"Rappers no dey blow for Naija" I'm sure you have heard this saying and it is seen as a common belief that you cannot make it as a pure hip-hop rapper without making commercial or "street" songs. The fault is said to lie in the listeners and the general public that "we" as Nigerians don't listen to Hip-Hop but I disagree.

Nigerians actually listen to Hip-Hop, I know this because if you are reading this now, you either listen to Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Migos, Nasty C, Cassper Nyovest, Big Sean, J Cole, Cardi B, Jay-Z or any other international rapper, you probably have some of their song/album you like so much. you shout or go hyper when "man's not hot" or "humble" or "God's plan" or even "Gucci gang" e.t.c comes up in a party. Every car that goes past me in Unilag is always playing Trap music, hardly afrobeat. I barely know anyone who would say he/she never ever listens to international music. I was in the crowd during SoundCity MVP and the energy was massive, way more than I expected when Caspper Nyovest performed "Tito mboweni" even more when MI came on stage, people were literally screaming. Everyone in the movie hall was vibing to the trap soundtracks of Black Panther. if you saw the movie, I'm sure you can relate. Emtee - RE-UP (we up remix), Cassper Nyovest - Doc Shebeleza, Davido - Coolest kid in Africa, Big Shaq - Man's Not Hot, Desiigner - Panda, Phyno - Alobam, Reminisce - Local Rappers, MI - Bad Belle e.t.c were legit HIT in this same Nigeria. J Cole (Who is even less commercial than most of the rappers you know) is having an event on the 27th of April at Eko hotels, and everyone is already talking about it and making efforts to make sure they are there. So to some extent, even tho not as much as we listen to afrobeat/pop, Nigerians actually do listen to Hip-hop/Trap

Then Why do our local rappers not make wave or are not as successful as much as commercial artiste?? (apart from MI for obvious reason)
or should I say, why do you listen to international hip-hop but hardly Nigerian hip-hop?

I personally have a few reasons.
I listen to hip-hop/trap genre way more than any other genre of music, and because of my love for hip-hop and music in general, I tend to listen to music from wide range of artists from different countries, as long as it's dope. but I hardly listen to Nigerian hip-hop. I currently have 3600+ songs and I don't think my total Nigerian songs are up to 200 (excluding MI songs and albums) (including classics hits) while I have well over 700 South African songs. BUT this is not because I hate Nigerian songs or rappers or I don't listen to rap music (which is the general belief), I don't just find most of our hip-hop songs/artiste exceptional or at the level and quality of songs I am already used to from US and SA. I say "most" because they are few exceptional ones, I admit.

1. So my biggest problem is with the Producers. Most dope Nigerian Trap/Hip-Hop songs were produced by international producers, the elite producers are looking for a way to produce the next "Street banger" and hardly is anyone focused on making dope Hip-hop beats, even if they try, they cant just do it as good as even a producer from Ghana. So before I would blame our rappers, I blame the producers. I know many upcoming rappers, but all the upcoming producers I know major in afrobeat/Afropop. I joined a WhatsApp group once for upcoming producers in SA, and if you listen to these guys instrumentals, pure Hip-Hop/trap, as Good as any "Good Top producer" in Nigeria could make. I even know a few upcoming rappers that work with SA producers instead. and even MI with his latest project also worked with SA producers on certain songs. From my understanding of music, the instrumental is the music, it defines the song, the lyrics, verses or "bars" come after. If the instrumental is weak, how can the song be lit?

2. Then the rappers. I strongly believe if as an artist your music does not appeal to people as it should, then it was simply not good enough. you can tell me we have many dope rappers in Nigeria and begin to call names like Vector, Blaqbones, Boogey e.t.c but they can actually be better like they are lots of room for improvement, like if they are that good, why can't they make some impressions at least that makes them comparable to rappers like MI, AKA, Cassper Nyovest, Sarkodie or even Nasty C? talkless of international rappers. The problem is Rap is not just about "bars" and "Punchlines" or freestyle for 2 days on radio, the actual best rappers, the ones you would call your favourite rapper in the world is hardly good at those things, but rather good with "Flow", "creativity/versatility" and "delivery" plus many other things. those attribute that actually improves the music, cos the music comes before your "Bars". however, most of our Naija rappers and even upcoming ones around me try too hard to spit the hardest bars and most insane punchlines and focus less on the music and the flow. I'm not saying rappers should abstain from punchlines and co, but find a way to fuse it into the flow or the music which should be the main focus. it even sounds more interesting that way. I've been where rappers would rap to a silent crowd, then they drop punchlines and the whole crowd shouts, and that's it. but I would always have the crowd bumping their heads and vibing to the flow with a trap verse, works every time

3. Finally, other important bodies in the industry. I grouped them together cos they do the same thing which is "discourage rappers" even before giving these rappers the opportunity to show themselves. No top label would sign a rapper, talkless of upcoming ones, the myth the "Nigerians do not listen to hip-hop" has entered everyone's head so much that it is quite hard for a label whose sole aim is to make money from an artist to invest in or sign a rapper, even chocolate city (which used to be seen as the rap label) does not have a newly signed rapper and kept Milli underground until they finally let him go (BTW to me, Milli is very good, has 1 and 2 in place, Childish EP was dope). Then these rappers are told (and most convinced) be supposed experts, DJ's, OAP's and even those that only listen to music when they are in the club this same myth, then put pressure on them by not airing their rap songs but will play and retweet the commercial ones with all pleasure. like most of them will not even listen to you if you say you rap, talkless of giving you the platform and letting your art speak for itself. I read the article of how Milli while still in Chocolate city was told to re-write his verses for unlooking using pidgin English so it will be more appealing to the street, that was just too sad. then the song was hardly promoted after it was released, and he had to drop his feature with wizkid if he wanted to release unlooking and he wanted his first single to be without features. Milli could have been a hip-hop star.

MI, however, was successful, and still selling out of his already made name because, 1 and 3 was hardly an issue in his time (2008), plus obviously MI is a fantastic rapper so 2 was also never a problem. but If a rap artist is going to be successful or "Blow" in Nigeria at all, it will take for the 3 points listed above to be checked and well taken care of, plus tons of creativity and hard work and consistency, multiple times more than any afrobeat/pop artist. and it is possible to me, very feasible in fact.

This, however, is my own opinion
if you have any other thing to say, add or subtract or completely object, let me know.

Long opinion you have there

ameri9ja:
Long opinion you have there

lol, please read anyways, thanks.

ShakeTV:

lol, please read anyways, thanks.

Will do. Kudos for the effort.

Damn !!!!!!!!! you wrote alot but also said alot !!!

i would also blame MI and already made artist, they are the role models inspiring dope rappers to go commercial

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