Marley's singular claim to fame prior to the online Yahoo spat with Simi and Ruggedman was a hit that was bigger than the artiste itself.
People knew the Issa Goal song more than they knew Naira Marley.But some how Naira Marley was depicted as being targeted by a scapegoatist system and in the space of just one month, had become the Tupac Shakur of Nigerian music.
Perhaps if the EFCC hadn't availed Marley a springboard, Soapy would have been just another song we all loved and forgot after a week.Marley shrewdly courted more controversy with a lewd dance to go with the publicity he was enjoying and that guaranteed everyone had to talk about this song more than they did the previously released Opotoyi.
Marley was in full Tupac mode with a middle finger to the world and if the music was half decent,the moralists would lose out again.They did.Soapy wasn't half decent,it was magnificent.
But like a host of other indigenous rap songs that didn't enjoy the luxury of being rendered by someone in Naira Marley's shoes.Lets do a little recap.Reminisce released a song with a tailor-made title for the mainstream ; OGb4IG and went on to record a quite bouncy tune with DJ Spinall,one you would have bet on and gone to sleep titled Edi.Phyno's Deal With It is arguably the best indigenously 'pure' rap song in at least the last 2 years and in as much as they say a great song has no special time,skeptics could still argue that it was gurgled up by the album following fast on its heels.Bottom line,it passed like it was nothing.
CDQ made the groovy Akwaba featuring Flavour to back up the gritty Shiga and Onye Eze which sought to tap into the very well publicized altercation between Blessing Okoro, a blogger and a China based millionaire by the name, Onye Eze.Not even a remix with another beneficiary of EFCC's spotlight, Zlatan Ibile could move the fans.
If you didn't agree indigenous rap had a problem, you had to after listening to Olamide's Choko Milo.It had all the trappings of a bonafide hit but till date,i still feel like the only person that has played it.A careful diagnosis will reveal one thing and one thing only-the afro-hip hop genre is saturated and only a ground-breaking trend will take it back to its old heights.Something never-before-done.Music no matter how good now has to depend on some kind of external prop to have the undivided attention of the audience.Its almost impossible to refute anyone who tells you the biggest afro-hip hop songs have been Naira Marley's Soapy then the walk back in time to Am I A Yahoo Boy and Opotoyi and finally, Mafo.
Despite all the attention and respect it commands, American hip hop still has an almost annual influx of artistes trying to breathe fresh elements into it-Blueface of Thotiana fame and Grammy nominated Da Baby to mention just two in 2019.Indigenous hip hop needs to be stretched to such widths.The yoruba rap needed DaGrin's step up from Ajasa and the East had been lying breathless since Nigga Raw's glory years till Phyno brought a new flow.A catchy chorus and some tight lines doesn't seem to be working any more and the saddest part of it all is that too many songs are going to waste.You have to worry for this immensely talented artistes who perhaps should be deploying their artistry differently.
Take a look at Zlatan's Yeye Boyfriend and understand how much a problem they have.He along with Naira Marley were the biggest indigenous acts of 2019 thanks to several factors outside their songs (Zlatan's Zanku dance on his part), and he appeared to have struck a perfect balance with Yeye Boyfriend which would appeal to the urban IT era youth as much as it would his core street juju and fuji loving fan base.It never quite blew up.
Maybe yoruba mumble rap,maybe house infused ibo rap but afro-hip hop badly needs something fresh.Earth breakingly fresh.
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