9JA HIP HOP - KEEP IT REAL

A Couple of nights ago, I was watching a Nigerian music video on DSTV. I must say, it was good, I was impressed. The song had cool instrumentals and a catchy hook. It’s the kind of song that would get any club rocking on any Friday night. The artiste (names withheld) was rapping about women, fancy cars, and expensive houses – basically all the typical stuff you’d hear in a rap song. But something seemed amiss. I couldn’t put my finger on it. A gnawing voice at the back of my mind kept going, “What’s wrong with this picture?” Then it hit me. It was the accent. He was rapping or “spitting” in an American accent, which would have been cool if he had been an AMERICAN. But this guy was Nigerian, rapping about spending lots of Nigerian Naira notes, on beautiful Nigerian girls, in Nigerian night clubs on a Friday night,  in an AMERICAN accent. I mean I just didn’t get it.Why? It soon dawned on me that this rapper wasn’t alone. There are thousands of so-called hip hop heads in Nigeria that are guilty of the same offence.

I ask the question again. Why? Take Jay Z (one of my favorite rappers by the way) his slang and accent are a product of where he comes from, his culture. So it’s understandable if he sounds the way he does. I know hip hop isn’t indigenous to our part of the world, but in adopting it, we should at least keep sight of our culture.

First a little history….

“Hip hop music began in the South Bronx of New York City in the 1970s. The term rap is often used synonymously with hip hop, but hip hop denotes the practices of an entire s. The roots of hip hop are found in African-American music and ultimately African music. The griots of West Africa are a group of traveling singers and poets who are part of an oral tradition dating back hundreds of years. Their vocal style is similar to that of rappers. The African-American traditions of signifying', the dozens, and jazz poetry are all descended from the griots. In addition, musical 'comedy' acts such as Rudy Ray Moore and Blowfly are considered by some to be the forefathers of rap. Within New York City, griot-like performances of spoken-word poetry and music by artists such as The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron and Jalal Mansur Nuriddin had a significant impact on the post-civil rights era culture of the 1960s and 1970s. Hip hop arose during the 1970s when block parties became increasingly popular in New York City, particularly in the Bronx, where African American and Puerto Rican influences combined. Block parties incorporated DJs who played popular genres of music, especially funk and soul music……” (Courtesy Wikipedia)


courstesy of ON Smash.com


To be clear, I love hip hop. Let me introduce myself. My name is OPUS TJK,  I’m a classic generation X guy .I grew up listening to the classics; Run DMC, Heavy D, and Naughty by Nature (sigh! happy times, happy times….!).Hip hop played a prominent feature in my life. I, as a kid remember standing in front of a mirror miming a Snoop dogg or Tupac song on Saturday mornings. (Usually, a comb or toothbrush doubled for a microphone. but what did I care? It was fun!) Look, I’m not going to sit here and water down the influence of hip hop on my generation. Its there, you just can’t deny it. Do you remember the Kriss Kross wear-your-clothes-backwards era? What about the lumber jacks or timberland boots (I still own a pair to this very day). Then there was the language, which is most times profanity based. Now let me say this, I’ve had my fair share profanity usage in my life time (God forgive me!) but being stuck in traffic five days a week under a baking Lagos sun, surrounded by loud blaring car horns will do wonders to your vocabulary. Trust me, I know. But enough about that.

So why do most of Nigerian Hip hop artistes sing or rap in foreign accents? What’s wrong with an Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa accent? Or better still, what’s wrong with our local Pidgin English? I mean Nigeria is rich with divest culture from so many ethnic groups. It’s bad enough that most of our artiste look and act foreign but do they have to SOUND foreign too? I applaud certain Nigerian acts that incorporate Pidgin English or any of our languages into their songs. But these are too few and far in between.

A while back, I spoke to a popular Port Harcourt based rapper. After hearing him free style for about twenty minutes on stage, I was impressed. But that gnawing voice at the back of my mind again went, “what’s up with the American accent? Before I knew it, it was out of my mouth (what can I say? Sometimes I get impulsive). The rapper (names withheld) stared at me in stunned silence for about a minute then he replied “because that’s hip hop!” Now it was my turn to be stunned. I soon realized that most of our local artiste felt the same way. And that’s very sad.

Hip-hop is about expression. Personal expression! And a major element of that is an IDENTITY. Our expression of Hip hop is flawed and lacks identity. And it needs to be corrected. Even our movies are affected (don’t get me started on that). All I’m saying is this, Artiste or Actor, the next time you’re performing, remember where you come from. Walk the walk and please, please, please talk the talk. JAH BLESS!