Nigerian music to the world: then and now

There was once upon a time when Nigerians were not proud of Nigerian music. Artists wanted to sing like Rihanna and rap like Jay Z. Nigerians at that time also felt it was degrading to sing Nigerian songs because you will be tagged local. Therefore, even though we all couldn’t understand and relate well to foreign music, we forcefully vibed and crammed it just to belong. Remember the year when the most popular jam was “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira and “Beautiful Girl” by Sean Kingston? These songs were mostly played in clubs and parties. Contrast that with today’s party scene where all you can hear is Nigerian music, and not just in Nigeria, but all over the world.

More than ever before, Nigerian songs have become a force to reckon with. It has become more popular especially with Afrobeats and infusion of other genres. The last two decades have seen the Nigerian music scene evolve exponentially, giving rise to a number of stars. These young people have evolved in their musical careers, eventually becoming some of the greatest voices in music in Africa. The question is “what changed”?. Do we have more talented artists now than ever before or is it a change of strategy and the influence technology?

Of course, we have always had talented artists in the Nigerian. We had musician likes Fela kuti, Sound sultan, Kenny’s music and so on. Therefore, it has never been a factor of talent but of strategy. Although, there has been a great improvement on the Afrobeat sound however its not the major factor to the success of Nigerian music.  Let’s consider some factors that have experienced positive changes which is influencing the Nigerian music industry positively.

Reach: Before now, the Nigerian music industry was considered mediocre and limited to a certain style and way. You only get to listen to music on radio and watch music videos on television.  Live concerts were also for the rich only because of the exorbitant prices charged. Ever since the emergency of technology, distribution of music has experienced a paradigm shift. From the days of stereo, sharing music via Bluetooth, to music playing smartphones and now streaming music platforms. This has contributed immensely to the success and distribution of Nigerian music around the world. The presence of social media such as Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat has helped growing artistes in gaining the visibility that they need to push their music. The power of social media cannot be over emphasized in the success of Nigerian music industry. Kizz Daniel was able to secure a lot to perform his hit single Buga in the upcoming world cup with the power of social media. I recently also saw a video of a young Chinese school girl dancing to Kizz Daniels new single titled cough. She most likely doe not understand the lyrics but the beat was good enough to make her sake her body to it.

Lately, we have had differnet major collaborations of Nigerian artists and international artists through collaborations now have access to international audience. For instance, Ed shreen jumping on the remix of Peru just to penetrate into the Nigerian market.  Artists have also become wiser by employing the International Collaborations :Nigerian-international collaborations scarcely ever happened, unlike in these times when international features are the order of the day. From Snoop Dogg’s feature on D’banj’s hit, “Mr. Endowed“ in 2010 to Chris Brown’s feature on Lojay’s “Monalisa” in 2022, Nigerian musicians have proven that their presence in the music industry is no joke. The recent Bet Award won by Nigerian music sensation, Tems, got everyone talking about Nigeria’s representation in the Global music scene.

Sound:

We did not stop being underdogs until we embraced our uniqueness and style.

Today, more Nigerians have international collaborations with their foreign counterparts, are selling out shows and shutting down arenas. This proves that there is a possibility that Nigerian artists who dare to be different to create sounds that the world has not heard before will be raised higher than the likes of today’s international pop stars.