Just before I sign out for 2010, just wanted to do sumn on the main events that in my own opinion shaped Nigerian Music this year . . . just testing out my writing skills, I've got some things line up for 2011.

2010 was a peak year for Nigerian music for different reasons, we saw the good, the bad and the Omobaba moments (you choose if the meant 'funny' or 'wowo'). We saw it coming but no one expected it to be this big, high points and records lows getting astronomical press coverage . . . the internet at it's most effective with Twitter and Notjustok becoming the biggest thing technology has given to Nigerian music since Frooty Loops.

Here's a list of things that made this year 2010 in Nigerian music.

10. Jor ooh

What can I say bout this, this was Nigeria's street anthem for this year . . .even though it never got as popular as 'The koko' and 'No Long Thing' it had everything that the most famous ones had. The easily swappable lines, the catchy hook, the slang and the remix with a million famous stars on it. So in honour of Jah Bless, 'ma lo fi 2010 shey New Year . . . jor ooooh'.

Links
Jah-bless Ft Ice Prince, Ruggedman, Eldee, Durella And Reminisce, Joor Oh Rmx - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-540433.0.html

9. Artists Vs Fans Twitter/Facebook Battles

Now this is just one of the Omobaba moments I was talking about.  So yep, twitter was Godsent for Nigerian artistes as it helped to cut out the unreliable press and help them reach the biggest audience possible. Unfortnately for them, it meant every living room conversation got to them and they obviously found the need to reply. Now we could start a debate about how important artistes have to take their public image as a brand, or we could just thank God for the record amounts of drama we saw this year. . .

Javalove Vs Ruggedman, Khanye Vs Saucekid,  Terry Tha Rapman?? Vs Nairaland, Modenine's rant at anyone that cared to watch the infamous video, M.I's douchebag attack against that guy that dissed him for being short, Eldee Vs . . . isn't it funny how that list has the who is who of Nigerian music on it??

Links
Javalove Aka Lukman Idealist Jaji:::: Famous For The Wrong Reasons - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-413732.0.html
Modenine Accuses Nairaland Of Destructive Criticisms - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-532117.0.html
M.I's Toast To The Douchebag - http://twitterbans..com/2010/11/mis-toast-to-douchebag.html

8. The Breakout Stars

It's now expected that one or two artistes make a name for themselves every year . . it will be impossible to talk about 2010 without mentioning the guys that blew up this year and became stars in this ever growing industry.

Whizkid, Vector, Ice Prince all fought their way out of the newbie status this year, each of them dropping songs and doing collabos to take their careers to the next level. Whizkid has refused to look back since his Lagos Party cameo, Vector gave us Nigeria's version of Good Friday by dropping hits on a regular, and who can forget Oleku . . . the song that got more unauthorised remixes than A millie . . . I joke. 

Links
The Oleku Battle :: Battle Of Who Killed It. Vector Or Iceprince - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-542740.0.html
Vector's Album Review - http://nigerianhiphop.net/2010/11/16/vector-state-of-suprise-album-review/
Wizkid Notjustok Hype - http://www.notjustok.com/2009/12/28/wizkid-notjustok-hype/

7. Sweet November

Aiite . . . this was another big thing that happened in Nigerian music this year, it's funny how Nigerian artistes choose to put out their albums the same time, do I have an explanation for that?? Nope . . . did I enjoy the result, HELL bleeping YES!!! About ten albums came out in the space of two months from the popular artistes, we couldn't have hoped for more.

So it's safe to say 'Boys are not smiling because M.I2 started and put the music industry in a pherosious but untouchable state of surprise.'

Links
M.I's M.I 2 - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-557074.0.html
Terry Tha Rapman's Boys Are Not Smiling - http://nigerianhiphop.net/tag/boys-are-not-smiling/

6. International Thief-thief

This is either a high or a low for you, depending on whether the N1000 or $6.99 is going to or from your pocket. It's weird how all of a sudden it's more expensive for you to buy a downloaded version of an album than the hard copy because of one or two skits or 'bonus' songs. Good side is maga no need pay the artistes anymore as we know who gets the money, the bad side is screams of 'WTF!!!' and 'e don dey madt' are heard behind computers.

