MADE IN NIGERIA; LYRICS

With the lines of music I hear these days on radio stations and watch on my TV screens, I am of the opinion there is a wanting for something more deep and meaningful. The lines are similar and the beat is just as the same. Only few Nigerian artistes understand what music is and believe in being an individual in a crowd. When you watch our American and other counterparts (though not all of them make sense) you know we are still far behind. Many musicians lack style, lyrics content and originality.

 Very true, we are better but we can do more. People like Tu Face are huge stars. We like to deceive ourselves that many of our stars are making music. There are so many musicians with beats that we can barely hear what they are saying. I have always thought that music should carry a positive message but since I am not hearing anything, I cannot say there is a message. It is always about a girl or a guy in love, with girls have naked shaking their buttocks….i am tempted to think; do they really think, they are sexy or what? Since we have no message, we are using sex and vulgar lyrical content to sell. It is majorly noise and when you try to say otherwise, they say you are beefing them or you are jealous.

The kind of music young people dance to, even some of the older generation leaves you wondering where we are headed. That further goes to say that we need to transform our thinking. We have to do better. When I hear musician in Nigeria talk of mentoring people, I am wondering what they are mentoring, when they are teaching nothing already with their lyrics….people make a couple of bucks and they start saying they are made, how BABA GOD has blessed them and no enemy can run them down. All manner of supposed ghetto and gangster rap...a lot of people think they understand hip-hop, forming fake American accent, plenty wannabes, lack of originality and poor lyrical content.

THE TYPE OF MUSIC WE LISTEN TO AS YOUNG PEOPLE HAS

A WAY

OF SHAPING US. When all you hear is sex, sex, getting rich quick, no room for delayed gratification, naked girls, money, flashy cars and the likes, it is likely to becloud your thinking and values…

We really have to improve and media houses should stop playing and showing all manner of sorts…what exactly is the point if the song does not pass a message? It rarely entertains and it is usually unnecessarily loud. We are driven by making all the money that we forget quality. How can we go far? When you look at our musical talent hunt shows, the winner goes into oblivion after a single hit or album, after that, they can barely put music together. A good musician, should know the professional ethics, be able to make music with anything, not just one type of music.

A good musician is well grounded and very versatile. When you watch the talent hunts, they are usually looking for the same type of people, particular audition songs….do we all have to sing like Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Rhihanna or Whitney Houston? Do we all have to do Usher or become like Justin Bieber? What then is the point in originality? Excellence thrives with originality and it is why most winners of these talent shows do not go far….when you are trying so hard to be another Jay Z, another Mariah Carey instead of learning from them to build your own brand, you become overwhelmed and your talent suffers. You tune multiple station and you are hearing the same songs, songs that are meaningless. We even dance to them without giving second thoughts to what the lyrical contents are saying. I have stopped a lot of that, I am getting more interested in what musicians say…. It tells the type of people we are. Even though I find myself singing along sometimes unconsciously, I am gradually coming out of that. That is because it is everywhere, you hear it continuously.

They type of people we celebrate in music sometimes leaves you wondering. When we have the likes of Onyeka Onwenu with major classics, songs you can hear every word and sing it, people like Panam Percy Paul, Asa, Dare Art Alade, Lagbaja, Fela, Femi, Nneka, Ayo ,9ice etc. People like Omawumi, Timi and J’odie are doing well on originality. We can improve if we will just understand the basics of music. Creativity and originality is the word. We cannot continue to be making noise and believing we are stars. We will remain local champions. The potentials are there, it is just the basics.

I am all for the oldies and few of the new school because the oldies is music to my ears and they will remain classics for a long time.