Listening to Nigerian pop music is equal to abusing cocaine for our issues

In Nigeria, we listen to J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar from this side of the world, and we wish they were Nigerian.

They make music and write raps in a peculiar and inspiring way that can be described as ‘woke’.

Cole and Kendrick throw themselves into the large conversations, the big topics that the mainstream musicians avoid. They spend time in the studio teaching people, rallying for freedom, liberation of self, and race. The result is a caliber of music that not only tells you how to live fully and stay alive; it also tweaks your thought processes, and creates a fundamental shift in your outlook on life.

In a way, they are prophets, connecting with the pain and plight of the people, and channeling their music towards addressing it, exposing it, and healing it. That’s what makes them special. That’s how they create the great music that everyone enjoys all over the world.

Can this work in Nigeria? Can we, in this modern day and age produce rappers that can look us in the eye, tell the truth and push us towards the light with their music?

Africa has always had prophets. From the exploits of Mariam Makeba and Brenda Fassie, to the activism of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, we have always faced our struggles with music. Makeba and Fassie were anti-apartheid and human rights singer-prophets, who rose up in a time when the South Africans needed them as they suffered under the crushing weight of racism and discrimination.

Fela on his part was Nigeria’s prophet of liberation and defiance. He fought for liberation of the black mind against the colonial shackles that seeks to hold us in mental bondage and servitude. He called it ‘colonial mentality’, and pushed it beyond the borders of our country into distant lands. He also stood against the oppression of military dictators, whose oppressive government inhibited growth, fettered our freedoms, and crushed our spirits.

These days, we have Kendrick Lamar focusing on the triumph of the black spirit, and leading the conversations towards human and communal excellence. His 2017 album, “DAMN.” went platinum in less than a month. It sold over a million copies.

Damn!

Nigerian artists would look towards this from within their environment and see a ripe opportunity that cannot be grabbed. The country needs liberation. We have problems, and issues that need to be addressed. Our souls cry out every day for collective healing and edification. That’s why we are highly religious, seeking answers and help, to navigate this cruel world.

But instead of tackling this with all of their energy, our mainstream artists are creating musical opium to deal with the pain. They are making beautiful music which do not deal with the issues, but offers a means of escape into fantasy lands that take our hearts and souls away from our trouble, for a limited time.

It’s like musical substance abuse; Where troubled people consume substances to help take away their suffering for a small duration. Consuming pop music is similar to leaning on weed, alcohol, and other controlled substances. Only this time it’s a healthier version called ‘music’.

The main reason why we aren’t being fed this ‘woke’ music on the mainstream level is because of its inability to go commercial. Cole and Kendrick can chase the noble direction because it can generate financial value. The moment it stops selling or ceases to connect with the mass market, they will have to switch it up. In the end, it’s just business.

In Nigeria, woke music cannot be mainstream. The general population is not woke, neither can they process most of the deep stuff. Being woke requires an intellectual leap that can only happen when people open their mind’s eye to more theories and possibilities bigger than them and their everyday struggle. They would have to come to an inner awakening, which would lead them to question and challenge their level of existence, and quality of life.

Our people cannot do that on a mass level. The struggle to survive is too crippling on the mind. Hence they gravitate towards what will ease their pain momentarily, not something to make them understand their plight and take action.

We will not have a Kendrick Lamar and J Cole in Hip-hop today. We don’t have that market for them. Nigerians won’t listen. Instead, we will settle for the opium, until it has no effect on us. Only then shall we seek out elevation, and put the woke artists in mega business.