Will Nigerian artists ever learn? Twitter outbursts will never solve your problems

The singer who signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment West Africa, and also another with FreemeDigital, a music distribution company founded by Michael Ugwu for the marketing, release and promotion of his debut EP, “The First Wave”, isn’t exactly happy with the way the money end of the deal has been.

Perhaps he isn’t rolling in heaps of cash as he envisaged himself doing when he watched the ink dry on the contract that was announced in October 2016. Instead, he has had to deal with a lot of undisclosed frustration and regret through that period. He probably beat himself up all through these months.

His EP, “The First Wave” was released by Sony Music in April 2017, with a distribution deal orchestrated by Freeme Digital. Sony Music would provide amplification of the project, FreemeDigital would handle the distribution of the project in local markets and more.

But Ycee isn’t feeling the numbers, and that’s why he revolted with a twitter outburst that attacked Michael Ugwu’s credibility as a businessman, his skill and reputation as a Sony Music Exec, and also his general credibility in the eyes of the public. This wasn’t some flimsy accusation. This was an attack!

“Ever wondered why these execs running digital sharing companies live like they signed all the artistes?” Ycee asked. “Cos they eating everyone's [money].”

“ wassup! How's business? Booming? You milked anyone new lately????? Oh and don't forget More like slavery digital No wonder yall always smiling in that office,” Ycee tweeted with a crying emoji.

He continued: “@iam_magicmike "I run Sony music west Africa" running it to where? Running it straight into the ground! And you don't even give half a shit!”

“Funny how we all know these niggaz ain't straight and we just keep quiet... meanwhile they raping us in silence. Omo nawa o. Don't even know how this dream started and you just wanna reap completely of man’s hardwork and sweat? God forbid!”

Being a victim and stewing on the inside is a very toxic space to be in. You experience paranoia, deep-seated unhappiness which might snowball into depression, angst and value. Your mind would degenerate into a cesspit of bitterness and darkness, which would manifest in irrational actions, such as a damaging, ill-advised, confrontational tweets such as what we have seen now. Ycee is an artist who feels wronged by the system and watching things fly by him without any ability to fight the contract he signed must have eaten him up.

He probably has held it tight to his chest, and spent days and nights mulling over his anger and frustration, hence the outburst. It’s a basic law of nature. When pressure mounts in a system, something has to give, or else an implosion would occur.

Let’s face it, Ycee imploded. He didn’t have to but he did.

While it might feel good for Ycee to let it out of his chest and watch the steam build on social media, it does nothing to help his situation. The retweets won’t save him. The commentary and fan opinions are empty talk, they don’t count. The press will lap it up like dogs who have smelled blood, and sink their teeth into life. They would commoditize his suffering for blog spaces and hot takes. Nothing more.

As with all things, when it all falls down, and everything boils over, Ycee will discover that he hasn’t scored a victory or changed his situation. He is still bound by the legal contracts he signed. The law upholds the documented agreements that have brought him up to this point. No amount of social media will ‘un-f***’ him. He stays ‘f**ed.

That’s why he has to learn. Twitter will never be a valid dispute resolution tool. There are legal provisions in his contract for that. He just needs to speak to his lawyer and set the motion rolling for a renegotiation. Michael Ugwu, the subject of his attack took to twitter to say this too:

If anything, Ycee just compounded his situation by making unconfirmed allegations of theft and fraud against Ugwu. If the Sony exec decides to pursue it in a court of law, Ycee has to prove that his allegations are true and backed by evidence. Or else, he just might have kicked his penalty into throwing.