Chronicles of an average college student. I had a kickback at my apartment with my roommate and a few of our friends. I took this as an opportunity to play ENNY’s Under Twenty Five. I had to write an album review and I wanted to listen to it in a known pressure filled environment. After ENNY’s success in 2020 with Peng Black Girls Remix with Jorja Smith, the anticipation for this album was large. And her being a Nigerian-British rapper, the diaspora was excited to see the next step. The 21-minute long album shows ENNY’s experience through the confusing periods of “your twenties.” The short album gives the listener an experience of a lifetime. And if you are currently going through your 20’s or have already passed them, the experience is way too relatable. As I played this album for around 9 college kids, the experience of realizing a regular 9-5 isn’t something you want to do. It becomes a beautiful moment of vulnerability when you realize none of us know what we are doing. None of us even have a plan. But we aspire to be like ENNY and do what we love. And as black students, we truly just want to make it. But we have to pay our dues. “I keep going through the same old” but god the same old is so hard????
If you won’t listen to the entire album, here are a few tracks to listen to:
Same Old
It’s giving the early 2000s mixed with a modern twist. I mean “I’m getting scared just wake up, I’m anxious, scared and unfiltered/ Your pain’s for sale so they’ll milk it, you grind it up and then bill it/Your cup is done so you’ll fill it.” Life will literally curb stomp you and not care. But you have to make it through. ENNY raps her experience being an African British person. From normal life experiences such as relationships to more racially motivated issues such as others trying to silence her voice. The experience of the song beautifully executes the struggles of being a black person in the diaspora. The opening track being this song sets up the rest of her journey through self discovery.
Keisha’s & Brenda’s
There is nothing I can write about this song to capture the essence of both the video or the song. You just have to listen to feel her anger about why being a black woman is hard. Especially being under 25, you are put in some questionable situations.
Under 25
“Do I need it all together before turnin’ twenty-five? Hmm” The pressure of having to succeed to have everything figured out by the time you’re thirty will cause major anxiety when you are 20-25. So you do things you don’t want to do because you want to have it all together. But ENNY expresses being stuck in that cycle and trying to break out of it. Working a 9-5 isn’t for some people. And not everyone can figure everything out before they turn 25. Most adult-adults are still trying to figure it out.