Gen Z’s, this is your time to shine. Take the quiz and prove yourself:
Does your music taste deserve an A or an F? Take the quiz:
Sure you know Nigerian artistes, but can you tell the artiste from the first and last letter of their name?
Questions
This is a question
Baddo
One of the boys
Igbo rapper
Also a lawyer and an actor
The best
He kept begging us to stream “Haba”
Miss Kedike
Mayor of Lagos
Juju musician
Singer/rapper turned fashion designer
You got #{score}/#{total}
You know nothing.
You got #{score}/#{total}
Nice attempt.
You got #{score}/#{total}
Well done! You know your Nigerian artistes.
It’s common knowledge that a lot of Nigerian songs being released right now sound alike. It’s the reason why if you’re at a club or party and you’re not really paying attention to the music, you might think the DJ just put one song on repeat and called it a day. The truth is that most of these artistes are just following a formula that works. Does that mean that we don’t get a lot of variety? Yes. But someone did say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. I’m not sure they were referring to music but whatever.
However, there are some cases where artistes have taken their own hit songs, made near replicas of those songs, and released them under different names. Here are 3 examples.
1) Ice Prince with ‘Aboki’ and ‘VIP‘.
2) Naira Marley with ‘Soapy’ and ‘Mafo’.
3) P-Square with ‘No One Like You’ and ‘Beautiful Onyinye’.
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Nigerian songs that sound similar
Nigeria is a shitty place for those who live here, many seek an escape route. But, amid the insecurities, bad economy, and the uncaring government, some things happened this year that make us feel thankful.
Yeah, we know, hard to believe right? Yet we need to end the year on a positive note, so here are some things that we can say made 2019 tolerable:
1) Peace:
We’re pretty sure many Nigerians expected the country to go to shit after the general elections. Everything seemed to be on a precipice of evil, and everyone was tense about the consequences of the election results. Thankfully, nobody threatened war, and everything is in limbo.
2) Consumption of local produce:
Think what you will about the fact that Nigerian rice is full of stones, but the border closure came as a blessing in disguise. Now our local agriculture is booming even at the expense of our health, who cares about getting appendicitis anyway? Not our inconsiderate government.
3) No natural disaster:
Imagine how horrible it would have been for us if our country had earthquakes, landslides, or hurricanes! Eesh. Thankfully, God had enough sense to keep those away from the nation, he knows that the self-created disaster is more than enough to deal with.
Clearly, everyone would die if we have to rely on Nigerian firefighters, police, paramedics (do we even have those?), or any other rescue team that will be needed in the case of a natural disaster occurring. Y’all know how slow their response is–when they respond.
4) Our artistes getting more international recognition:
Burna Boy got a Grammy Nomination and got interviewed on The Daily Show interview. Davido featured Chris Brown. Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade got signed to Universal Music. Beyonce featured Wizkid to tell us that black is beautiful in Brown Skin Girl.
Nigerian artistes got featured on Beyonce’s The Lion King: The Gift album. Wizkid shut down the 02 arena. Need I go on? What a great year it’s been for Nigerian musicians, and the world is paying attention.
5) Philanthropy within despair:
While the Nigerian government was being such a slowpoke about the xenophobic attacks to Nigerians in South Africa, a kind soul decided to take action instead. Many people were pleasantly surprised when Air Peace volunteered to get Nigerians out of South Africa for free.
Isn’t that something? In this Nigeria? Rare indeed.
6) NEPA finally realizing how low we rate them:
They finally gave us a chance to let them know that we don’t care about them and their poor services when they went on strike. Did you even know they were on strike? Most people thought it was their usual game of blackout.
7) Six years tenure was rebuffed by the House of Reps:
Finally, our legislators can do something right! They kicked against the bill that proposed a longer tenure for politicians in this country; it aimed to change the constitution, making each president, governor, senator, and house or rep member serve for 6 years instead of 4.
Like we haven’t suffered enough in this country already.
8) Cardi B in Lagos:
If you weren’t in the mood for December before Cardi B came to Lagos, then seeing her enjoy Lagos like some IJGB’s would have made you want to turn up. Some say she did more for Nigerian tourism than the Ministry of Tourism. What can I say? I agree with them.
9) Jollof Rice:
Y’all know that Nigerian Jollof is the best! It has the right color, taste, and spice. Our Jollof Road team got to taste different Jollof, while on their trip around West Africa, and they agree that Nigerian Jollof is STILL THE BEST.
The Nigerian music industry has come a long way and we are glad for it, but before the Wizkids, Davidos and Teknos, there were some serious entertainers who lit up our stages, TVs and java phones.
What are they up to these days?
Osayamwen Nosa Donald was easily the Crush and Love of everyone’s life. The award-winning singer’s big moment was in 2004 when he released his breakout hit, ‘Ego’.
Djinee has dabbled in other aspects of entertainment over the years but is thankfully still singing. He dropped a single this year.
“It’s a Super Story, a life of strife and sorrow.” That voice you heard on Thursday nights belonged to Uwale Okoro, you know her as Essence. If you thought she wasn’t making music anymore, still sings, and blogs.
Paul I.K. Dairo was one of the biggest stars stars of his time. However, time passed and times changed, and Paul fell ill so had to slow down on the music. He’s better now though, and back to doing what he does pretty well, whether it is being a Judge for a Reality show, or leading live performances.
First Lady of Nigerian hip-hop, Sasha P aka Anthonia Yetunde Alabi was hot on the music scene in every way. She had bars and flow for days and looked pretty hot as well. However, she decided to move from music to fashion in 2013 and has been running her fashion label – Eclectic by Sasha, ever since.
