NIGERIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY: THE RICH VS THE HOPEFULS

There is something very peculiar about the Nigerian Music Industry that is also very unpleasant. It is very much characterized by the slavery mentality. Our fore-fathers suffered so much that the brainwashing by the white people still affects their generations till this day. The white people made the black people believe that "everything white" is superior, which is why today, everything remotely close to foreign is held supreme. The  Nigerian music industry has unconsciously stipulated certain achievements as the criteria for success and there are even various categories. The cogent one being the criteria of being an imported talent, imported character, imported money, in short, imported everything.

There's a particular category of musicians who are the posh ones and they are usually just returned from foreign states in the world. It seems there's some form of superior perception of those musicians who have been to foreign countries especially if they spent some few years over there. What is most annoying about these artistes is that they do not wish to come to their home country initially but after suffering in a foreign country where they are seen as inferior citizens with no one paying any heed to them, they then decide to come home to the brainwashed slaves who will worship them and whatever they have to offer. Some people believe once you travel abroad, you are automatically a kind of deity. So these musicians come here with affected accents, twisting their tongues and showing mannerisms they adopted from foreign cultures which of course fascinates people and draws the wanted attention.

  

Most of these music artistes that quickly gain the attention and fandom of Nigerians are those whose families are very influential. They are usually very handsome or beautiful, very attractive people in general as we all know that money has its ways of making anyone gorgeous. The fact is that in any society especially one like the Nigerian society, many people like to associate with the rich as it seems to give them a feeling of belonging to the class they continually strive for. Even those who are church rats will continue to laud the music of the rich children instead of their comrades from Ajegunle. They savour news about the rich musicians who have just acquired the same ride as Kanye West, Jay Z or Snoop Dogg. They are hungry for every single detail about what goes on in the rich musicians' lives and will give them the best unpaid-for publicity in the world "word of mouth" which turns them into immediate celebrities. These rich musicians practically buy the love and attention of thousands because of the idea that they are the La creme de La creme. They hardly need the money of those who buy their albums as music is a hobby for them not the job that feeds them.

When they hold concerts, the event is decorated with dignitaries who are friends with their affluent parents or Arab money and this makes more Nigerians wow at these privileges. Some of these rich musicians are hardly talented, they can hardly sing or rap or even have a decent stage presence but because money can buy swag, they are celebrated. Being rich totally obliterates the need for talent and we begin to get used to hearing them screech on our radios just because we want to be associated with class. They are connected to people in radio stations, Alaba market, Deejays, Television stations, international cable channels who act as the pillars behind them and continue to promote their music so much that we do not know when we begin to nod our heads and sing along to their inane music. Once an artiste is from abroad and comes to the Nigerian music scene, he or she is readily given a stamp of approval with no test at all unlike the ones who live their whole lives among us, no, those ones are just ordinary. Most of these rich artistes have signed sweet endorsement deals with big companies in the country and like the vicious cycle, the rich artistes becomes richer

. Nigerian celebrities that fall into this category include:

 

GOLDIE, this is one artiste that's obviously having fun as she seems to play "dress up" instead of music most of the time. She is from a rich home with very educated parents, her costumes are usually imported and she is sometimes called "the Nigerian Lady GaGa".

BANKY W, cocky, dapper and the guy we love to hate. He entered the music industry with a rip off of Rihanna's "Umbrella" and we just embraced him with no originality. He is already building a music empire. Etisalat, Coca-cola and Samsung endorsements. Hmm.

TIWA SAVAGE,  now this lady is very talented, she has paved the way for other female artistes in Nigeria. But many say, her rapid success is due to the fact that she is kind of foreign and also has amazing connections. Pepsi endorsement.

DAVIDO, he just came from nowhere, slept with a college student and blew up like fireworks. His families are very politically connected and he does not need us to buy his album but we all rock his songs all the time! Mtn Endorsement

LYNXX, very attractive guy, looks like a movie action hero, muscle, cute lips, good height. When you see this guy, you can just smell money from afar. Many Nigerian women keep wishing he was theirs. Studied in the US and all. Pepsi endorsement.  These are the foremost music artistes that are known to music-loving Nigerians and there are many more. They are not all talentless but people tend to accept musicians of their status more quickly than they do those "upcoming artistes" who grew up in Nigeria and have struggled to put their names on everyone's lips all to no avail.  However, there is also that category of very rich musicians in Nigeria who passed through our indigenous process to stardom. We all watched as they metamorphosed from "rags to riches", from "Mushin to Mo'hits", from oblivion to stardom. We all saw their journey, their struggles, their participation in talent shows, their victories and how they have achieved international acclaim today. These people are us, we see reflections of our dreams in them, they make us know that even if our parents do not know the President, there is always hope of making our names famous some day. Next post will be all about them. Share your thoughts!