Love is War

On his third studio project, Prettyboy D-O trades the all-out rage of 2020’s Wildfire for a more observational tone. A bold fusion of rap, punk, and pop interspersed with African rhythms, Love Is War oscillates between telling a modern romantic story and portraying “love” as self-preservation—both for the individual and a nation. “My plan was to not fight. We were going to make a love album,” D-O (real name: Donald Ofik) tells Apple Music. “But the way the country was—after the End SARS protests [in late 2020]—it was like I was still fighting. My people were still fighting. It rains in my house where I live in Nigeria. It floods. No matter how much money I make, my house is going to be flooded out. We have to walk through that water in the streets. This album was going to be straight-up political, like I’m shouting like Fela [Kuti] for my country and for my people—but I found a way to make everything in that world be in love.” Here, he gives us an inside look into each track.
“1996” “MKO Abiola day [June 12, 1996] was the day when Abiola won the elections. This was our first democratic election, but [the former military president, Ibrahim Babangida] came and said, ‘No. It’s a lie. You didn’t do any election.’ They locked [Abiola] up. During the political protests [in 2020], I wrote this song, because I was like, ‘Is this 1996?’ It feels like it’s those days when it was the dictators in power. I’m not Fela [Kuti]—he spent his whole career fighting politics and stuff—but the bullshit is too much. It starts with rock ’n’ roll, guitars. I even ended the song with a woman’s voice—Aisha Yesufu; she’s a very prominent female activist. I used something very powerful she said during the protests.”
“Falling” [Prettyboy D-O & IAMDDB] “I was trying to do something in the same nature as ‘It Wasn’t Me’ by Shaggy. I just told a story where the girl has a boyfriend, and I want the girl, and she doesn’t want [me] because she doesn’t trust me. But ultimately, we get each other. All the love stories connect, and it’s the same story: You’re in a relationship, but you could be happier with me. Why? Because me, I’m a fighter. Love is war. I’ll fight for culture; I’ll fight for your love and all that. It’s the intro to the love aspects of the album.”
“Rodman Style / Dre’s Interlude” “This is about all the politicians—from when I was young, it’s the same politicians we’ve had in my country. I’m tired of it. I’m telling them why people like me: Because I’m so real about all this stuff. We’re going to keep doing what we do—keep making our money. But I don’t like [the politicians’] style. They should do it like me. They should be free; be real. I wanted to do it in two ways: Afrobeats, and then the interlude is straight hip-hop. It opens with a clip from a Nollywood movie called Games Women Play.”
“Hanky Panky” “This is [about] love again. But this time, the girl who I met in ‘Falling,’ she’s messing with me. I’m telling her, ‘Let’s vibe, let’s chill, let’s do some hanky panky—whatever us youngins do to enjoy ourselves.’”
“Belly of the Beast” [Prettyboy D-O & Nissi] “Nissi and I come from Port Harcourt, from Rivers State. We all come from the south, the southeast. We come from the belly of the beast, where all these big oil companies rob our land, but they take all the money from our land. It’s a homage to where we come from, but it’s still about war and the oppression that we faced.”
“Living in Bondage” “This one is just for the energy. I got the title from a classic Nigerian movie that came out in 1992, where the guy sold his soul to the Devil for money, and for stuff, just to make it out of Nigeria. So, the whole movie, he’s just trying to be good and he’s trying to be a good man, even though he’s sold his soul to the Devil. It’s very spiritual.”
“Kumbaye / Sideman Interlude” “This time I wanted to come from a different angle. With all the love songs, the girl has a boyfriend, so I try to woo her. It’s still a fight, because at the end of the day, fights are love. I didn’t want to make it look like the woman is chasing me—let me do it the old way, like a gentleman. I’m chasing the woman. It’s Afrobeat, and the interlude is R&B. I need this woman to love me—yet I’m playing on the side. I can’t lie, it’s kind of like a toxic album from a male perspective, but yes, it’s like I’m a side man. It’s for the side men.”
“If They Send U” “I love all my brothers and sisters, but I’m giving them advice. ‘If they send me’ is a popular Nigerian saying. It’s like, if someone is fighting you or troubling you, you ask the person, ‘Did the Devil send you? Why are you disturbing me? Who sent you?’”
“Lord Protect My Steppings” [Prettyboy D-O & Pa Salieu] “I was praying—‘Lord, protect my steppings’—and I put it on my Snapchat and my Instagram. It went viral—Nigerian artists, British artists, all artists were [saying it]. So, we went to studio. I was using drill—UK drill, Naija drill, Ghana drill. Pa Salieu comes from Gambia. He spat so hard! He’s an African rebel, and I’m a rebel by heart. So, we didn’t even need to talk–we both just understood.”
“Too Many Gyal” “It’s a love song too. It’s for anybody who has a girlfriend or who is in a relationship, who is finding it hard to be faithful in that relationship.”
“Broke Boy Fc” [Prettyboy D-O & MOJO AF] “It’s like street gospel—the hustler’s gospel. We don’t belong to ‘Broke Boy Fc [football club].’ We used to play [for] Broke Boy Fc, but now life has changed. It’s motivational speaking. We came here to win. I’m playing for Chop Life Fc. The contract I signed with my new team, I hope it’s long. It’s satirical. It gets the people going.”
“Toyin Tomato” “This is real love. I’m speaking to my girlfriend because I’ve done all the playing before that. I’m singing about faithfulness. It’s a modern-day wedding banger. The name comes from a popular Nollywood actress [Sola Sobowale]. They used to call her Toyin Tomato [on TV drama series Super Story].”
“Trust Issues” “This one is advice. A lot of the ‘fight’ tracks on this album are more me just talking, or me giving advice. I got trust issues because of the industry, the politics of stuff within the industry. I’m not trying to be a fighter; I’m just trying to give my observations of everything that we’ve gone through. The most important thing, at the end of the day, is we have to eat. We can make as many friends as we want, but I got trust issues. I’d rather just eat. I make sure my mother is eating.”
“Police n Teef” (Bonus) “I’ve not recorded as much music as I recorded the week of Nigeria's End SARS protest. I would record several songs a day. And the first two days, all the songs were serious. Then my boys were like, ‘Yo, all these songs are serious. Everything is the same.’ So, I thought of the game I used to play as a kid. In America, they call it Cops and Robbers. In Nigeria, we call it Police and Teef. It’s like you’re being chased. But why are they chasing me? I’m not a criminal. So, they can’t chase me for being a criminal. So, what can [they chase me for] that’ll be funny? What if I got a girl, and her boyfriend wants to fight me? Like Jerry Springer. It’s crazy. Because I remember Jerry Springer—somebody, when they want to fight, they’ll be chasing the person around the stage. So, I wrote the whole thing about how boyfriends are chasing me like Police n Teef.”