The 'International Version' is not that much of an issue though, if as Jinadu Colawole put it 'is food for thought that's cheaper than two number fives' or sumn like that, but I recommend that if they were going to do that, it should come with all the old hits and probably the videos so we know we're not being robbed just because we want to help them. The most annoying part is when it turns out to be a wack album, believe me, the vexedt they burn person. Till then, in Fela's words, it's 'International ole, international thief thief'.

Links
9ice To Sell New Cd For N2,000 - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-480098.0.html
Fans Frown At Ngn1,000 Price Tag For Tuface’s Unstoppable II Album.  - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-453263.0.html

5-1 coming up

I bookmarked this thread exactly 30mins after it was posted only to return many hours later to see it hasn't been completed. . .not good

Eldee, where you dey o? Abeg come give us the concluding part o

I bookmarked this thread exactly 30mins after it was posted only to return many hours later to see it hasn't been completed. . .not good

Eldee, where you dey o? Abeg come give us the concluding part o

monitoring the situation like a police officer

My apologies . . . the executive committee is still deciding on the order of importance of the top five events of 2010.
Just keep checking back.

semid leave eldee alone o. he's doing a good job. let him take his time lol.

happy new year nairaland

2011 must make sense


leegggooooooo

5. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner . . . Wearing the '4-5'?? '

This was the year of the comeback, and I'm talking about comebacks from hiatuses, not just hibernation. So Eedris is doing his full time job agberoing at Oshodi-Isale Motor Park and he thinks to himself?? 'Omo maga don dey pay for my old job . . . gbabe, even Modenine sef wey we bin dey yab don buy Infinty, make I go release something abeg. . .'. Come on, that's the only reason these guys are going back into music, we all know that.

So who had the crashland effect in this year's comeback season??

Eedris dropped a track that left us wondering why we didn't just let someone else carry the silly Olympic torch so he'll shut up.

Styl Plus came back with Unbreakable . . . erm nah, even I didn't hear any song off the album. . . sorry guys.

Dr Alban and Charlie Boy came together to do a single . . . a remix to the classic . . . a modest hit.

Sound Sultan opened the year 2010 with a song with the very creative title . . . erm 2010. 

Lagbaja, who's in my opinion, the most creative artist in the mainstream came back . . . and yes Motherlan' is back!!!

Well 2face . . . came back and somewhat unsurprisingly reclaimed his positions as the strongest name in urban Nigerian Music, toast to the douchebags.

Ruggedman came back with Untouchable, the album that prolly sold next to M.I 2 on Sweet November . . . let's have a toast to the arseholes.

M.I . . . M.I 2 shifted the biggest sales of any Naij rapper we've seen in a while, now let's have a toast to Kelly Handsome.

So in a way, these hits and misses are kinda weird but well 2010 will be remembered as the year that had more comeback acts than any other year in post-2000 Naija music history, and erm . . . Daddy Showkey missed his chance maynne.

4. The Game Syndrome - Kpomo Or Beef??

So Choc Boys are chilling at Iya Basira Mama Cass and the good ol' question comes up . . . 'Uncle Naija's Rap Messiah wetin you wan chop kpomo or beef??' Maynne, the thing sounded like Frank Idohor asking 'final answer?? no lifelines' to M.I. Aiite maybe it didn't happen exactly that way but . . .

Iceberg Slim Vs M.I (Diss M.I in a track and then mail him and say you're my fave rapper) 
Modenine Vs Ruggedman (Congratulate Modenine for winning HHWA and then call him MC 'Na me carry hiphop for head' in your album) 
Ikechukwu Vs Storm Records (Say you're friends with Naeto-C but this guy allegedly dissed you in Successful the P-Mix) 
Kelly Handsome Vs Kennis (Diss and then apologize because Uncle Maga refused to pay) 
Kelly Handsome Vs M.I (Now one minute M.I says he isn't replying, next minute he's telling Dr Sid that he doesn't want a blood test??)

