Somedays ago I stumbled on an article that pissed me off and also did me good by crushing my writer’s block. The article written by a so-called music industry expert was sought of a guideline into how up-and-coming Nigerian music artists could create hit songs for themselves, thereby breaking into the music industry. I would have been cool with the article if it also guided artists into writing international hit songs but its such a shame it targeted only the Nigerian locality. It’s a pity our industry promotes local hit songs and not international hit songs with evergreen potentials.

Below are few contents of the article:

“You are desperate, hungry and in need of second life. Don’t overthink it. Just be ready. Become dumb.

“To make a hit song, you have to think like a dumb man. You have to sound stupid. Stupidly creative. That’s why Tekno brought down trees with the killer line, your beauty makes me to realize, Say Nepa don bring light.

“Remember when I instructed you to become dumb? You will need that lack of intelligence now. Choose the dumbest catch phrase you can find, and freestyle your song around it. Here are some example ‘Sweet panya’, ‘Baby caricature’, ‘Wahala tumbo’, ‘Waist five people’. If you can’t create a dumb catchphrase, let not your heart be troubled. Use popular vernacular phrases and words. ‘Aka gum’ ‘Jagaban’, Ónijogbon’, ‘Ukwu salambala’, and any other. Freestyle anything and everything around them, lace them on to the beat and like magic, your hit song will rise out of that miasma of loud beats, stupidity and disrespect for the art.

“Get a producer with high-tempo beats

“Anything below 160 BPM is bad for a hit song. Although the tempo of our hit songs have fallen between the ranges of 115 BPM and 120 BPM, the fast ways are still the best. Get yourself a producer who understands the art of fast-paced beats. Get familiar, pay for the production and get to work. Get to work. Make sure it bangs, and hits all the right spots on the bass speakers. Amp it, and get it threatening to contribute to global noise pollution. It’s a hit song, goddamnit! Let it hit everyone hard.

“Promote that rubbish

“You have created a beautiful nonsense, and melodious crap. Now it’s time to get the world to listen and like it. Spend money on promotion, distribute the song via the internet, find every channels and mode of dissemination that functions, and plug in your song. You have sacrificed a lot for this song. Let it fly.”

Imagine an entire generation of upcoming music artists subscribing to such crap directive. We all know the result of that. Trust me this is not what music should be all about.

Years ago a South African music group...

Read more:
https://blarckbillboard./2016/08/17/crafting-hit-songs-in-nigeria-correcting-an-impression/