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Nigerian Youths In The Era Of Bad Music -By Segun Ogunlade

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Alcohol. Nudity. Sex. Drugs. Money. All these are common themes of many of the contemporary music that many Nigerian youths listen to and place high premium on. It is no surprise. The society itself is fast losing its values and morality is now being trampled upon. Verily, music reflects the character of those that sing them and the society in which they are living. Music mirrors the soul the same way it mirrors the society. And when music reflects the society that is now losing its values and no longer corrects issues but escalates them, it is something that should be worried about. How a nation would be in the future depends largely on what the youths are feeding their minds on in the present, including music. If they’re negative thoughts and practices, the nation would only remains as it is in the present. Good progress cannot proceed from bad thoughts the same way listening to bad music corrupts the soul. When one sits down to ponder on the type of music that are being listened to now and the influence they have on people listening to them, one has to be worried, not just about the present but also the future.

In time past when something bad is trending, music is used as a corrective measure against it. At present, when something bad is trending music is used to further laud and give it an elevated status. Yet, many of these artistes claim to have been inspired by the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti who used music as a tool for activism and not promoting that which is bad. Such is the case of the advance fee fraud known as ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ which has defrauding people to enrich oneself at its centre. Musicians such as 9ice and Naira Marley that is currently being embattled by trials from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have openly supported this as a form of a legitimate source of getting money. Everywhere, some music stars are literally worshipped. People take everything they say seriously and when they support something, those that hold them in high esteem simply follow suit. An example of this could be seen in how fans have been rallying support for Naira Marley as his case with the EFCC continues. With the young man supporting advance fee fraud, it means he didn’t see it as bad and his followers now known as Marlians don’t believe any different. Only if the youths that have taken defrauding others as a profession know what big question mark they are putting on the nation’s financial integrity, then would they realise they are casting other youths that have embraced hard work in the bad light. Till date, many foreigners still hold the thought that every youth in Nigeria is a fraudsters and every leader a kleptomaniac for that’s what we oftentimes hit the headlines for. Yet, instead of our youth doing music to correct the notion that fraud is criminal, they’re simply passing it off as a job for the smartest. This is bad for the Nigerian youths many of whom now derive joy in making money the easy way. After all, if they no make money wetin den gain? Besides, labouring hard to make money rather than settling for fraud no epp anybody. Now, every youth wants to make money either through fair or foul means when the Good Books have decried that excessive love of money is at the root of evil. Whichever way you make your money these present days, ko kan aye (literally means it doesn’t concern anybody).

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Segun Ogunlade
Segun Ogunlade

Another issue that is worrisome is the role of women in music videos. These days the only thing they have not done is to go completely unclad in videos. Gone are the days when the most sensitive part of a woman are her dignity. These days they are openly exposed for all your see in the name of dancing. Perhaps they were oblivious that men don’t wear their underpants in music videos and often dress to cover their bodies. Yet, ladies are often dancing with only their pants on while over a half of their bosoms are also exposed. Worse still, they sometimes act as lesbians caressing each other lustfully. Nigerian women are no longer presented as virtuous in music videos. But such bad representation is a good way to make the video sell. Since the lyrics are bad, something has to make youths watch the video. But it’s a bad thing that ladies are now being used to promote music videos as they dance with condemnable pose.

Now, the way ladies dress in music videos are now being reflected in he way everyday ladies dress on the street. It is true that people can dress the way they like. It is also true that what a person wears as a cloth is not best way to determine the type of person the person is, either good or bad. Yet, the type of clothes one often wears somehow mirrors the person’s personality as dressing is a thing of the heart. Besides, one is often addressed as he or she is dressed. It’s not only a Nigerian thing. Many guys have been misjudged to be gangster because of the type of clothes they wear while many ladies have been described as having little self worth because of the way they dress. Though judging people by their dressing alone is not altogether logical, it doesn’t remove the fact that one’s choice of dressing oftentimes reveals the type of things one had been feeding one’s mind with. Many times people dress according to the people they admire. A person whose role model is Michelle Obama would hardly be seen dressing as Niniola or Tiwa Savage with half of their chests unnecessarily exposed. Neither would anyone whose role model is Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates be a hardly seen turning his hair to make it look like that of a Rastafarian as Olamide and Runtown are doing. Who we admire speaks so much about our personalities. Like minds always attract as in magnet. Nothing happens on the outside that has not been assessed first on the inside. Anybody watching Nigeria’s music videos abroad should not be encouraged to judge our girls as being wild because of their character in such videos. Musicians should strive to portray a good image of our women. Our youths should not be encouraged to dress indecently because of what they watch their music idols wear.

The discussion on how new trends of music is badly influencing the youths could not be overemphasized. Needless to say, secular music in Nigeria is no longer what it used to be as we know it. Music that had in time past being used as a tool of activism, inspired people to nit give up on their dreams and used as a direct attack on social vices is now being used to promote that which is bad. Male sexual organs have been given names from banana to cucumber, carrot, and cassava. Such vulgar words are now being used explicitly by many on the streets. Female body parts such as her breasts and buttocks are now objects of musical compositions. Premarital sex which experts even advised against is being clandestinely promoted through music. With this comes rising rate of heartbreaks among youths especially womenfolk who are now seen as objects of sex and all their problems revolves around money as Mayorkun puts it in his music. Alcohol and smoking now feature in music video as if they are what should be emulated despite warnings from health experts about their effects on the people taking them. As a good number of these musicians said they were inspired by Fela, one would have thought a good number of them would have taken off from where he stopped in 1997. But as the nation seems to be taken a downward spiral in everything so are the type of music that are now in town. Good thinking is obviously not being put into many of them. Good music can only proceed from a good heart. Good thinking would show in the activities of anybody that possesses it. If a musician can’t think very well, it would show in the quality of his or her music. And as an Instagrammer said not too long ago, “many Nigerian songs are suffering from severe acute nonsense syndrome.” This is very true. When you listen to some of these songs, their lyrics defy all forms of logic. For example, what is the correlation between mathematics and karate as sang by Tekno in Wash? Perhaps it is high time National Broadcasting Commission began to scrutinize the lyrics of many of these songs before being released for public consumption because majority of them are not promoting anything but corruption of the mind. And when the mind is corrupt what can the youth do but to have corrupt thoughts proceed from his mind? Music is supposed to help us grow not to make us worst of humans in a geometric progression. Value and good sense should be brought back to Nigerian music so that youths in this era of societal decay would not be worst than their predecessors and leave a better society for posterity. Music must be used to promote the general good and not laud despicable practices. Nigerian youths in this era of bad music should be wary of what they feed their minds on. One-way or the other, it would show in the way they live their lives.

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May God bless Nigeria.

Segun Ogunlade writes from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan. He is a final year student of the Department of Religious Studies. He could be reached via email at ogunlade02@gmail.com or his number +2348085851773.

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