Asake’s M$NEY album finds the Nigerian superstar standing at the intersection of wealth, spirituality, global success and self-awareness.
On his fourth studio album, the man once introduced to the world as "Mr Money With The Vibe" appears less interested in proving that he can become a star and more concerned with understanding the man he has become after attaining that status.
There has always been something fascinating about Ahmed Ololade Asake.
From the moment his explosive run with "Omo Ope" was followed by records like "Sungba," "Peace Be Unto You" and "Terminator," Asake appeared to understand something about contemporary Afrobeats that very few artists could reproduce.
His music could carry the rawness of Lagos street-pop, the bounce of Amapiano, the spirituality and communal character of Fuji, and the kind of massive choral arrangements capable of making an ordinary hook sound like thousands of people were singing it at once.
Then came Mr. Money With The Vibe in 2022, followed by Work of Art in 2023 and Lungu Boy in 2024.
Each project moved Asake further from the status of an exciting newcomer into the position of a global African pop star.
By the time M$NEY arrived on May 1, 2026, Asake was operating from a completely different position.
This was no longer simply an artist attempting to enter the room.
He was already inside.
The question was what he would do with the space.
Released through Giran Republic and EMPIRE, M$NEY is Asake’s fourth studio album and contains 13 songs across roughly 35 minutes.
DJ Snake, Tiakola and South African Amapiano heavyweight Kabza De Small make guest appearances, while the album continues Asake’s relationship with producers such as Magicsticks.
For listeners following Asake, Afrobeats and new Nigerian music, Hiphoptrack remains another destination for discovering new releases and music updates.
M$NEY Is More Than An Album About Being Rich
With a title like M$NEY, it would be easy to expect 35 minutes of luxury, expensive cars, jewellery, women and financial braggadocio.
Those things exist.
But they are not the complete story.
A significant part of M$NEY is spiritual.
Asake repeatedly moves between gratitude for what he has achieved, requests for continued blessings, reflections on love, pleasure, status and the recognition that money cannot completely solve the internal problems that accompany success.
The contrast is interesting.
The same artist who can celebrate his position in one breath can invoke God in another.
That relationship between prosperity and spirituality becomes one of the threads connecting the album.
Sonically, however, Asake does not completely abandon the architecture that created his success.
The log drums remain.
The vocal layering remains.
Fuji remains somewhere inside his musical bloodstream.
So does Amapiano.
What changes is the amount of space surrounding everything.
M$NEY frequently sounds smoother, less frantic and considerably more polished than the Asake who burst through speakers during the Mr. Money With The Vibe era.
Track By Track Review Of Asake’s M$NEY Album
Intro
At only 26 seconds, "Intro" functions more like the opening of a ceremony than a conventional song.
Rather than immediately attacking listeners with drums, Asake allows the album to introduce its spiritual atmosphere first.
It is brief, but that brevity matters.
The opening essentially prepares the listener for one of M$NEY’s most important ideas: the wealth being celebrated on this album exists alongside gratitude for the journey that produced it.
It is the calm before the album properly opens its doors.
WORSHIP featuring DJ Snake
Then comes "WORSHIP," one of the clearest examples of Asake attempting to enlarge his sound without completely separating himself from his identity.
DJ Snake introduces an electronic scale to the production, giving the record the feeling of something capable of travelling from an African festival to a massive European dance stage without needing substantial modification.
But underneath the electronic architecture is still Asake.
The chants, spiritual undertone and rhythmic vocal delivery prevent the collaboration from becoming an EDM song that merely happens to contain an Afrobeats singer.
Instead, both worlds negotiate with one another.
It feels enormous.
Not necessarily because Asake is doing the most vocally, but because the production is designed to create scale around him.
Gratitude
If "WORSHIP" looks upward, "Gratitude" looks backward.
The title explains almost everything.
Asake sounds like someone observing how dramatically his circumstances have changed and acknowledging that surviving the journey itself deserves appreciation.
The production carries warmth rather than urgency.
