Castle Lite Unlocks concert is in a way kind of different from our Nigeria’s conventional concert because it was headlined by an American rapper J Cole. Someone who considers himself a B-List celebrity. One thing that didn’t sit well about the concert was having Wizkid and Davido as co-headliners in what would be thought of as a hip-hop concert. While rappers like MI Abaga, Falz, YCEE were supporting acts. Yikes!

Having fans vibe and rap along while J Cole performed his set at Castle Lite Unlock draws our attention to hiphop culture in Nigeria.

First of all, the belief that there are no real hip-hop fans in Nigeria should be discarded immediately. Yes indeed besides all the conspiracy theories that real hip-hop fans are only but a few.

Nigerians only want to dance… ain’t really an absolute truth. Nigerians love hip-hop and there is indeed a market for hip-hop in Nigeria. Castle Lite Unlock proved that we love rap music and can rap off some of those hip-hop hits by heart.


Secondly album culture ain’t exactly dead in Nigeria. Same Nigerians who have been accused of not being interested in buying albums bought or yet still found a way to get J Cole’s KOD for free and mastered the lyrics in one week before his concert. That says a lot about the fans. It’s only proves that Nigerians wouldn’t soak up shitty albums because it’s our fave. Truth is every album that was a masterpiece has always been appreciated. Oh let’s talk about MI’s debut and sophomore albums, Naeto C’s debut, the Eldees Trybes Men etc. Those albums were solid and fans showed love.

Nigerian rappers are not consistent in their game. J Cole has five albums to date and Nigerian fans could vibe to all those LP’s to his amazement. Cole has been consistent with his releases, lyrically, production, and marketing. Show me a Nigerian rapper that has been consistent in all fronts? Our hip-hop artists come impress for a minute get complacent and loose the magic. Nigerians rappers are a lot more interested in pulling crowd like their Afropop colleagues which is not a bad idea. Some disgruntled rappers who turn singers and even those that stick with rap cannot give a good live show, performing songs with missing lyrics and merely frolicking the stage.


Another school of thought would insinuate once again that Nigerians don’t love their own. If hiphop in Nigeria is done the way it should be done with great finesse there is no doubt Nigerians would support.

Our pop stars get so much love because they have grown the arts and finessed it. Wizkid got a chance to play at COACHELLA, Davido would perform at WIRELESS this July, that is how much these Afropop stars have grown the art. But hip-hop as it is in Nigeria has not evolved much in comparison to the Afropop music. Sometimes we make the hip-hop thing only about lyrics, but that shouldn’t be all, but the entire arts itself most be improved. What have the so called hip-hop artists and rappers done to make the art of it more entertaining. Kendrick Lamar won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for music, it shows how much hip-hop has grown in America. I can’t remember the last time a Nigerian rapper got nominated for Best International Act: Africa in the BET. It has always been our pop stars.


Who is our best hip-hop artist in Nigeria? Would it be Olamide, Phyno, Falz, YCEE or even MI? SMH!!

Nigerians rappers shouldn’t blame fans for the failure of hip-hop in Nigeria. Rappers don’t even need to fix up their lives like MI Abaga advised. Nope, those hip-hop artists and rappers need to fix up the arts, fix up the hip-hop culture.

Source : http://zionadebisi.com/truths-hip-hop-nigeria-revealed-castle-lite-unlocks-events/

For the records. Nigeria have a lot of HIP Hop.
Bois still vibe to old rappers like 2pac, BIG, DMX, 50cent, The Game, Dr Dre, Method Man. Etc.
We also have modern rappers like J.cole, Drake, big Sean, Asap rocky, YG, migos, Kendrick etc. Kanye West is confuse now, nigger talking shit about black race, Mofo.
Nigeria rappers like jesse jags Mode9 and Show dem camp (SDC) are the only few that still do rapper. They came in to the game rapping and still doing same. But artist that came into game as a rapper change with time, they started singing, Ice Prince, respect to Vector, olamide and phyno are not rappers, don’t know why heddies keep norminating them in rappers category!!
M.I your father ft dice!! Worst M.I song ever.
We vibe to foreign songs in 9ja a lot, we listen to migos, 2chians cus dy came with there style and Nigerians listen to GOOD music and I was not suprise to the level of listeners of J.cole music, a lot of his fans are outside Lagos and could not make it, but still big thanks to the people that brought Em, have change my beer brand that day to Castles lite.
Shoutout to Jesse, Mode9 and SDC for doing rap for us in Nigeria. But still abeg let’s vote buhari out abeg!! #Technicallyvotebuhariout