For most artists, a long silence is career death. But for Smartzee, it was just the inhale before a firestorm. Nearly two decades after storming the French charts with Nâdiya, the Beninese artist returns with LEGACY â a record that doesnât nod to the past but kicks down the door to the present.
If you’re expecting polished nostalgia or a watered-down rebrand, youâre in the wrong album. LEGACY is raw hip-hop, cut with lived pain, unshaken purpose, and a refusal to be polite. This is a project made not to impress, but to express â and Smartzee is clearly done asking for permission.
Take the explosive single âBack Down.â Produced by Rujay, itâs a gritty mission statement built from trauma and tenacity. Smartzee spits like someone who’s fought in boardrooms and backstreets alike â a man who never fit in but learned to win anyway. His voice doesnât just carry bars; it carries battle scars.
âWalk This Way,â meanwhile, peels back the layers. Itâs a childhood confession wrapped in a defiant hook. Over Anywaywellâs stripped, emotional production, Smartzee retraces the pressure of conformity â the expectations, the voices, the cage of family tradition. But instead of wallowing, he walks forward, head high. âWalk this way,â they said â and he did, but on his own terms.
Every track on LEGACY pulses with purpose. âOne in a Millionâ aches like an open wound. âAll of Meâ burns like a torch passed from one generation to the next. And none of it feels packaged for the algorithm. Thereâs no hype hook here. This is hip-hop made for headphones, not hashtags.
The production leans West Coast with international flavor, but itâs the storytelling that cements LEGACY as more than an album. Itâs a self-reclamation. A comeback record that doesnât chase the crown â it builds a new kingdom entirely.
