Hello Nigerians, wassup !!! Haven't written since I annoyed Reminisce with my last article 'LOCAL RAPPERS VS LOCAL RAPPERS' lol. Well am glad every other person loved it,and the guy don sell millions of copies so him no go remember that one again.
Anyway how are y'all doing? Am pretty sure its been better than it was not too long ago with all the fuel scarcity and zero power supply which brought hardship to the common Nigerian and empowered the mosquitos at night (dem insects were getting high off human blood) Lol. Well at least now we can buy fuel and I've been getting like 10 hrs of light daily for the past few days now,my generator can also take a little breather now. No doubt it's been better recently but something tells me you guys aren't interested in reading about the fuel scarcity and poor power supply we recently experienced, you're more interested in the title of my article Abi? BUHARI VS 50 CENT . Ok now,let's go there !!!
First of all,it's not a boxing match,neither does the title of the article suggest a political rivalry,competition or confrontation of any sort,form,shape,size and-or context. Nope !!! not by any means. The title of the article was inspired by something else,a little something that opened my eyes to see certain similarities between the rise of our dear President Muhammadu Buhari to the number one position in the country and the rise of Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson to the very top of hip hop music back in 2003. These similarities kept ringing in my head so why not share with my fellow Nigerians.
Anyone who knows me knows I know hip hop culture more than the culture of my own village sef (Which is Ukpor,Nnewi South LGA,Anambra State by the way - I hail una) so you can understand why I couldn't resist the temptation of penning down these similarities I observed between the rise of our presido in this democratic era and the rise of 50 CENT in modern day hip hop.

Here they are -

1. 50 Cent in his early days of stardom constantly called himself the G-Unit general. Buhari is/was a general in the Nigerian army (though it's President Buhari now)

2. President Buhari worked with some of the most reputable men in Nigerian politics who had formed a strong alliance in the form of the APC and they rigorously campaigned for his election which he eventually won. Am talking about men like Bola Tinubu,Fashola,Atiku & Rotimi Amechi (who is my namesake by the way. Hehehe) Same way 50 Cent worked with some of hip hop's powerhouses to get to the top - Dr.Dre(who is a legend and also the richest producer in hip hop) Eminem (who is the highest selling rapper of all time..yes that white boy sell pass Tupac) and Jimmy Iovine(who is a co-founder of the almighty Interscope Records) These 3 men were directly responsible for sending 50 to the top of the charts and making him America's no.1 rapper (at least for the years he lasted there)

3. President Buhari had several failed attempts in winning the presidential elections in the past under the ANPP & CPC before he finally achieved the feat in the 2015 polls under the APC. 50 Cent also had many failed attempts in blowing up as a rapper,even when as an underground rapper he had collaborated with big names like the late Jam Master Jay (of Run-DMC) Nas & Destiny's Child.He was also signed to JMJ RECORDS & Columbia Records but couldn't score a mainstream hit under their wings,He finally achieved the feat under the Shady/Aftermath labels.

4. They both faced some form of media/public criticism at one point or the other. President Buhari for his decrees during his time as Nigeria's military head of state and 50 Cent for his street life,thuggery and drug dealings.

5. They both faced extremely tough competition to take the number one spot.
Buhari's competition = Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan(do you know how hard it is to unseat a sitting president in this our democracy? I never see am before for Naija)
50 Cent's competition = Ja Rule (who at the time was one of the world's hottest rappers,that ni**a was topping the billboard charts for fun)

6. President Buhari's camp (APC) and the former president,Goodluck's camp(PDP) traded words,pointed accusing fingers at each other and made very scathing remarks which we all read in newspapers and heard on the news.The pre-election campaign on both sides was bitter,heated and it triggered some violence.I personally witnessed a rally at Oshodi where thugs were shooting in the air and tearing down rival party posters,a similar occurrence was witnessed along the Ikorodu Road area of Lagos. In similar fashion 50 Cent's camp (Shady/Aftermath/G Unit) and Ja Rule's camp (Murder INC Records) traded insults via diss songs and radio/magazine interviews.It also got violent,I remember when Ja's chain was snatched by a 50 Cent associate, I also remember when Black Child (a rapper and close friend of Ja Rule) stabbed 50 Cent in the arm during a G Unit recording session. 50 Cent eventually secured a restraining order from the relevant authorities. One diss song that stood out for me was 50's 'I Smell Pu**y' . 'Is That You Ja? *singing in 50's voice*

7. Finally the word that made me write this in the first place .. The short simple word that showed me other similarities between Naija's president and one of hip hop's best sellers - that word is CHANGE !!! yes CHANGE !!! We all know that the most popular word used in the last election campaign by President Buhari's APC is CHANGE right? CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE !!! Same goes for 50 Cent. For those who don't know,during 50 Cent's early days as a rapper (am talking 1998) when he was asked what his name '50 CENT' meant,he responded - 50 Cent is a metaphor for 'CHANGE' Like when you buy something from a store and get your '50 Cents' change !!! He made it clear he was coming to 'CHANGE' the rap game. CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE !!!

Now you know a couple o' things President Buhari and 50 CENT have in common. Funny right?

Anyway gotta go now,am quite sure I've succeeded in doing one of these 3 things
*Entertain you
*Enlighten you
*Waste your time reading this
I hope its the first two.

GOD BLESS NIGERIA !!!

Facebook - Double-Six Okoli
twitter - @IamDoubleSix

This actually made sense

U try small. If u like answer triple six, u are on ur own