 |
| Lagbaja, the masked one in performance in Lagos |
If you are young and gifted, this
is your best time to be a Nigerian. And this is not some patriotic prattle. Of
course it is hard to admit it. What with electricity supply still as it was
twenty years ago and airplanes dropping off our skies every now and then and
sudden death stalking our streets and highways in fatal crashes and bomb
explosions. That is our reality. But never
before has the Nigerian youth found himself suddenly capable of so many things.
Yes. The young Nigerian has finally cut himself loose from the exasperating
hand-wringing that drove his uncles and older brothers to Europe and America as
economic exiles. This is his finest hour. After years of begging to be given a
little space in the Nigerian milieu, the Nigerian youth has finally come to
self-possession. He has weaned himself
of the comfort zone of habitually blaming his misery on crass political leaders
who are cosmopolitan enough to know what is best for their people but lack the
grace to bestow it on them. The young Nigerian has therefore stopped gazing
into the horizon in search of redemption. He has gazed inwards and discovered his
unbridled power and infinite possibilities. He has discovered that in blessing
him with lousy leaders God had made things up by blessing him with amazing
gifts that would make a way for him. He has quickly taken back his life with a
burst of creativity that has astonished the world.
It is not certain that most
Nigerian youth know it but the future is finally here. Of course this might not
look like the future we all prayed for but, if we cast our minds back a bit, we
might be able to see our future in its truest of colours. Nigeria has always
been the home of diverse artistic creativity. Truth be told, imaginative
thinking and artistic production did not come to Nigerian youths by chance.
Many first generation Nigerian writers have won global acclaim with the
offerings of their minds. In fact, much of what is known today as African
literature began with them. Ben Enweonwu, Bruce Onobrakpeya and Yusuf Grillo
gave contemporary Nigeria the visual direction to her arts. Before them, the
carvers of Ife and Benin bronzes, the terracotta arts and the ethereal Nok
Culture as well as the Igbo Ukwu Bronze had bequeathed us a heritage of
unmatched artistic excellence. Before them too, the Ejegham people of present
day Cross River State and the surrounding Efik and Igbo areas of the South East
had demonstrated astounding craftsmanship with the evolution of Nsibidi writing which dates back to over
one thousand years. Glorious as these proud beginnings seem, they counted for
nothing in the intervening years of military dictatorship.
It is not clear whether there’s
any correlation between the stifling atmosphere of military iron rule and
shriveling artistic production but there was something the matter with the
Nigerian imaginative field under the military rule. In the mid-80s to early
90s, Shina Peters, Majek Fashek, Ras Kimono and Daddy Showkey all made dramatic
entries into our national entertainment space but the glory days were long in
coming . Their hold on the music scene was tenuous if anything at all. America’s
stranglehold on the entertainment scene remained strong with the flowering
gangster rap and its gun-culture, fuelling gang-wars between rival cults on
Nigerian campuses. Out of this ferment sprung icons like Tupac Shakur, Biggie
Smalls (the Notorious BIG) and Snoop Doggy Dogg. The latter’s numerous
misogynic tracks fanned the murderous embers of many campus killings in Nigeria. So did African-American movies like Menace II Society by the Hughes brothers
and Juice by Ernest Dickerson among
others. These films brought home vivid images of gang-related crimes in inner
city America which caught on with the Nigerian youth. The scenario was further
deepened by the East Coast – West Coast rap wars in the United States with
lyrics that glorified gun violence and deep contempt for women. Interestingly, as families mourned the loss
of their sons cut down in the poisonous atmosphere induced by this American pop
culture, the yearning for a Nigerian version of street reality began silently
in some circles. People wished for rhythms and lyrics that had resonance with
the Nigerian experience. It was helpful that a silent fire had already been lit
in a corner by Kenneth Nnebue whose classic movie, Living in Bondage had captured popular imagination and was
gradually wrenching attention away from bootlegged Hollywood films that flooded
the Nigerian market. It was also helpful that the rap duo; Junior & Pretty
had softened the ground for the emerging hip-hop scene with lyrics that
captured popular idioms and codes of the street. It was in this social and
cultural ferment that the musical rupture, Innocent Idibia, Tuface, emerged on
the Nigerian entertainment scene.
 |
| Energetic Nigerian youths |
We must of necessity, acknowledge
the power and influence of music on popular culture. It is almost self-evident
that of all cultural vehicles, music has the most advantage of spontaneity and
resonance. Movies, dance and fashion don’t quite match the pace and sweeping
enchantment of music. Little wonder therefore that the fledgling mosaic of
Nigerian comedy and movies of the early 90s sired by Ali Baba and Kenneth
Nnebue had to wait for the vocal grace of Tuface to gain wider acceptance in
Nigeria and across the world.
It goes without question, that
looking back to the last fifteen years, no Nigerian act has defined our popular
culture like Tuface Idibia. His entry into the entertainment scene represents a
ground-shift in much the same way as Chimamanda Adichie’s grand entry into
Nigerian literature. Tuface’s sweet innocent looks, unassuming personality and
extra-ordinary vocal gift have animated public conversations across Nigeria for
over a decade. His vulnerabilities each time he fell to the wiles of young
women, echoed our collective humanity. All these swelled his legend and hoisted
him firmly on the saddle of almost universal accolade and stunning financial
success. Tuface made young Nigerians realize that they could take charge of
their lives through music, that what lay inside them was far stronger than the
limitations of their environment. With African
Queen, his awesome classic, he forced many international windows open to
Nigerian music and waltzed his way into Hollywood when the song was chosen as
the soundtrack to Phat Girls, a 2006
comedy movie directed by Nnegest Likke, starring Mo’Nique and Jimmy Jean-Loius.
