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Asa: Undeniably Nigeria's Biggest Musical Export Since Fela Anikulapo Kuti
14:25:00frankola
Born Bukola Elemide, Aṣa was born in Paris, France to her Nigerian parents. Her family returned to live in Nigeria when she was two. Aṣa grew up in a small town near Lagos, in the south-western part of Nigeria. Twenty years later, Aṣa returned to Paris where her life as an artist took off.
Whenever Asa came home from school in Nigeria, she discovered musical acts like Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Raphael Saadiq, Lauryn Hill, Femi Kuti and Angélique Kidjo. This was while she was in pursuit of educational excellence, and these musical acts are whose footprints she dreamed of following.
ASA is undeniably Nigeria's biggest musical export since legendary musician and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti. She has made a name for herself all over Africa and is known in seven out of ten households in Nigeria, her kind of music, style and lifestyle is in a category of it own.
On the 25th of August 2014 her third studio album BED Of STONE was released, Bed of Stone received widespread critical acclaim upon release. Pop Magazine rated the album 4 out of 5 stars, and called it "a full and rounded musical experience," as well as a more "personal" album than Aṣa's previous releases. They also praised the album's musical style, calling it "smooth" and "graceful".Festus Okubor Goziem of 360Submissions also praised Bed of Stone, and deemed it a "masterful, controlled, [and] confident album." They further applauded Aṣa for her vocal delivery, and compared her to Florence and the Machine, Alabama Shakes and The Civil Wars. Bellanaija acclaimed the album, stating that the album was "one of the best albums you would hear this year"; they further praised it by calling it "Grammy-winning music".Udochukwu Ikwuagwu of The Breaking Times gaveBed of Stone another acclaimed review. He rated the album an 8 out of 10, and called it a "near-masterpiece"; Aṣa's vocal delivery and songwriting, as well as the album's production, were particularly acclaimed.Oscar Okeke of Lo Batan gave a positive, albeit more critical, review of the album. Rating the album a B on a scale of A to F, Okeke praised the album's production and its lyrical content, but was more critical of Aṣa's vocal delivery; "Intensified vocals and a surge of instrumentals is what the album needs. It’s called a musical frisson, and Asa could have given us more of it," Okeke said in his review.
