We translated this YBNL rapper’s 'Festival Bar' into English and it's a very gripping story

Olamide’s latest signing to the YBNL – Davolee – is seen as the new heir to Lil Kesh’s throne, and he has already began to deliver.

When the young man was introduced in 2016, he instantly won everyone’s hearts with his rapid fire indigenous rap style, which is hard, gritty and hits all the right places.

Now Davolee is opening his personal account with an official single titled ‘Festival Bar’, and it is a win. Over production from B Banks, the rapper spits in Yoruba, and tells a very interesting story, which you might have missed if you don’t speak Yoruba.

Davolee first premiered this song as a freestyle he rapped at Olamide's house, during a session. Those lines have been made into a full song, and officially released.

But we at Pulse Music speak all languages (Yoruba inclusive), and we have translated it into English for you to understand and appreciate the lyrical and storytelling skills of the new addition to YBNL.

Davolee’s ‘Festival Bar’ is a long winding story about the young rapper’s hustle in Festival Bar, a popular drinking parlor in Ikotun, Lagos.

He works for an abusive woman who slaps him at every turn, and distrusts him based on his gender. She goes ahead to employ a girl, who is extremely dishonest, overcharges for goods sold, and keeps the remainder.

One day, the little racket is discovered by the bar owner, and innocent Segun, somehow is roped into the case, and he still loses his job.

Moral of the story? There’s no morals to the story. The only lesson here is no matter what happens, if you are destined to be fucked. Then you are fucked. Read the translation below.

"This is how it went (x2)

All my time in Festival Bar, this is how it passed

All of a sudden I got pissed at Festival bar,

I went to the bar-man and got pissed at him

What kind of insane work is this?

Give me a good job

My light is very bright

Give me a good bulb

Festival road in Ikotun

High Tension

When you arrive at Governor’s road

You’ll alight at the second junction

You’ll cross to the other side

You’ll see it by the left side

That’s where you’ll see one insane woman

With bad blood

A white person owns the place

But his wife is from Edo

If you get in an argument with anyone, she’ll make you stop

Then she slaps you, whether you’re at fault or not

As soon as she does this, she’ll tell you to go home

She wouldn’t let us pack up until it was 11pm

The walk to my house was as far as Lekki to Kuramo

Yeah, we know you don’t play with work

The only place of work you can’t get dismissed from is the one your father established.

Segun, please endure, why don’t you get there?

Why don’t you drink out of the alcohol with broken bottles in it?

Okay, the woman let everyone go, except Davolee

Her character changed suddenly, she started acting like a prophet

Doing things like morning devotions, and praying about the place

She put a signboard out, see she was looking for ‘Jackie’

She didn’t let me see any ladies, you know, it was only me

Then she employed a girl

This girl would sell things worth 5 naira for 50 naira

If you got 10 bags, she would say you got 15

So one day, I called the girl aside to let her know how things worked

“If that woman catches you, that’s the day you’ll leave this place”

Then she said, “ahn ahn don’t we expect her to eat?”

If the money’s not enough to plait her hair, don’t we expect her to cut it?”

She continued saying different forms of rubbish

I looked at her and shook my head, “ well, she’s a woman”

If she gets chased from here today, her men will fix things

If I get dismissed, I’ll beg to come back

To God be the Glory, she got in trouble

A customer came in and she over-reached

She overpriced the Don Simon this guy was trying to buy

I smartened up, and told her, this man is no stranger to us

She hissed, and asked what her business was

“What’s heaven’s business with what’s happening on earth?”

She asked if I wasn’t familiar with the saying, ‘ko kan aye’ (it’s nobody’s business)

I told her “this is just beer money, it can’t buy a house”

So the kid went wild and said she was going to buy a jeep

She was going to buy a G-wagon with Mama G’s money

The woman’s name is not mama G, don’t get it wrong

Because she’s very wild, I gave her the moniker myself

Let’s cut things short, so the guy came in

He asked “Who is this?”, I said it was Shalewa

He asked when she started to work there, I said it had been a while

He said she was about to get in trouble, she was reaching beyond her bounds

He said she sold him Don Simon for 1k

For a profit of 400 naira! She thinks she’s found a monkey

Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop

She thinks she’s found a stupid person

The guy said that we were thieves

He said he wouldn’t let go, unless he told Mama G

He asked why we trying to make merry with Mama G’s money

Asked us if he looked like a wealthy man, or an alhaji

Long story short, Mama G walked in the shop

“What’s going on here”

She was speaking english, she asked Shalewa

Shalewa got on her knees, said “mama please”

“No be my fault, na poverty do me like this”

Mama G hit her back, “wetin poverty do you?”

“You wan turn my bar to something else, bloody fool you”

“Na because you be lady, na hin make me trust you”

“But even Segun better you x 10, make I burst you”

She looked to the customer, and apologised

Then something dawned on her

She said “but come first, this girl just start work, how come this bad sense?”

“I know sey na Segun go fit teach her all this bad sense, hey, Segun, come here”

I went closer to her

She said “come here!” again

Is this woman not thinking about slapping me?

“Mama no go try am, ‘cos boys dey vex o”

What we have here is an examination, not a mere test

Come try me, if I won’t hit you hard

Long story short, that’s how they dismissed me from the place

But the story continues, remember to help me tell it.