There are still rhythmic elements underneath it, but the record is more interested in atmosphere than aggression.
Asake has frequently incorporated religious language and thanksgiving into his music, but M$NEY places these ideas much closer to the centre of the project.
The result is a song that functions almost like a thanksgiving session hidden inside a pop album.
Rora
"Rora" immediately has more movement.
Shakers, horns and electronic textures give the record an almost floating quality.
It is dance music without desperation.
That distinction captures a lot of the transformation heard across M$NEY.
Earlier Asake records sometimes sounded like the music itself was fighting to escape the speakers.
"Rora" is more controlled.
The groove does the heavy lifting.
There is saxophone colour, rhythmic percussion and enough space for Asake to glide rather than wrestle with the instrumental.
Even the title feels appropriate.
Take it easy.
Move carefully.
Enjoy what is happening.
Amen
The spirituality returns strongly on "Amen."
But this time prayer and ambition almost become the same language.
Asake desires prosperity, wisdom, happiness and continued elevation.
"Amen" therefore sits comfortably inside the philosophy of the album.
M$NEY is not particularly interested in pretending that wanting wealth and being spiritual must be opposing ideas.
Asake wants success.
He also wants divine favour over that success.
Warm piano textures, crowd-like vocals and Amapiano-influenced percussion help the song gradually build rather than explode immediately.
"Amen" sounds less like a club record with religious lyrics and more like manifestation placed over dance production.
Wa
On "Wa," Asake moves away from the heavier spiritual framing and into attraction.
The record is melodic, sensual and intentionally uncomplicated.
There is something very familiar about the way he approaches songs like this.
Instead of overwhelming the instrumental with dense storytelling, he finds a phrase or melodic idea, repeats it until it becomes hypnotic and allows the production to fill the surrounding spaces.
"Wa" demonstrates both the advantage and limitation of that method.
When the melody connects, Asake needs very few words to construct something memorable.
The instrumental becomes part of the songwriting.
MCBH
Then comes "MCBH," a title built around the familiar idea that money cannot purchase happiness.
Placed inside an album literally titled M$NEY, the concept immediately creates tension.
Because what happens after you acquire the thing everyone told you to chase?
Does the hunger disappear?
Does peace automatically arrive?
Asake does not turn the song into a philosophical essay.
That has never really been his approach.
Instead, he allows melody, repetition, backing vocals and production to communicate most of the emotion.
The song sits comfortably between reflection and enjoyment.
Money may improve circumstances.
It may create access.
It may provide freedom.
But it cannot manufacture every emotional state a person needs.
On an album fascinated by prosperity, that contradiction is important.
WHY LOVE
"WHY LOVE" enters softer territory.
Romance has always existed somewhere within Asake’s music, even when surrounded by street expressions, fame and hedonism.
Here, he stretches the question itself into the emotional centre of the song.
Why love?
Why become vulnerable?
Why enter something capable of providing pleasure and pain simultaneously?
The production is smooth, and Asake sounds comfortable sitting inside it.
Rather than chasing a dramatic climax, the record allows repetition to gradually become intimacy.
Forgiveness
"Forgiveness" is perhaps one of the album titles that most clearly exposes the human being behind the M$NEY persona.
Success changes relationships.
Fame changes access.
Movement changes friendships.
Money creates opportunities but can also amplify mistakes.
On "Forgiveness," Asake enters a more reflective space where reconciliation and personal imperfection matter more than status.
That vulnerability makes the record useful to the album's sequencing.
Without songs like this, M$NEY could easily become a collection of expensive-sounding celebrations.
"Forgiveness" introduces consequence.
It suggests that behind the confidence and worldwide recognition is still someone attempting to understand relationships, decisions and personal growth.
Oba
And then the king returns.
"Oba", meaning king, leans heavily into Asake’s braggadocious side.
The record is driven by status, confidence and the kind of larger-than-life persona that has followed Asake throughout his ascent.
Jazz-flavoured instrumentation collides with dance production while Asake positions himself as someone conscious of his place in the hierarchy.
