I embarked on discussing this topic after recently reading critics on Burna Boy’s latest album. Why is Burna Boy making wave on the international terrain yet he is not commanding similar admiration in Nigeria? Mind you, I didn’t claim Burna don’t command admiration in Nigeria, I affirmed he doesn’t command the same level of attention he has gotten outside of Nigeria.
Before going further, permit me to relate this story. I have this professor in my University (on Political philosophy). He's an author. He’s written many books so far. Majority of his books are directed towards the African politics. One day during a lecture, he somehow switched the topic and started criticizing the African mentality and taste of literature. Before then he had bragged twice or more times (in his lectures) that he has bigger audience in Europe than in Africa. That is to say his books are read more in Europe than in Africa. It was a brag because on those occasions he was trying to show us why Nigerian authors don’t earn as much as their European counterpart. So he was kind of thanking God that he earns more than his Nigerian counterparts because most of his books were sold in Europe. On the last occasion when he was criticizing the African taste of literature, he was kind of switching camp without knowing it. He sounded like he really wanted his books to be sold more in Africa than in Europe.
I raised a hand to make a suggestion. When he permitted me, I first asked him if he doesn’t think the problem (his books not being sold much in Africa) is tied to literature style. He thought for few seconds are declared coldly that he has a very high literature style and that I shouldn’t expect him to “stoop low” just to address some people. He said if people really want to read his books, they should “upgrade” to his literature style. I saved my suggestion for myself and sat myself down.
And before you criticize this professor, make sure you’re of the same level as Wole Soyinka. Because I assure, this man is on his own level when it comes to high reflection and literature style.
Through this post, I want to see if Burna’s music is more for the European audience or whether it is the Nigerian audience that doesn’t have a good taste for music.

Recently Burna Boy released his “Twice as Taller” album and the Nigerian music world has been divided on the topic of how good the album is. So far, I’ve realized majority thinks the album is overrated. They even claimed “African Giant” was way better than it. Well, I don’t know much about “African Giant”, I never took time to listen to it. I am very very very selective when it comes to Nigerian music. I hardly get songs that meet my taste from our artists.
I read a tread here recently on the “Twice as Taller” album. https://www.nairaland.com/6084006/what-artists-should-learn-burna The poster seemed to be for Burna but majority of the commentators were Burna’s critics. Someone mentioned two songs of Burna from the Album: “Monsters you made” and “Way too big”. I searched them up and listened to them. I was shocked. The songs were soooooo cooooool. What the devil is wrong with the Nigerian taste of music?

Now let’s do this reflection together. No one discuss hip hop and rap in general without mentioning Eminem. Eminem dropped an album this year. If the speculated king of rap drops an album in a year, the album logically becomes the year’s king for rap albums. In Eminem’s latest album “Music to murder”, the most loved and rated song on the album is “Darkness”. I propose to you this challenge. Listen to Eminem’s “Darkness”. While listening to it, put aside from your mind the fact that it’s an Eminem’s song. In fact, imagine a Nigerian artist in Oshodo sang it. If you can be sincere with yourself, you will admit an average Nigerian rapper can make that song. Now consider the fact that this song is possibly the number one rap song in 2020. Does that song meet up? I can firmly reply that, for an average African, “Darkness” is overrated. Now listen to Burna Boy’s “Monster you made” just after listening to “Darkness”. Oh là là. Can’t you see?