A lot of hugely successful artistes in
Nigeria today owe their courage to ride the rough waves of musical career to
Tuface. The monstrous success of African
Queen flung wide the floodgate of creativity, spanning music production,
music video production, make up artistry, artiste management, endorsements,
brand ambassadorships etc.
Interestingly, the comedian, Ali
Baba exerted almost the same influence on Nigerian humour. It is doubtful
however, that Ali Baba would have had any real impact at all without the
entrepreneurial vision of Opa Williams whose Night of a Thousand Laughs offered a pioneering platform for the
entrenchment of the comedy culture in Nigeria and the birth of the Nigerian
humour. The sprouting of home grown stand-up comedians and the resilient
evolution of Nigerian humour with a heavy slant to the Warri outlook on life
helped force Nigerians to recognize the hidden beauties of the Nigerian pidgin
English which all along had dangled between acceptance and outright scorn. Nigerian
humour has now taken a firm position in our cultural tapestry, along with our
music and movies. Nigerian comedians have continued to pack audiences at shows
in London’s 02 Arena, Johannesburg, Accra, Kenya and across many states in the
US. And from Kenneth Nnebue’s ground-breaking 1992 film; Living in Bondage that laid the foundation, Nollywood has cast a
spell on Africa and the entire black Diaspora. The phenomenal success of
Nollywood is such that Nigeria is known to the outside world solely through the
magic lenses of Nollywood. Today, Nollywood actors and actresses are
outstanding sex-symbols across the world. Quite naturally, the blossoming of
the local entertainment scene also necessitated the emergence of a high street
fashion industry to match the eclectic tastes of the music and movie stars.
Through the publication of Arise
magazine, Thisday newspapers played a formidable role in forcing attention on
the amazing talents of Nigerian fashion designers. The mushrooming of gifted
designers and fashion houses across the length and breadth of Nigeria, the
growing number of fashion shows and the thriving of modeling agencies all fit
snugly into the emerging landscape of a cultural powerhouse.
 |
| Amarachi Uyanne, winner of the maiden edition of Nigeria's Got Talent. |
Although the world might not know
it or accept it, but this is Nigeria’s defining moment. This is finally the
moment when the motherland begins the fight back for a gradual repeal of
America’s cultural dominance through music, movies and fashion with the sudden
explosion of popular youth culture which shatters provincial slurs and
stereotypes to mainstream acceptance. Growing up in the 90s, urban Nigeria
looked up to America to define social trends and street ethos through music,
dance, fashion and movies. Today, the shoe is on the other foot – American
cultural icons look forward to playing shows in Nigeria and collaborating with
Nigerian stars. Nigerians with a gift of singing or entertainment creation across
the world are migrating back to the country every day. Actors and screen
writers are returning from Nigerian
jeweler, Chris Aire is a Hollywood celebrity designer. Frontline Nigerian acts
are in serious creative and business partnerships with their American
colleagues. Wizkid and Dbanj are signed on to Akon’s Konvict and Kanye’s
G.O.O.D Music while PSquare and Tuface have done duets with Akon, Rick Ross and
R. Kelly respectively. The exchange might not have attained the desired level
but it is gratifying to know that it exists at all. Besides, the real
fascination of Nigeria’s emerging cultural super-power status is the fact that
its creative energy is forceful enough to compel acceptance in distant places.
Critical alliances with American and the cultural icons of other countries are
important but not necessary. Nigerian acts do not need American influence to
capture African, European and Asian audiences. What we have is authentic and
infectious enough to capture the imagination of diverse audiences.
In recent times, nothing perhaps,
is as gratifying as the growing acceptance of Nigeria as a cultural force
across Africa and beyond. It is now common to hear Psquare’s Alingo boom out of the woofer speakers
of a pimped up BMW saloon car in down town Johannesburg and bounce to the
rhythm of Tuface’s Implication in a
club in Dubai just as it is common to walk into a Mudi shop in a Nairobi high
street or listen to Zimbabwean children innocently mime the lines of Flavour’s Ashawo Remix without knowing its
explicit meaning. It almost gives a heady feeling to recall that there was once
time when the only thing the world had only one narrative on Nigeria - 419.
With our entertainment industry, Nigerian youths have saved Nigeria from the
dangers of a single story. No longer
will a cynical foreigner shake a rueful head at us and remind us about 419. We
can always retort that, yes, there’s 419 but there’s also Tuface, Psquare and
Dbanj and that Genevieve Nnaji was on Oprah Winfrey’s Meet the Famous People in the World show the other day; that in our
own time, Nigeria has become a tale of two narratives – the good and the bad;
just as is the case with most countries of the world.
Another most gratifying thing is
that with the plethora of reality shows and musical festivals in the country,
the production line that will supply raw materials to this industry will
continue to rev.
Naturally, what may be hard to
accept to most cynics is the fact that in our own time and with our peculiar
limitations, young Nigerians have in one huge splash of creativity, reversed
the cultural imbalance between Nigeria and America, the world’s cultural
behemoth and imposed the Nigerian way on the world. In all honesty, it is
difficult to find a better time to be young and Nigerian.