Eddie Remedy
King of the early late 90s and 2000s, Edward Ashiedu-Brown had Nigeria in the palm of his hand. Lead singer of Remedies, Eddy definitely made his mark. However, over time and with a lot of controversies, he did music less and less. Still, he sings and even hints about the possibility of a Remedies reunion.
Weird M.C is another dope female rapper! She had been on the scene for a while, but she became a real star with her song “Ijoya”. The video was the coolest at the time. Even though Weird M.C has been quiet on music for a while now, her Twitter profile reads UN Peace Ambassador, Road Safety Marshall, Social Entrepreneur and Influencer. I guess she’s doing good, then!
Tony Tetuila
Tony Tetuila stole the spotlight with such songs as ‘My Car’ and ‘My Heart Go Jigi-Jigi’. He really was a superstar! However, the golden-haired musician whose real name is Anthony Awotoye hasn’t done much music since 2014 when he ran for political office in the House of Assembly of Kwara State.
Kel
Kel, aka Kelechi Ohia came out with a bang with when she released ‘Wa Wa Alright’. She released an album which did not do so well, but a few years later she released another song with W4 that was a was a hit. Kel then went silent again. However, she recently said that she has started a record label and is working on a few projects. We can’t wait.
Daddy Showkey
Daddy Showkey aka John Asiemo is a legendary galala singer. He swept us away with songs like ‘Diana’ and Nigerians just loved him. Unfortunately, he had an almost fatal accident that kept him bedridden for three years and out of active music for almost ten years. He’s easing his way back to music, though and we’re really excited.
B.O.U.Q.U.I
B.O.U.Q.U.I whose real name is Bukola Folayan held Nigeria’s attention when she released her album ‘Eve Of Independence’ that had major hits like “Molejo” and ”Vanity”. She cut across more than the Christian audience she made songs for. Since her second album, she has been quiet until recently when she held an online rap competition – BOUQUI Unstoppable Rap Competition. She still does music, and she’s doing good!
A few times in the past, Nigerian celebrities have handed out some really juicy clapbacks.
This guy thinks Runtown needs to go and be sleeping inside studio instead of wasting his time on Twitter:
Billion twits won this one. One delivery style all d time?? Runtown should goan reply in studio and leave twitter for opinion abeg pic.twitter.com/xBAhGnXC6w
This guy doesn’t call himself Falz the Bahd guy for nothing.
First of all, he’s ridiculously funny.
Secondly, he’s a good actor and is the only Nigerian rapper with an AMCVA award.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IUhG4l82V0
He’s fine AF.
He has made his own fashion statement with his signature sunglasses.
As a brand ambassador, he totally slays adverts without having any chill.
And finally, he just got nominated for the Best New International Act at the BET Awards.
To vote for him, simply repost this photo on Instagram using #PickFALZ. Good-luck to Falz on this one and hope he brings the award home!
Despite the scorching sun that spread over Lagos on Sunday, I made my way to Bud Fest, live at La Madisson Place, a Budweiser-sponsored party that marked the end of the 2022/2023 English Premier League (EPL) season. It was a unique experience; I watched football and partied hard. I can’t remember the last time I lost my voice due to a rave. Here’s how it went down.
Immediately the show started, the host Toby Shang introduced himself, the lovely DJ DayZee whose set didn’t fail us, and the opening act Byno. All the couples in the building were awwwning, acting all cute and holding hands during his beautiful performance. I wasn’t jealous sha, I just held onto the cold can of Budweiser that welcomed me at the entrance.
Afterwards, another artiste known as Lenny D also performed. Then Toby Shang, the self-acclaimed King of Vibes came to ginger us for the final EPL’s last matches of the season.
After watching the Man City vs Brentford match for a while, we switched to Chelsea vs Newcastle United, then finally, Arsenal’s match against Wolverhampton. Though most of the viewers already knew who topped and won the League, there was good-natured banter about Arsenal’s old chance of winning and Chelsea’s fight for pride. The matches were intense but entertaining.
Manchester City won the finals, and when the match ended, all the Man City fans in the building were called on to celebrate their feat as champions of the League; they even had a mock stage and EPL Cup. I was hating from my seat because my club didn’t even make it to the semi finals. But it didn’t last long, because a lip sync competition followed and people came on stage to perform their favourite artiste’s songs. The way most of them were chopping their mouths had me laughing at the ridiculousness.
After the lip sync battle, the main PARTY started!
Khaiid got on stage and performed his hit track, “Carry Me Go” featuring Mavin artiste Boy Spyce who was next on stage. He also performed “Carry Me Go” followed by his latest single, “Relationship”. Labelmates Magixx and Crayon followed to give us fantastic solo performances before their collective performance of their label hit song, “Won Da Mo”. I sang along at the top of my voice.
While we were still recovering from the Mavin’s performance; is when OdumoduBlvck, a fast-rising artiste, got on stage next. The charismatic artiste accepted his mum’s video-call when he was on stage and shared the spectacular moment with the audience.
Reekado Banks performed last, ending the Fest with a series of hit singles that made us scatter the dancefloor. His energetic performance reminded us he is still HIM.
The party was an epic way to end the epic football season. The experience at Bud Fest proved it’s the number one go-to for anything that intersects football, music and fun. Budweiser showed solid support for the football community. The Fest encourages the fans to come together to enjoy the great game, vibe to good music and have a fantastic time.