Eminem wrote “Darkness” by assuming the person of Stephen Paddock, the guy responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. Em was kind of speaking “positively” for Paddock, but in some way Em changed Paddock’s sense of murder to his own “murdering music”. In general, there was this thing about “reflection before action.” Paddock reflected on his “evil” act before executing it, even if emotion blurred his reason. Before murdering music on the stage before the fans, Eminem too has to reflect, and emotion blurs reason during his reflections too.
Now about Burna’s “Monster you made”. At least this is not something I should explain. Majority of Nigerians are living first-hand the situation addressed in the song. Just like the slight defense Eminem brought to Paddock by putting himself in Poddock’s shoes, Burna defended the third-world nations (Remember people has always believed that Black is the problem of Black). Blacks (used to represent the third-world), were presented as monsters created by Occidental civilization.
I’m not doing a comparison; I just want to show you what makes songs unique these days. It is called MESSAGE.
So listen eh, if you’re among these “average Africans” that are dragging the African entertainment industry behind, I give you my apology. Entertainment has evolved. In fact we’ve had enough of entertainment. In this age we don’t just play music: we LISTEN to music. These days, it’s hardly about noise and gyration: it’s about the message. And Burna doesn’t seem to be ready to “stoop so low” to your level just because he needed to rep his country. He said he’s “way too big… way too smart… way too cool… to be fvcking with you.”

You might claim I did a naïve conclusion if I end this write-up here by claiming Nigerians have a poor taste of contemporary entertainment. I want to point out one more proof before ending the discussion. It’s about Genevieve Nnaji’s “Lionheart”.
That film nearly won an award in the US but Nigerians were against it. I watched the movie and I was disappointed in Nigerians.

The film was released in September 2018 (common sense tells us that the movie must have been conceived months before it was released). Months before September 2018, there was problem in Nigeria when the North gave an ultimatum to Southerners to leave their region. Keep this in mind. Now back to the movie. What was LionHeart all about? Isn’t the message clear to you?
In Lionheart, Osuofia (Nkem Owoh) was a good uncle for probably the first time in his movie career. He gave up an Igbo brother (that was trying to dupe an Hausa man) to save the Hausa man from being scammed. In the movie, a powerful Igbo business man fused business with an Hausa man, not just for the sake of profit (yet we all know Igbos don’t joke with profit) but for the sake of the people working in his company. In that movie, Nneji was sending a clear message to the Igbos and the Hausas, and to Nigeria at large… "Let’s see beyond our ethnicity." But Nigerians didn’t get it. They look out for actions in movies. They seemed more occupied with Phyno’s unnecessary role.

Anyways, you have been showed the way. Check out for messages when you listen to music or when you watch movies.

Interesting.

You see, calling someone "average" (with a deep sense of superiority) for not appreciating any work of art (regardless of how wonderful you think it is) is similar to calling someone out for not liking a particular food. People who do that think they are promoting art but by streamlining it, they are actually killing it and such people are the ones who have low level of tolerance for differences in lifestyle. Here is what I mean.

Music is art. As such, there's no better taste. There could be trends but it is still highly subjective. Just like food, nobody is better than the other for liking coleslaw more than abasha. The love for art is not usually learned, it comes from within and you don't get to choose. Like some say, art chooses you. Music is not an exception. By definition, music is an organized sound. It aims to entertain and this, it can do even without words. Message is a secondary function of music but music goes far beyond that. Each consumer of music has something that appeals to them more. It could be the voice, the sound, rhyme, the message, the spirituality, etc. It could be a combination of any of these but there's always a priority order. Personally, the first thing I listen when I pick up a new track is the beats, then the rythm and then the lyrics. Heaven knows I have a million other places to go if message was my major aim. For others, they'd first love to know what message is being passed across. This is absolutely fine too. None is more valid than the other and that's the beauty of art.

I've lived almost all my life in North America and yet, I still prefer the African style of music and yes, I prefer "African Giant" to "Twice As Tall". It doesn't make me less Canadian. The African music industry has come this far because of its peculiarities which is mainly encapsulated in its beats/rhythm. This is the selling point and the industry will vanish if it ever forgets that. Message is a crucial part of music so bringing that in while maintaining the "Africanness" (like those old musicians were able to do) is very much welcome but if an artist decides to sacrifice this beats on the alter of message, he might as well be writing motivational speeches and he shouldn't call out the lovers of beats for not liking his song cause he clearly made his choice.

