INDUSTRY MACHINE

Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025

ODUMODUBLVCK

Success breeds enmity, and Abuja rapper ODUMODUBLVCK has a fair share of haters to address in light of his outsized wins. Some of the more searing tracks on INDUSTRY MACHINE, the follow-up to the MC’s surprise March mixtape THE MACHINE IS COMING, land with the conviction of a post-fight interview. Pa Salieu joins in a sneering celebration of dominance over a colleague on “UNAWARE,” and then there’s “LAYI WASABI,” a booming collab with Reminisce rife with disdain for MCs he considers beneath him. There’s a homecoming collab with fellow Abuja star PsychoYP on trap-influenced “TIFFANY” and a gripping grime linkup with British don Skepta and Anti World Gangstars on “ADENUGA.”

And yet, ODUMODUBLVCK keeps Afropop on its toes as the rare chart fixture who can deliver bars speaking to the terse realities of urban life in Nigeria, while couching those stories in melody cut from his self-titled “Okporoko” style. And while plenty of INDUSTRY MACHINE provides a definitive portrait of a rapper at the top of the mountain, the project yields some of its most dynamic moments when things get reflective: Afrobeats superstar Wizkid opens up about the devastation of losing his mother and the escape music itself offers him on “BIG TIME,” while “HALLELUJAH” radiates ODUMODUBLVCK’s humility, a sketch of a rapper aware of his position, yet appreciative of divine guidance.