Ashley CKS: 'Ashley' EP [Pusle Review]

In his eponymously named EP, Ashley displays a desire to connect with the mainstream audience while showing flashes of musicality.

While his melodies, flows, and penmanship are ostensibly rudimentary, they are the elements of a newbie, and he makes up for this in flashes of versatility where he explores different sounds.

In the Pop opener, 'I Love You' his writing is elementary, and his delivery gleans from street poetry style. While he uses pidgin to connect with a larger audience, his vocals and melody retain the posh elements of a budding artist whose primary influences are western propelled Pop music.

He displays impressive versatility in 'Broken' and 'Commando', adopting a Dancehall bounce in the former while combining Pop-rap and Afrobeat horns in the latter. While his vocals are rough around the edges and his melodies lack the command to arrest attention, Ashley does flow with admirable ease.

Even though he talks about familiar subjects of love, heartbreak, and bad-boy adventures, his use of simple lyrics allows for the mundanity of the topics to be complimented by simple sonics.

In 'Commando' where he rhymes and shows impressive flashes of a quintessential Afrobeats act, the production is painfully lacking in its command. While more prominent horns and better-arranged drums could have elevated the song, the production and sound engineering comes short.

He displays the influence of street music in form of Ragga Dancehall in 'Our Love' as his flow scheme borrows from this street Dancehall elements while he also adopts familiar dictions like "Jogodo".

'Sade' is a song with a good idea but poor execution as the flows, the melodies, and the production are painfully pedestrian.

Overall Ashely CKS has the talent to be an exciting Afrobeats talent, especially as he displayed flashes of his understanding of a section of Nigerian street music on this EP. However, the tape is unconvincing as it lacks the cutting edge to deliver a track that packs the power to kick down the door and command attention.

While a better production and some confidence will do Ashley CKS a lot of good, 'Ashley' is a tame attempt that should inspire him to keep going.

Ratings: /10

• 0-1.9: Flop

• 2.0-3.9: Near fall

• 4.0-5.9: Average

• 6.0-7.9: Victory

• 8.0-10: Champion

Pulse Rating: /10

Album Sequencing: 1.2/2

Songwriting, Themes, and Delivery: 1.2/2

Production: 1.2/2

Enjoyability and Satisfaction: 1.2/2

Execution: 1.2/2

Total: 6.0 - Victory

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