An artist has a targeted audience. If Burnaboy targeted the western world, that's beautiful. It makes him famous here and might even get him more money but no one should force it down the throats of Nigerians. They can't pretend to like what they don't like and you aren't any better than they are for liking what you like. Some people love Hollywood, some prefer Bollywood, etc. I prefer movies from Thailand and the Philippines. It doesn't make me any better than others. Everyone can never like the same thing and art is big enough to accommodate us all. This difference in preference is not just an African thing. How many of the mainstream American musicians have the so-called messages embedded in their music today? A few and yet Americans still love them. The problem is when you think your preferences make you better than others or because a certain style is mainstream, others must tag along. This attitude doesn't just breed unnecessary arguments, it is also contrary to the fundamental nature of art - diversity. You keep saying "we have moved...." and that's cool, you can move to whatever appeals to you but let others move in their own direction cause if we all move in the same direction, art will lose its flavour.

ONYEUTALI:

I embarked on discussing this topic after recently reading critics on Burna Boy’s latest album. Why is Burna Boy making wave on the international terrain yet he is not commanding similar admiration in Nigeria? Mind you, I didn’t claim Burna don’t command admiration in Nigeria, I affirmed he doesn’t command the same level of attention he has gotten outside of Nigeria.
Before going further, permit me to relate this story. I have this professor in my University (on Political philosophy). He's an author. He’s written many books so far. Majority of his books are directed towards the African politics. One day during a lecture, he somehow switched the topic and started criticizing the African mentality and taste of literature. Before then he had bragged twice or more times (in his lectures) that he has bigger audience in Europe than in Africa. That is to say his books are read more in Europe than in Africa. It was a brag because on those occasions he was trying to show us why Nigerian authors don’t earn as much as their European counterpart. So he was kind of thanking God that he earns more than his Nigerian counterparts because most of his books were sold in Europe. On the last occasion when he was criticizing the African taste of literature, he was kind of switching camp without knowing it. He sounded like he really wanted his books to be sold more in Africa than in Europe.
I raised a hand to make a suggestion. When he permitted me, I first asked him if he doesn’t think the problem (his books not being sold much in Africa) is tied to literature style. He thought for few seconds are declared coldly that he has a very high literature style and that I shouldn’t expect him to “stoop low” just to address some people. He said if people really want to read his books, they should “upgrade” to his literature style. I saved my suggestion for myself and sat myself down.
And before you criticize this professor, make sure you’re of the same level as Wole Soyinka. Because I assure, this man is on his own level when it comes to high reflection and literature style.
Through this post, I want to see if Burna’s music is more for the European audience or whether it is the Nigerian audience that doesn’t have a good taste for music.

Recently Burna Boy released his “Twice as Taller” album and the Nigerian music world has been divided on the topic of how good the album is. So far, I’ve realized majority thinks the album is overrated. They even claimed “African Giant” was way better than it. Well, I don’t know much about “African Giant”, I never took time to listen to it. I am very very very selective when it comes to Nigerian music. I hardly get songs that meet my taste from our artists.
I read a tread here recently on the “Twice as Taller” album. https://www.nairaland.com/6084006/what-artists-should-learn-burna The poster seemed to be for Burna but majority of the commentators were Burna’s critics. Someone mentioned two songs of Burna from the Album: “Monsters you made” and “Way too big”. I searched them up and listened to them. I was shocked. The songs were soooooo cooooool. What the devil is wrong with the Nigerian taste of music?

Now let’s do this reflection together. No one discuss hip hop and rap in general without mentioning Eminem. Eminem dropped an album this year. If the speculated king of rap drops an album in a year, the album logically becomes the year’s king for rap albums. In Eminem’s latest album “Music to murder”, the most loved and rated song on the album is “Darkness”. I propose to you this challenge. Listen to Eminem’s “Darkness”. While listening to it, put aside from your mind the fact that it’s an Eminem’s song. In fact, imagine a Nigerian artist in Oshodo sang it. If you can be sincere with yourself, you will admit an average Nigerian rapper can make that song. Now consider the fact that this song is possibly the number one rap song in 2020. Does that song meet up? I can firmly reply that, for an average African, “Darkness” is overrated. Now listen to Burna Boy’s “Monster you made” just after listening to “Darkness”. Oh là là. Can’t you see?

