We can’t categorically say Chocolate City is heaving its last sighs as a major label with Ice Prince’s recently announced exit. What we can say however is that at some point in the label’s history, the highlight of every album released under the label’s imprint was the official Choc Boy anthem for the record. Here is a definitive ranking of all the Choc Boy songs released before the label’s problems began in 2012 with Jesse Jagz’ exit.
5. Chocolate – Brymo, Son of a Kapenta, 2012
If we didn’t know any better we’d say the label had anticipated problems later that year, hence gave a befitting title to this number off Brymo’s sole album before announcing his exit via a series of chaotic tweets. With the addition of Pryse as the label’s first female rapper, the song didn’t bear the usual ‘(feat. Choc Boys)’ tag, but it did have Brymo on chorus and Jesse Jagz on the last verse while Ice Prince and M.I filled everything in between. Between the local Hausa music infused beat and Pryse’ dull opening, this is unarguably the weakest link in the gallery of Choc Boy anthems.
4. Thank You – Ice Prince, Everybody Loves Ice Prince, 2011
Ice Prince debut ELI album may have as well changed the industry in its own way. Heavy kicks and poppy synths are littered across the Jesse Jagz produced LP and Thank You borrows the same instrumental arrangement to close the album. Ice Prince stumbles through his verse with occasionally mediocre punches but he is rescued by a chord progression that does too much even for Jesse Jagz who unusually mouths cringe-worthy lines like Life’s a bitch(pause)/me Nyansh tire . M.I drops a humorous third verse maintaining the basic bars standard his comrades already set through the song. But the success of this song was never really in the verse, it was in Brymo’s smooth chorus about fine boys looking for fine girls. Agreed, none of it makes sense, but boy does it sound good.
3. Represent – M.I, M.I 2: The Movie, 2010
A skit between a cinema attendant and a customer who apparently fell asleep in the theater while waiting for the post-credits Choc Boy anthem opens Represent. Brymo’s voice backed by electronic organ synths opens the song for Jesse Jagz to spit on the first verse. Save for his interpolation of the punch lines – ‘ping-pong’ and ‘king-kong’ on the wrong bars, Ice Prince delivers an almost flawless second verse. M.I comes in briefly for a vocoded refrain, before bursting into a 2-minute long final verse detailing how he set up his Choc Boy crew and of course reminding us why they will be at the top for a while.
2. Choc Boys – M.I, Illegal Music, 2008
It is general knowledge that M.I’s Illegal Music mixtapes may be the only representation of his true artistry, and this alternate synth version of JayZ’s Roc Boys proves just that. With a minimalist cast of the original Choc Boy formation, M.I, Ice Prince and Jesse Jagz, Choc Boys is opened by M.I’s auto-tuned sing-song style. Jesse Jagz, Ice Prince and the Short Black Boy himself fulfill the role of their places while the lush instrumental does the rest of the work. This is probably the smoothest lyricism we will ever get to hear from this three, and not even Ice Prince’ infamous flow so bloody/ just me and my menses line did too much to taint that legacy
1. Nobody Test Me – Jesse Jagz, Jag of All Trades, 2009
In what many have referred to as one of the hardest collaborative rap songs to ever come out of Nigeria, Nobody Test Me came at the peak of the Chocolate City freshman years in the music industry. It’s 2009, M.I’s debut album, Talk about it, dropped the previous year, Jesse Jags just snagged a hit off Jargo and Ice Prince was quickly becoming a household name, these guys were literally untouchable. With a chorus helmed by Ice Prince, Nobody Test Me is a song that comes second to none as a statement of braggadocio. The braggart premise of the song is further fine-tuned by an M.I second verse where subtle shots are taken at Kelly Hansome before Jesse Jagz finishes off with the bar for bar tightrope lines that stay on course all through the verse. Trust us when we say, this is the best of the best of the Choc Boys.
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