Now I'll give you three reasons why I like beef . . .
a. Beef production ensures that there is less mooing.
b. Beef production is a bloody business . . . makes sure that the weakest cows are killed off.
c. Come on . . . beef tastes better than kpomo jare.

Walahi, those are completely valid points. . . me I no kuku send una . . . let there be beef.

Links

M.I & Iceberg Slim Face-2-face Freestyle Battle @ The Nea Awards - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-516559.0.html
Kelly Hansome Vs M.i :: Who Takes Round One? - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-441722.0.html
Ikechukwu – http://www.notjustok.com/2010/12/03/world-exclusive-ikechukwu-still-standing-open-letter-to-storm-records-rewinding-them/
Ruggedman’s Untouchable Skit At Modenine - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-571628.0.html
Naeto C Successful P-Mix - http://www.notjustok.com/2009/08/22/naeto-c-successful-the-p-mix/

3. Them Gbadun Koboko??

First of all, I'll like to place a no-homo disclaimer on any comments that shall proceed from El's keyboard after this.
Chei . . . I don't even know how to explain this, erm . . . Some unclothed pictures appeared on the internet, I didn't see any one , but erm . . . some people said the pictures were that of Mo-hits crooner Wande Coal.

So what we saw next was a swift press briefing from Mo-Hits claiming that the picture was not Wande Coal's and that his 'enemies' just happened to be friends with the founder and CEO of Adobe . . . come on, that's the only way that picture could have been photo-shopped. Like WTF!!! This person took the picture of his face and then one of his full-body and that negro was Wande Coal. Damn . . . my homie denied his own koboko, damn.

So Mo-hits's press release stated and I quote . . .'We also want to state categorically that there is nothing wrong or to be ashamed about being unclothed BUT THE PICTURES IN QUESTION ARE NOT THOSE OF WANDE COAL' . . .  Nigga if I had a picture of my face and that tiny kondo, I won't be arguing bout who's face it was, I'd be arguing about how the camera angle was bad for my size . . . priorities Don Jazzy, priorities. Desperate times call for desperate erm measurements, I'd have claimed 15 inches!!!

[size=5pt]El Incorporated will like to use this opportunity to categorically state that our staff never saw the picture in question[/size].

Links

Wande Coal’s unclothed Picture - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-479818.0.html
Stay Tuned for 1-2.

Whao! Nice and funny write-up. I look forward to reading parts 1 and 2

@hax

2011 must make sense jare . . . thanks bruv.

nana:

Whao! Nice and funny write-up. I look forward to reading parts 1 and 2

Thanks b . . . nice to see that at least three people have read this, that's counting myself.

Yo El, nice write-up mahn.

Following this.

Concluding part coming up tomorrow. . . the committee will like to go and sleep

Bamsyle.:

Yo El, nice write-up mahn.

Following this.

Thanks man . . .

Eldee mayne. If diss na. . .so if this na track, you are killing it.

El. . . This is Tyte!! The Wande Part was just Hilarious. Luv it. . Looking 4ward to reading the concluding part!

LMAO This is hilarious!!! I love the lightness of it all, it's satire. Now if only you could do a political version,

eLDee, we dey wait na!! Hope you will say something about naija taking over Africa. We've been cleaning up at the award shows!!!

Now that's my bro from another mother.

Charming humour,incendiary wit and enchanting expression-Daily mail

Simply exhilarating-New York Daily

A befitting expose of the outgoing year-Nairaland Chronicles

A breathless,"mapping" review with an unusually high IQ-Becomerich

Lyrically tight and B.O.B-less-Hax

Iya Basira shekpe inspired-Slimshay

this is sooooo funnnnny. . . But i think i can guess ur number 1 or 2. . . . Oya 'talk am listening'. . . Saga of the year. . Lol

2. 'Mo Lenu bi . . . '

The Date?? 14th April 2010 . . . The Source?? Inhouse whispers, like every other true story in Nigeria . . . The Incident?? Nigeria's fastest rising rapper was involved in a 'mild' accident. . . The Reaction?? 'These rappers need to chill and protect their careers'. A day later came the real news with a full report, Dagrin was involved in a serious car crash, hanging for his life in a Lagos Hospital. 'Shock' isn't the word I need to describe the way people felt, it's an emotion torn between anxiety, hope, pain and helplessness. The whispers got louder . . . Dagrin was in a coma, prayers increased.