Eminem wrote “Darkness” by assuming the person of Stephen Paddock, the guy responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. Em was kind of speaking “positively” for Paddock, but in some way Em changed Paddock’s sense of murder to his own “murdering music”. In general, there was this thing about “reflection before action.” Paddock reflected on his “evil” act before executing it, even if emotion blurred his reason. Before murdering music on the stage before the fans, Eminem too has to reflect, and emotion blurs reason during his reflections too.
Now about Burna’s “Monster you made”. At least this is not something I should explain. Majority of Nigerians are living first-hand the situation addressed in the song. Just like the slight defense Eminem brought to Paddock by putting himself in Poddock’s shoes, Burna defended the third-world nations (Remember people has always believed that Black is the problem of Black). Blacks (used to represent the third-world), were presented as monsters created by Occidental civilization.
I’m not doing a comparison; I just want to show you what makes songs unique these days. It is called MESSAGE.
So listen eh, if you’re among these “average Africans” that are dragging the African entertainment industry behind, I give you my apology. Entertainment has evolved. In fact we’ve had enough of entertainment. In this age we don’t just play music: we LISTEN to music. These days, it’s hardly about noise and gyration: it’s about the message. And Burna doesn’t seem to be ready to “stoop so low” to your level just because he needed to rep his country. He said he’s “way too big… way too smart… way too cool… to be fvcking with you.”

You might claim I did a naïve conclusion if I end this write-up here by claiming Nigerians have a poor taste of contemporary entertainment. I want to point out one more proof before ending the discussion. It’s about Genevieve Nnaji’s “Lionheart”.
That film nearly won an award in the US but Nigerians were against it. I watched the movie and I was disappointed in Nigerians.

The film was released in September 2018 (common sense tells us that the movie must have been conceived months before it was released). Months before September 2018, there was problem in Nigeria when the North gave an ultimatum to Southerners to leave their region. Keep this in mind. Now back to the movie. What was LionHeart all about? Isn’t the message clear to you?
In Lionheart, Osuofia (Nkem Owoh) was a good uncle for probably the first time in his movie career. He gave up an Igbo brother (that was trying to dupe an Hausa man) to save the Hausa man from being scammed. In the movie, a powerful Igbo business man fused business with an Hausa man, not just for the sake of profit (yet we all know Igbos don’t joke with profit) but for the sake of the people working in his company. In that movie, Nneji was sending a clear message to the Igbos and the Hausas, and to Nigeria at large… "Let’s see beyond our ethnicity." But Nigerians didn’t get it. They look out for actions in movies. They seemed more occupied with Phyno’s unnecessary role.

Anyways, you have been showed the way. Check out for messages when you listen to music or when you watch movies.

wow I so love your write-up

WoundedLamb:
Interesting.

Very beautiful contribution.

First off; is the adjective “average” applicable to a human being? I mean, is it wrong to use it on a human being? Is it wrong to say Leo Messi is a Top-class professional player whereas Timo Werner is an average professional player?

I accept that music is Art. But I think we shouldn't drag the subjectivity in art to that dangerous depth you're heading. We’re discussing global music: there’s definitely no room for subjectivity here.

Why would the entire world say terrorism is wrong and someone says terrorism is good “for him”? Why would the world say a song is good and you claim the said song isn’t good “for you”?

You see, when it comes to the global table, objectivity is the point of agreement. You don’t bring subjective opinions on global debates. Arts, Religion, food, sports, etc, all have a subjective ascpect... you are the King of your taste on the subjective terrain. But when we want to know the universal mean, we seek objectivity.

It is not about following the “mainstream” or “falling in line”. It is about the unity of humanity. We can have different cultures, civilizations, families, ethnic groups, nationalities, etc, but there’s only one “humanity”. Objectivity is the round table on which we agree on a point notwithstanding our ethical, national, cultural differences.
And in music the objective mean is the message: that which everyone can subscribe to.
God bless.

E.g "Oh yes, aside Burna and other albums this year, there is this album by Eghe Nimose called RumbaDub I love too. I am glad good guys are coming out of Naija with different sounds".