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".
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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.
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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.
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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
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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! |
