Myra Maimoh

Though the ladies have been turned off by many negative messages in hip-hop lately (inspiration for some songs on the album like “Afrodance”), they still embrace hip-hop culture and new music. Hélène – “We’re loving African hip-hop right now, just seeing how African MCs are finding their own voices and not just copying US artists.” Célia is inspired by “Myra Maimoh, she’s like the Cameroonian Jill Scott, and Franck Biyong.” It seems as if Les Nubians are Afro Futurism without a marketing gimmick. - www.okayafrica.com

First, it makes sense to take a look at Hitsmith Records, the independent label that the music is coming out of. The label hails from Germany, of all places, and produces a quite variety of expansive, numerous, and incredibly diverse genres. The label continues the legacy set forth by its previous incarnation, Bel-Pen Recordings. As Hitsmith states, it has been a place where ‘boundaries have diminished into music and recording technology.’ Hitsmith controls the catalog of Bel-Pen and continues the legacy into today with artists like Vin Deca.

The original version of the song, ‘I Encourage You,’ was written by Vin Deca six years ago in 2008. The song originally acted as a self-inspirational piece for Deca as he dealt with the turmoils of the music industry. Myra Maimoh released the song on her contemporary pop album in 2011, which charted well. Now, in 2014, Vin Deca has decided to take control of his song once more, remixing Maimoh’s sound with a modern twist of his own.

The song is supposed to be ‘smooth and uplifting,’ and in this endeavor, it succeeds. The song is happy-go-lucky, bounding in and out of electronic riffs with little recourse through the chaos. The remix plays around with Maimoh’s vocals quite well, looping her and dancing her around the beats. The song would ideally be suited on the dance floor, but is a great listen anywhere for fans of the genre.

In terms of the musicality, the new remix is very sound. It doesn’t peak out, and the beats don’t overthrow Maimoh’s vocals. Her voice is artful, and she helps convey the power of the track. I took the liberty of seeking out Maimoh’s original 2011 recording, which was actually a rhythm and blues, electronica-esque version of the song. That then helped me discern the difference between her studio take and this remix. The remix turns the original song into an electronic dance pop song, which is certainly very opposite from her recording. That’s good, though, because Deca took a great deal of creative license to assign his own sound back to the track.

The end of the track gets a bit cluttered, a lot is going on and Dica continues to layer quite a few lyrics on top of each other and this contributes to the listener having a bit of a struggle to comprehend the lyrical message. Regardless, the song isn’t designed to be listened to in that regard; it’s a track you’re supposed to be up and about to, getting excited and dancing, not trying to decipher the lyrics.

It’s a solid single, and an incredibly talented remix from Vin Deca. It promises some exceptional content from the artist, and anyone who is a fan of electronic or pop music will certainly find something worthwhile in this sound. It’s one of the most sound electronic dance mixes I’ve heard in a long time, and I dig Deca’s artistic direction moving away from Myra Maimoh’s take. That cut is great as well, but Deca’s cut gives the song the inspirational oomph it needed to shout its message from the mountaintop.

You can stream the single below, and visit Hitsmith’s website along with Vin Deca’s as well:

https://soundcloud.com/vin-deca/i-encourage-you-feat-myra-maimohebenholz-remixhttp://hitsmithrecords.com/vin-deca-media/http://vindeca.com/ - Brett Stewart