And then the sad news came, Dagrin died in the coma after a heart-attack, the accident had taken his life, he had died as a result of interior bleeding. Like seriously?? Interior bleeding?? At a hospital that was built to train our future doctors?? Our then President was receiving expert medical attention in an unknown location while our hospitals were in a questionable state (and I’m being soft here). The anger mixed with pain hit us . . . blames started flying around.  Shock turned into denial . . . and anger. . . and helplessness. . . and loss . . . and that one emotion that’s hard to describe.

And we cried . . . oh yes we cried, we cried because this got us pulled back to reality, we cried because this wasn’t something a simple diss-song could solve, we cried because this wasn’t one of his ‘I made it from scratch’ stories, we cried because he touched us, we cried because he related to each and everyone of us. We cried because we saw a legend taken before his prime, we cried because we saw that our legend was only human. We cried because there was only one person born of a woman that saw this coming, we cried because it was Dagrin.

And what happened next is what was more shocking. . . it was the fact that we smiled afterwards.  Yep, that’s what we did . . . we smiled because we just saw the interview where he said ‘I’m not Jadakiss or 50 Cent’, we smiled because we just heard a five year old saying ‘Mo lenu bi . . . ‘, we smiled because we just heard him on the same track with New York’s Iceberg Slim saying ‘mo le gba Calabar dey Canada’ . . . we smiled because we just heard him Barack O’grin right next to Vector.  We smiled because we got so much for a legend just before his prime, we smiled because there was only one person born of woman that wanted us smiling at that time, we smiled because that was Dagrin.

Dagrin is an icon, he proved that it’s possible to be unrepentantly Nigerian in this era of Nigerian music and still be loved, he proved that music is a unifying factor by relating to people from New Road Oshodi to New York. I’m not going to stand here and say we will never have anyone as good as Dagrin at what he did, infact I know his greatest success is the fact that he raised a whole generation of people that will make it for themselves even when everyone else says ‘no’. So one of the defining moments of 2010 in Nigerian music history is actually bigger than the music, it's about the moments when we cried, the moments when we smiled and the moments we smiled while we cried.

R.I.P Barack O’grin.

Links
Da Grin Involved In Serious Car Crash - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-431189.0.html
Dagrin Is Dead - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-435337.0.html

And this space for references and notable mentions.

Waiting

^^
When you go spit on Oleku beat now Genu?

kay_pumpin:

^^
When you go spit on Oleku beat now Genu?

Lol. I no know o. You get link to the instrumental?

Ikechukwu Vs Storm Records (Say you're friends with Naeto-C but this guy allegedly dissed you in Successful the P-Mix)

where? any link to the lyrics of this song

http://www.4shared.com/audio/YTcv03u2/Iceprince-Oleku_Instrumental_.htm
Genu,that's the link courtesy LC.Will be waiting for your version o.

^^^Tanx for that beat. Hehehe.

nice one El! we r waiting for d concluding part

Ibime:

^^^Tanx for that beat. Hehehe.

Thief!!!

@ eldee,
nice write up.Waiting patiently for the concluding part.

@ Ibime & Razor
Waiting for your versions of oleku to drop too

Thumbs up to Eldee,

Very very funny list.
And who says the Nigerian music scene is boring

kay_pumpin:

Now that's my bro from another mother.

Charming humour,incendiary wit and enchanting expression-Daily mail

Simply exhilarating-New York Daily

A befitting expose of the outgoing year-Nairaland Chronicles

A breathless,"mapping" review with an unusually high IQ-Becomerich

Lyrically tight and B.O.B-less-Hax

Iya Basira shekpe inspired-Slimshay

Hahahahahahha ol boy u dey mad oh.

interesting, happy new year guyz.

04kizzle. . .hw u dey man.

Eldee wa pari kini yi nah.