Shallipopi "Presido La Pluto" Album Review: Hits & Misses

Shallipopi Presido La Pluto Album Review

Plutomanians worldwide have been awaiting the release of the new “constitution” by President Crown Uzama aka Shallipopi and its finally here. Shallipopi’s debut album “Presido La Pluto” has dropped. With a runtime of 36min 32 sec with guest features from Odumodu Black, Zerrydl, Focalistic, and Tekno. This comes after the success of his last E.P, Planet Pluto which spawned hits like Obapluto and Ex-Convict. Here’s an album review of Shallipopi’s Presido La Pluto.

Meaning of “Presido La Pluto”

Presido is pidgin for president and la pluto is french for pluto, so it means the President of Pluto.

Presido La Pluto ALBUM REVIEW

Album Art

The album cover art is pretty good, it shows Shallipopi in a futuristic outfit standing on a planet that’s supposedly Pluto with an erupting volcano behind him. Maybe suggesting his sudden explosion on the Nigerian music scene. But the art itself is not entirely new or unique, neither the title of the album, considering that the title of his debut Ep is “Planet Pluto”

Shallipopi Presido La Pluto Album Review

Never Ever is on a slower and calmer beat. The first line says “my life is like a moving train” attesting to his new found fame and celebrity status along with the trials that come with it. Meanwhile, he just wants to enjoy his life and cruise on a Friday night.

He also calls out those who look down on him. Overall, Never Ever is a good intro to the album, it just pales in comparison to Obapluto, the intro of his last E.P, which drew the listener into the diverse world of shallipopi.

A snippet of Evil Receive went viral on tik tok and was highly anticipated but Evil Receive was a case of “what I ordered vs what I received”. It unfortunately doesn’t live up to the hype. The rest of the song, especially the chorus, drags and doesn’t have the same effect as the snippet.

In the constitution, track 3 Cast ft Odumodu Black: if the presido passes you a blunt and you don’t pass, it’s an act punishable by Plutomanian law.

Presido la pluto review Shallipopi — Shallipopi

Shallipopi Presido La Pluto Album Review shows that the fast tempo beat catches your attention immediately, the drums are very significant and the adlibs elevates the song. Shallipopi and Odumodu Black flow on the beat wonderfully.

According to Odumodu Black, if a girl refuses to go down, the payment for her wig and handbag shall be withheld.

More Than Me, the vocals on this are really good, it’s clear and it almost sounds as if he’s singing, the background guitar does a lot to elevate the song. The storytelling is well organized. All the elements come together well to make this one of the better songs on the album.

Eazy, I really love the chorus on this one. Shallipopi delves into his Benin roots on this one. I’m not entirely sure if there’s a sample on this track but it sounds really familiar. This is one of those songs that would be elevated by a live band performance.

Things on Things, already one of the commercially successful songs on the album. Things on Things was poised to be a club banger. The flows on it are seamless and the chorus is catchy, it would have you singing and dancing along.

Wet on Me ft Zerry dl, featuring his brother and new record label signee, Zerrydl. The duo recaps their sexual escapades in the most raunchy and graphic way possible. But I won’t lie to you, if I didn’t know what the lyrics said, I’d probably be doing legwork to that chorus in the clubs. Maybe even still.

Iyo is another Benin influenced track. It features a sample of an old Edo song, Itendo by Fabomo. Looks like he’ll continue to do the old Benin music samples and bring them to the limelight. Something I appreciate.

Oscroh(Pepperline) was one of the pre-released singles. When I first listened to it, I didn’t really feel much until it got to the chorus. In my head, I noticed I was singing an old nursery rhyme

“sandalili, sandalili, everybody knows me well, if you look at me up and down you will know that it’s true”

But it’s on a Shallipopi song. He had sampled an old nursery rhyme, the first time we had seen such in the industry. To be honest, from there the song took off for me and it’s one of my favourites off the album, but it might not resonate with others who set an actual standard in specific taste for their music

Over the seas ft Focalistic, if you’re gen Z or a young millennial, you would immediately recognise the intro to this song, yes your ears do not deceive you, it’s the theme song to Spongebob Square pants. Shallipopi fused a sample of a children show theme song with amapiano beats to make a relatively good song, another audacious experiment. Focalistic did justice to his verse and didn’t look out of place.

Jungle is another song with good storytelling. It seems Shallipopi puts more effort into his lyricism and storytelling anytime he tries to sing, but it could still be so much better.

Jonze, I almost thought there was a Seyi Vibez feature on this, but surely Seyi Vibez doesn’t speak Bini. Here’s Shallipopi trying something different again and he almost pulls it off. But if you’re a Seyi Vibez fan, you should like this one.

So What ft Tekno is a befitting outro to the album. Tekno delivers his verse masterfully and the background vocals do a good job. The production is top notch and the beat has character. Making Shallipopi’s verse come later in the song was a wise decision. This is the best feature on the song and one of the best songs on the album.

Verdict: Shallipopi Presida La Pluto Album Review

The writing and storytelling is sometimes good, Shallipopi tells his story of being a fast rising artist in the industry dealing with disbelievers, fame, money and sex.

Some songs feel repetitive and it feels all-over the-place but Shallipopi should be applauded for his boldness and willingness to experiment and promote the diversity of Nigerian music.

On “Presido La Pluto” Shallipopi fuses afrobeats, amapiano, old Benin music and believe it or not, old nursery rhymes and children show theme songs to create an above par debut album.

Rating: 6 /10