My Random Thoughts and Experiences

Monday, December 8, 2008

Original, Americanized/westernized

In a while i'd be leaving the cold of here and heading for the scorching heat of naija for a rockful xmas. I intend to keep blogging as I hope to get unlimited Internet access by God's grace. Anyway I love listening to all types of music and Nigerian music tops the list once a while. I had an argument with a friend of mine about the originality of the Nigerian music out there now. I must say the Nigerian Music industry has grown and developed in the past few years and her complaints were most of them were not original in the sense that they were copying the west in terms of music and music videos. Now I would try and be an advocate for both sides and y'all be my judge to decide the case.


Original
Or so



Being original, we could say we need to keep our culture our heritage. We need to be proud of who we are and stop copying the west on everything they do. Our Music must showcase we are Nigerians ...we are Africans. We have been brainwashed to think that parts of our culture might be "fetish". But this is only done to discredit what the west does not understand. We need to be proud of who we are and no matter what type of culture we have, it needs to be portrayed in all we do. How else can we show that we are not inferior to others if we don't portray our own and be original with what we have. 
I mean...if i want to listen to hip-hop, rap, pop, r&B etc, I would stick to the Americans because it is theirs and they know how to do it well well. We need to coin our own and let the world know. The jamaicans have their reggae, trinidad has their soca music, 
why can't we coin ours?


Westernized

Then again we could also argue in favor of the westernized music in that every other thing of our lives are mimicked around the western culture. I mean we live in an interdependent globalized world.
Language, 
We all speak some form of a western language. our native languages are not part of our national language
food, 
Well, we have incorporated a lot of westernized food in our cuisine
wedding
white wedding dresses, some ceremonies and the works are definitely not part of our culture, so does that mean we are not original or in touch with out culture
Movies
We all follow American movies, music, politics, everything
Clothes
Well our casual clothes are very much westernized.

So if we have 98% of our daily life surrounded with western culture, why cant music be part of it to. If i listen toamerican rap music and american hip hop all day, when i want to rap my own.... (garbage in garbage out).






Personally, ... I would listen to any kind of music as long as it is good (vocals, lyrics, beats/musicality) Americanized or original. As long as they are not using Beyonce's beats or Lil Wayne's hooks im ok with it. I guess it is easier to do what you know. A lot of people do not listen to the traditional music anymore and even when they have music awards in Nigeria, fuji, apala, afro juju, juju etc are all left out of the categories. So where do you want these average artiste to dig out their Africaness or Nigerianess from??

First video Rugeddy Baba ft. 9ice
Second Video Dj jimmy jatt ft. Blaise, Sasha (my high school hommie), Bouquoi, Kemistry.

20 comments:

clnmike said...

I dont think Hip Hop can be catagorised as western anymore in is pretty much a global culture now.

LovePaprika said...

nice post..love nija mehn we dey try!!

Andrew F. Alalade said...

But it will be tough to sing and sell Core Fuji or Apala albums with the same appeal that the new songs flooding Naija have! Let them sing their Hiphop jare, as long as it is laced with the occasional Naija lingos.
By the way, I agree with Clnmike's point.
Femi B, I saw that email you sent. Meeeeeen, it was heart breaking!

Anonymous said...

original,americanized/westernised d most important thing is 2 ave ur own id.(ur style)music na music.

seye said...

Femi and music. Femi and Fuji! lol
Femi you sef suppose dey sing. lol

LG said...

9ja awaits...........
cheers!!!

doug said...

Naija welcomes you.

Nigerian music is really improving these days...we'll get there. I mean there was a time when it was all S.A. Now we won 6 out of 10 awards at the MAMA's.

Chris Ogunlowo said...

Yes O @ doug!

Femi, enjoy yourself "under the sun".

Yewande Atanda said...

I think is good to add western colour to our local flavour. The world is going digital and westernised, so i don't think we can help it. Let them infuss western stuff into our traditional rhymes.
Ruggedman's "Ruggedi Baba" passed that message clearly. Do hiphop but make it local for Africans to understand and appreciate. 9ice and co are enjoying the dividents already.

ChiefO said...

yussuf olatunji abi is it Ik Dairo

Nigerian Drama Queen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nigerian Drama Queen said...

First of all, Hip/Hop, R&B, etc...all derive their roots from Africa. I think Nigerian Artists are original because they draw from these influences and infuse their Nigerianess in it. My two kobo sha!

PS: I just emailed you...

Toluwa said...

music is music as far as it makes u sing along or move ur body! We all have our identities regardless!

O'Dee said...

Sasha was your high school roomie.

its mega hot in 9ja, so come with a lot of vests.

Holla when you'll be going 4 NYSC, I'll give you some tips.

aloted said...

i still cant get over sasha being you and my sis' class mate ..lol..dunno why..

me i like naija music generally

Emeka Amakeze said...

The music scene in Nigeria has improved greatly and our musicians are doing me proud. What i've failed to understand is what some people mean when they say that our hip hop is too western or American. And yet these set of people do not advocate for universities in Nigeria where our native languages are solely used.

wellsbaba said...

WOW! so ur comin 2 9ja?? anywais I think pplemake loads of mistake sayin our music is westernized just bcos its rap! rap is jst a genre of music like jazz,classical,rock pop et al all which are mostly not from 9ja but its d content that really is the decider..slangs,style n issues I think thats what says if our musicis weternized or not...well if you ask me,I would say alot of our musicians are still copyin n not yet original save a few-d'banj ofcos lol e.t.c welcom home!

seye said...

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seye said...

...and update us about your naija experience o

Geebee said...

I agree with you on being Nigerian to the bone but then we can't possibly intrigue our pple with the traditional fuji and juju music anymore. The hiphop culture is fast taken over our streets and it appears the Naija pple are loving it. We can do our own hiphop in or mother tongue just like Ruggedybaba would say. Nice post sis.