I love music, and contemporary Nigerian pop music is no exception. Despite all the defects of the industry, I’ll definitely give kudos to everybody involved: the singers, producers, sound engineers, the press,marketers, video producers, and of course the ‘record companies’ ( aka labels).
Ayo Animashaun’s Hip Hop World Awards has earned its place as the most respected industry award show today, and whenever it comes around, it sets the industry abuzz. In 2009, the organisers said they deliberately excluded some songs from nomination because ot their not-so society-friendly lyrics, and this was supposed to be the magazine’s own little contribution towards sanitising the industry.Well done. I did this article back then as a prelude to the show.
On the streets, 2009 was another exciting year, with so many dance hits to reckon with. Bigiano’s Shayo, Sheyman & Dr Pat’s I’m On Fire (aka Kondo Olopa !), J.Martin’s Good or Bad ( aka Do Me pt. 2 ), Kelly Handsome’s Maga Don Pay (aka Yahoozee pt. 2 )and the whole load of D’Banj’s stuff all ensured that there was no dull moment. One of my personal favorites was Styl Plus’ Four Years which unfortunately was thoroughly whipped by the ‘critics’ even before it got to the shelves.
From a creative point of view however and as usual, there were very few songs worthy of mention. 9ice’s Gongo Aso ( which I still regard as an adulterated fuji song…..ha ha ha !) was definitely the year’s best material. The other was Lord of Ajasa’s Le Fenu So (also a fuji twist !). Frankly speaking, I couldn’t see anything near those two.
The rap scene was particularly interesting, and not just because of Lord of Ajasa. Ruggedman, the self-appointed headmaster and inspector-general of the Nigerian rap scene met his nemesis in non other than his former buddy, Mode 9. Taken word for word, line by line, Ehen Pt 1 would sound like absolute child’s play compared to the venom of Death Row.
On the positive side though, 2009 witnessed the release of one of the best rap albums yet in Nigeria – Naeto C’s You Know My P. It was also the year of a new star MI. And yet another star in the making, Kel.
Afrobeat came alive with the release of the long awaited debut album by Seun Kuti, Many Things. It would appear though that the young lad still has many things to learn as far as his recording career is concerned.
Asa is doing the real branding job for Nigeria. Although D’Banj ruled the airwaves and the streets, the two most significant artiste of the year was Asa. Asa in fact must be Nigeria’s most popular artiste in Europe today – maybe with the possible exception of Femi Kuti. Her Jailer collection is absolutely awesome and has been doing the real branding business for Nigeria. I hope aunty Dora has been taking note !
Many have commented that Tuface’s last album was weak. I agree. I also think the negative perception is essentially because he packed too many irrelevant and unnecesary songs into the album – a practice that has become commonplace in the hiphop era. Back in the day, our great artistes like Fela and Sonny Okosuns used to release magnificient 4-trackers, sometimes 6, and the market accepted the works, for essentially each song was memorable in it’s own right.
These days most of our local hiphop cds come with 11 – 16 songs, most of which do nothing than bore the listener. I can count only very few that sustained a positive and consistent tempo throughout, and interestingly Tuface’s first two albums are among these. Some artistes take it to really dramatic levels; eg Naeto C’s rap album contains a pure and vintage highlife material ! Why waste money producing so many tracks when the market is only interested in one or two – or maybe four or five as in the case of Styl Plus’ Olufunmi,P Square’s Game Over or D’Banj’s The Entertainer ?
MUSIC and MODELS Society 