Phyno Understands that Greatness is a ‘Full Time Job’

Phyno started working on a new album in early 2023, however, he scrapped those songs and started over again. It was only around April of this year that he felt he had enough for what would become Full Time Job. “I feel like I have a lot of genres on the album that are really needed,” he says, “from the rap songs to the conscious songs, to music that passes [on] the kind of message I want the body of work to have.”

True to his words, Full Time Job is a wide-ranging album. Encompassing the musical styles of rap, highlife, R&B and gospel, its high replay value comes from Phyno’s masterful blends of genre. The album opener “It’s Nothing” features Southeast-based content creator Emaodiaa, using his comic hype as a narrative pairing for Phyno’s fly rhymes about greatness. Quite similar to the “Chibuzo,” the intro of his classic debut album No Guts, No Glory, it’s a reminder that no one begins an album quite like Phyno.

Full Time Job reveals an expanding perspective from Phyno. He seems unconcerned with rapper-esque arrogance, rather working towards his musicality and flow. Collaborations with U.K. rap heavyweights Chip and ArrDee reveal lived-in chemistry. Both are easy on the ears and lend themselves to the compact, progressive flow of the album. New schoolers Cheque and FAVE contribute on “Back Outside” and “Deep,” while longtime collaborators Burna Boy and Flavour feature on “Do I (Remix)” and “Men Don Show Face” respectively.

Behind the boards, the beats are brought to life by the experienced trio of Major Bangz, Duktor Sett and JaySynths, who produced the most songs on the album.

“I get into the studio and allow the music to take control,” says Phyno about the creative instincts behind Full Time Job. “You might have an idea going into the studio but we don’t really decide the songs that we make. [For] Timeless music, most times, you allow the music to speak to you.”

“At this stage in my career, I’m not trying to chase hit records,” Phyno adds. “I want people to listen to the project and soak it in. If you want a good body of work, let the music speak for you. I want a project that people can play from beginning to end, not just like I’m trying to make a hit record, and it feels like a DJ in the club playing from one tempo to another.”

When Phyno speaks about classic albums that achieve that quality of range, he mentions No Guts, No Glory. Released in 2014, the album provided a view of his impressive artistry. Featuring the top mainstream acts of the day, No Guts No Glory successfully showcased the convergence points between rap and Afrobeats.

It’s quite striking how the artist born Chibuzo Azubike Nelson parlayed his initial success into something bigger. Although his music and presentation was essentially hip-hop, the artist stayed in touch — narratively, that is — with his roots in Enugu and Anambra states. To hear Phyno in his element is to jolt open one’s perceptive senses and feel the cultural sensibilities of Igbo people.

Phyno’s moved across this perceptive board throughout his career, dipping into sonic pockets that are fully realized on Full Time Job. On the duo of The Playmaker (2016) and Deal With It (2019), he explored the pairing of anthemic rap bangers and atmospheric gospel-leaning records which gave praise to the divine for one’s successes.

Regardless of form, Phyno’s Igboness has never been relegated to the background. Even his biggest visual moment came with the release of “Alobam” and its trendy black-and-gold designed shirt which took the titular word — which means my guy in Igbo — into the stratosphere of pop culture relevance. By the time Something To Live For was released in 2021, Phyno was an undisputed great in the Nigerian music scene and a bit more than a legend in the Southeast.

“I believe [that for] every creative, something molded them,” Phyno says, “and me, I’m blessed to realize what molded me was my environment and where I grew up in Enugu. So, that can’t go away. I always make references to Enugu, Igbo language, 042, the East — these are the things I know.”

On “Grateful,” one of the songs from Full Time Job, Phyno flips the 2004 gospel classic, “Kporo Ya Isi Na Ala,” from Njideka and Gozie Okeke. He reckons that their other great record, “Akanchawa,” is probably the most popular gospel song for anyone who grew up in the East. Working that memory nerve, but playing it down with a humbled perspective of one’s journey, Phyno becomes a conduit for the past to touch the present.

“[The rights holders] were very easy with it,” says Phyno about clearing the sample. “They love what I do; they were like, ‘It’s okay, just use it.’They cleared the sample before I even recorded the song. There’s a lot of inspiration to get from that record. I wanted a song that people that are like me — people that are hip-hop lovers — can wake up to on Sundays and just press play. It doesn’t have to be traditional gospel music.”

A single verse is all it took for Phyno to trend digitally for several days. That verse came on “HERO,” the record from Aguero Banks, one of the budding rappers who Phyno has embraced as kin. A stirring, heartfelt verse that extolled Igbo legends from Morocco Maduka and Osita Osadebe to contemporary figures like Flavour and iLLBLISS, it was a reminder of Phyno’s technicality as a rapper and his peerless understanding of how to blend this “borrowed culture” into the origins of his existence.

Before that, Phyno executive produced King, the much-awaited sophomore album from another East-bred star, Jeriq. Both artists had initially collaborated on the latter’s “Remember (Remix),” a watershed moment for Igbo rap. Pulling his weight behind the sustenance of this legacy, Phyno has become more visible than ever recently, playing the game while he reps the culture.

Speaking about his collaborative zest, he speaks to the advantages of “[having] new experiences before I make my music,” he says. “Or else I’m just gonna deliver what I’ve been delivering before. My last album was 2021, I wasn’t a father then, now I am. I have executive produced a couple of projects, worked on a couple of stuff, passed through different stages that molded me and gave me new experiences to be able to deliver solid content and an album with substance.”