a compelling layer of sonic intricacy in his work. ‘Love Me Or Leave Me’ is a sharply produced tune in this sense.
The instrumentation harkens toward Selasi’s heritage, but it’s also jam packed with contemporary pop and hip hop stylings. The percussion and Selasi’s vocal style are especially worldly, really drawing on African vibes. It makes perfect sense since one of the most exciting aspects of African music is percussion.
That percussion and vocal style is accentuated with electronic influence and synthesizers, however, developing a soundscape that relies as heavily on tradition as it does modern tropes. Thus, ‘Love Me Or Leave Me’ would be perfect on the dance floor of any modern club. It’s anthemic in nature, and the synthesizers dance with electronic explosions intensely well. Lyrically, the song is somewhat shallow: there isn’t anything of note happening in that region. The lyrics are stereotypical and bland.
Empty lyricism aside, ‘Love Me Or Leave Me’ is a satisfying romp through danceable beats and exciting landscapes. Selasi differentiates himself from his industry counterparts by harnessing his heritage in a wholly authentic way. I’d like to see him expand his own presence in his songs. He feels like an occupant of ‘Love Me Or Leave Me,’ not the star of it.
The star is the production and instrumentation. He slips in and out of the tune with reverberated vocals and void lyrics such as the repetitive, ‘kowabunga’s.’ He clearly has talent; his production should be highlighting that. That means better lyrical content and a producer who can bring Selasi out of the mix more. Regardless, ‘Love Me Or Leave Me’ is a fun tune worth checking out. If anything, it really does exhibit his potential
By Brett Stewart
I’m a professional writer and editor, a journalism major, and I have extensive experience in musical review. I worked for two years as the Editor & Chief of an arts magazine, Strike Magazine, where I worked closely with writers and musicians. Through this, I was able to interact with dozens of acts including Heart, Holly Williams, Robert Cray, John Hiatt, and more. The magazine printed thousands of issues and was even recognized by Rolling Stone’s founder, Jann Wenner.