There is an interesting contradiction throughout M$NEY.
One moment Asake is asking God for blessings.
Another moment he is telling everyone that he is already blessed.
"Oba" represents the second version.
Confidence becomes part of the instrumentation.
BADMAN GANGSTA featuring Tiakola
"BADMAN GANGSTA" brings French artist Tiakola into the album and immediately changes some of the surrounding texture.
The record incorporates elements recognisable from Amerie’s "1 Thing," but Asake and Tiakola reorganise those familiar ingredients inside their own rhythmic environment.
Tiakola supplies another melodic identity without overpowering Asake.
That balance makes the collaboration effective.
Rather than sounding like a strategic feature added purely to expand market reach, there is enough chemistry between both artists for the song to operate independently from the business logic behind international collaborations.
It carries swagger, melody and a noticeably different rhythm from several of the tracks preceding it.
Asambe featuring Kabza De Small
Getting Kabza De Small on an Asake album feels almost inevitable.
Asake's music has been intertwined with Amapiano since the beginning of his mainstream explosion, while Kabza occupies one of the genre's most important positions.
"Asambe" therefore feels like two related musical worlds formally shaking hands.
The log drums are deep.
The rhythm is patient.
Rather than forcing a gigantic crossover moment, Kabza provides the type of foundation Asake already understands intuitively.
"Asambe" translates loosely to "let's go," and movement is exactly what the record encourages.
It is music built around physical response.
Head movement first.
Shoulders next.
Everything else afterwards.
Skilful
"Skilful" closes the album by returning Asake to pleasure, confidence and sensuality.
After an album that has repeatedly bounced between God, gratitude, wealth, romance and status, the final record does not attempt to construct an oversized emotional conclusion.
Instead, Asake leaves while enjoying himself.
Log drums return prominently, while his delivery centres on attraction, ability and indulgence.
Perhaps that is appropriate.
Because M$NEY never really presents Asake as somebody who has abandoned pleasure in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment.
He contains both.
That contradiction is the album.
M$NEY Shows A Different Kind Of Asake
M$NEY does not have the same sense of hunger that surrounded Mr. Money With The Vibe.
But why would it?
That Asake was sprinting towards something.
This Asake has already caught much of it.
The circumstances have changed, and the music reflects those circumstances.
His vocals frequently feel more relaxed.
The instrumentation receives more room.
Live musical elements, horns, keys, orchestral textures, Amapiano percussion and electronic production coexist throughout the record.
At points, Asake almost becomes another instrument inside the arrangement instead of demanding to remain permanently in front of it.
That creates some of M$NEY’s strongest moments.
It can also create its weakness.
Listeners who fell in love with the unpredictable, street-coded urgency of early Asake may occasionally desire more aggression, more memorable phrases and more of the explosive personality that made his arrival feel disruptive.
But albums should also document where artists are.
And M$NEY documents a man whose relationship with ambition has changed.
Final Thoughts On Asake’s M$NEY Album
From "WORSHIP" and "Gratitude" to "MCBH," "Forgiveness," "BADMAN GANGSTA" and "Asambe," Asake uses M$NEY to move between prayer and pleasure, introspection and flexing, African musical traditions and increasingly international production.
The result is one of his smoothest and most cohesive projects.
It may not possess the raw shock value that accompanied the beginning of his career, but it presents another interesting stage of that career:
What happens after Mr Money finally gets the money?
Apparently, he gives thanks.
He asks for more blessings.
He questions love.
He enjoys himself.
He reflects on mistakes.
And then he returns to the dance floor.
That might be the simplest way to understand M$NEY.
It is the sound of Asake no longer chasing the life he once imagined.
He is learning how to live inside it.
For more Asake songs, Afrobeats releases, Nigerian music and album updates, visit Hiphoptrack.
Do you think M$NEY represents Asake’s musical growth, or do you prefer the raw energy of Mr. Money With The Vibe and Work of Art?
Which song stands out the most on the album?
