Mz Lucci writes

The hardest part of writing a piece as far as I’m concerned has to be the beginning; the first word; first phrase; first sentence. After that the thought pretty much just flows and becomes coherent…starts to make meaning. In some pieces, the reader can connect immediately, in others, not so much. If I continue at this pace the latter might be the case so I should probably start making sense now before someone gets bored and clicks ‘x’.

I’m an honest person. When I say honest I don’t mean I don’t lie, or say the occasional ‘you look very nice’ in times when the reverse is the case. What I mean is when an issue comes up and I am asked my opinion, I offer it humbly; thereby leaving it in the ring for subsequent trashing by other like or unlike minds in the arena. My role here is simple; to discuss entertainment trends from the candid eye of a music/movie lover. I’m no expert in the industry and half the time I might not know much about the technical bull that goes on internally but I sure as hell will tell you the way it looks on the outside. I don’t work in the industry anymore, life caught up with me and I had to get a ‘regular’ job, but my ears and eyes for good music and utter crap still hasn’t changed.

The issue of Nigerian music lacking content has been over flogged. Once I was discussing with some peers and the issue of content came up and someone goes “Nigerian music has lost its content, no more lyrics, it’s just “jim jim gbam gbam feel alright’’. I got sooooo tired of hearing him yap that I and screamed and said “if e pain you, enter studio abeg, no dey make noise here”. That’s exactly how I feel about the issue, or maybe I should say felt, since I’m about to flog the malu some more.

I seriously can’t remember the last time I heard a song that had a decipherable train of thought. Thanks to Terry G (where is the dude anyways?) ,Wande Coal and others, the art of freestyling has become a measuring point for whether or not you have what it takes to make it in the industry. I am no hip hop head, but I do know that most rappers or singers who have freestyle tracks add them as teasers, or further confirmation of the fact that they can produce good music at the spur of the moment; it was more or less an attestation to their talent. I feel like every D’banj, D-Prince, Timaya and Wiz Kid song I have listened to of recent was written in 30 minutes, that’s if it was put on paper at all. Its very annoying that a person would put that kind of effort in his product and still win awards and accolades, even outside Nigeria! Arrrrgh! e pain me o! That is not talent, that’s producing sub standard products! Well, no formal litigation against that yet so I can’t blame them.

Nigerian urban culture is a very confused one. Confused in the sense that there no longer exists a demarcation between the elite and the lower class regarding lingo. What do you think is responsible for this? A couple of trust fund kids in a bar on the island will call each other up and plan to ‘shayo’. So will a couple of bums in the Mushin area. High class jeep driving chics will tease each other while in the salon and call themselves ‘gbogbo bigs girls’. So will the chics who hawk in Ajegunle. Our music destroys barriers, we all dance to the same songs in clubs and we all chorus ‘axe your mummy’ when the song is being played, even the graduates of English and Literary studies.

It’s a clear cut case of the mind being willing and the body weak. It seemed like the lyrics were slaughtered on the altar of magnificent beats. Don Jazzy produces for his minions, while other producers also try to impress and don’t do badly at it either. So when you hear a beat, you don’t mind that you are being ordered to execute the woman who gave you life, you just move and dance to forget the many troubles we all face in life. And I get that, I dance to these songs too, I have them on my phone, I listen to them when I’m on a bike…we can’t help it. We don’t have a therapy culture in this country unfortunately so there’s not much else that can be done.

Appealing to musicians to engrain the least bit of coherence in their music would be almost useless…like I said this is an overflogged issue, if they haven’t changed now then why bother? How about we talk about it amongst ourselves? I mean, I’m not asking that our slangs not be used again or anything or that we don’t show our originality in songs. Eldee’s politicaly awakening “one day” and Sound Sultan’s ‘2010’ are good examples. Ok fine, you want to sing about love and other drugs, Tiwa Savage’s ‘Kele Kele’ has lingo and commercial flavour but has a line of reasoning. Not everyone is guilty of traumatizing our auditory valves but too many are…

Leave a comment and tell me what you think, or mention something else you think should be addressed on the next issue…two way communication, don’t wanna feel like I’m talking to myself here. And of course, feel free to send to the celebs that I might have unconsciously called out, I don’t care, they can’t find me, no one knows me, hehehehehe!

- Mz. Lucci

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