True Colors
True Colors
Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2024
While Afropop has undoubtedly risen to a place of prominence globally, some of the most important stylistic advancements in the genre can be traced to the legacy of the freewheeling alté culture that sprung out of West African cities like Lagos and Accra near the end of the 2010s. In Accra particularly, the music collective La Même Gang unlocked a portal to a new era of expression that reverberated across their country and sealed their reputation as one of the most innovative acts operating across West Africa. Experimenting with trap, hiplife, and EDM, the six-member group has thrilled, animated, and inspired in equal fashion.
As with most collectives of their size, the years since their debut album, 2017’s La Même Tape, and its quick-fire follow-up La Même Tape: Linksters, have seen them embark on a variety of creative endeavors, with little time for all members of the gang to dial in for music-making except for sporadic singles. Fans of the crew were treated to a welcome surprise in the closing weeks of 2023, when the group returned with Let’s Start a Riot, a four-song EP that reminded listeners of the choppy flows and nimble melodies La Même Gang built their reputation on—while setting the stage for their new arc. Raising the ante, their third album, True Colors, is a sure-footed return to the zenith of their powers.
Across the album’s tracks, La Même Gang tinctures their patented trap fusion style with influences from Afrobeats, soul, and hip-hop. There is a dedication to brotherhood and the redeeming force of friendship on “Gang Riddim,” while the drill-influenced “C’est La Vie” is a withering rebuke to time-wasters and finds the group channeling the pomp of their late-2010s run. Elsewhere, True Colors functions as a chronicle of the collective’s zeitgeist-shifting influence on Afropop’s mainstream, as Ghanaian superstar King Promise joins for a mellow tribute to a love interest (“Odo Ni Sika”), and the soulful depth of “Wash My Pain Away” displays their comfort navigating topics that are typically out of bounds in the Afropop arena.
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