Episode 113: "Oyedepo, Please Shave Me"

On this episode of Loose Talk, journalists Steve Dede, Ayomide Tayo and Osagie Alonge go on a long walk through Kennis Music’s pantheons before asking important questions on the week’s topical issues.

If the history of Nigerian music was a collection of barely noticeable monuments to fleeting eras and careers, Kennis Music would be the Pyramids or the Elvis Presley Museum.

Beyond the retinue of stars who released classics with that iconic name imprinted on the paper jackets, there were the producers who defined the birth and evolution of Nigeria’s popular sound in the 1990s and a large part of the 2000s.

The most notable of them is, undoubtedly, the phenomenal OJB Jezreel. However, as Osagie outlined in a slightly emotional walk through that era, he was preceded and followed by equally talented musicians like Paul Play Dairo, the lesser-known Omololu and affiliates like Masterkraft and Terry G.

Claiming ownership of a legacy is something that any of these mavericks could do, but what entitles a person to claim something that is collectively owned?

"Komole Collection" and cultural appropriation

Popular fashion designer, Deola Sagoe was criticised for starring white models in the ad for her “Komole Collection” of haute couture iro and buba designs.

On Twitter, especially, she was criticised with a tone that suggested that she was white-washing Nigerian culture and appropriating it for sale to any caucasian with the kind of wallet it takes to wear a Deola Sagoe design.

It then begs the question; what exactly is cultural appropriation, and when do we draw the lines between impassioned activism and standing in the way of culture recreating itself and people making money.

One person who has made money and has no apologies to offer is Pastor David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church worldwide, also known as Winners’ Chapel.

Covenant Secondary School

Where he does not have explanations to give you on how he got so wealthy, the ministry, as these things are often referred to, is known for the strict discipline enforced at Covenant University, the privately-owned university which is touted as one of Nigeria’s best.

One of such rules regards hair and over the week, Nigerians were treated to video footage of young male students getting haircuts, mostly against their will.

The old question remains: Are Covenant University students in an advanced secondary school? Is the management taking this discipline thing a bit too far?

Also among the talking points was Cardi B’s “Invasion of Privacy”, an artiste who Osagie had said he wasn’t expecting that much from.

Somehow, Nigerian On-Air personalities also filtered into the conversation. It’s Loose Talk, what did you expect?

Listen to Episode 113 of Loose Talk podcast here.