Noisey did its best to document the music scene in Lagos but the shortcomings belong to us.
The good guys at Noisey decided it was high time to do a feature on the Mecca of Afropop- Lagos.
To put you on the game, Noisey is a music website owned by VICE Media which was launched in 2012. The hip website curates global pop music and throws a spotlight on hot music beds around the world.
The music culture of cities such as Kingston, Miami, Atlanta, Compton has been featured on the Noisey series.
With Wizkid & co. leading the charge of Naija-pop invasion all across the world, Noisey packed its bags and landed in the ever busy city of Lasgidi to document the music scene.
The feature starts with the obligatory homage to Afrobeat creator Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and his influence on the modern sounds of Nigerian pop music.
Wizkid, however, is the main subject of this feature which the narrator and host Zach Goldbaum explicitly stated at the beginning.
Unfortunately, we do not see Wizkid at the beginning. As a matter of fact, Wizzy doesn't bother to show up at all. Wizkid's UK management (Disturbing London) promised that Noisey will be available to them for three days.
This never happened. All of Wizkid's managers (the UK, USA and Nigeria) couldn't locate where their star artiste was. This was probably a glimpse of how badly Wizkid runs his business.
Music video director Jassy Generation who doubles as Wizkid's videographer surprisingly almost linked the superstar with the Noisey crew. That also did not happen.
If Kendrick Lamar, Young Thug, Rick Ross could show up for their respective Noisey features, Wizkid has no excuse for not meeting the Noisey crew.
The Star Boy brand got a lot of bad rep in this feature. For instance, his Nigerian manager Sunday Are took the Noisey crew to Akoka to interview his unknown act White Man.
This was a clear example of being selfish. Nigerian music was meant to be projected to the world but Sunday Are decided to use this opportunity to blow up a nobody that has no presence in the music industry. Who is White Man? Nobody.
Yemi Alade, Tiwa Savage, Ice Prince, Burna Boy and Femi Kuti were also featured in the documentary. The ladies did a nice job.
Femi Kuti was the saving grace of this Noisey feature. As usual, he was articulate when he spoke about the problems of Nigeria and why the new crop of Nigerian acts do not release conscious music.
For Ice Prince to have been featured in this documentary, it shows that Noisey is three years behind current happenings in the music industry. Ice Prince is no longer one of the top 5 rappers in the country. Their contact person should have told them this.
Remarkably Noisey caught up with Ice Prince on the set of Reminisce's 'Feego' video shoot. For crying out loud, Reminisce is one of the top Nigerian rappers. Why wasn't he featured? Ice Prince's spot was disaapointing. The highlight was when he ignorantly said "we are descendants of Fela."
The absence of Olamide, Reminisce, Phyno and Falz dents the potency of the Noisey Lagos feature. Nigeria has way more hot rappers than Ice Prince.
The worst of the worst is Burna Boy. The self-proclaimed rebel had the opportunity to take this feature to a deeper level but fluffed the chance with his nonchalant attitude.
Zach Goldbaum was interviewing Burna Boy's grandfather Benson Idonije (respected Nigerian music historian). The elder statesman was talking about spirituality in music but Burna Boy shut down the conversation down rudely and told Goldbaum they should turn up. Burna Boy later abandoned Zach Goldbaum at the party of Omotola Jalade's son.
There is this wrong notion that Nigerians do not appreciate Burna Boy. His behaviour clearly displayed in this documentary shows that Burna Boy is the cause of his misfortunes. There is nothing wrong with stunting on quad bikes but proudly showing a lack of depth is sad.
Well, the Noisey feature wasn't totally bad. The disgusting term Afrobeats was substituted for Afropop. Kudos to them for not reinforcing this bastard term that originated in England.
The Afrikan Shrine's and Small London scenes were delightful to watch. The production was also top-notch. The crane shots were lovely. The Alaba scene and the Mo'Dogg interview also adds credibility to the documentary.
All in all, the Noisey feature tells us a few things, the world is fascinated with our sound and culture, our music industry is still ruled by people with selfish interests, Nigerian artists do not understand the power of the media, and only us can tell our story properly.
Shout out to Noisey for coming to Lagos though to feel the pulse of Nigerian music. Ultimately, they can't be blamed for any shortcomings. We played ourselves as usual.
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