Nigerian rappers in supremacy battle

On September 6, 2013 popular music blog
NotjustOk released a ‘10 Most Gifted Rappers
in Nigeria ‘ list which would spark off a chain of
events – the list cited Modenine at the very
top followed by Olamide, Phyno, M.I, Sinzu
(formerly known as Sauce Kid),
ShowDemCamp (SDC), Ice Prince, Vector,
Naeto C and Reminisce.
A number of rappers were not pleased with the
rap sheet and didn’t mind airing out their
thoughts – Terry tha Rapman who was
surprisingly excluded from the list, wrote on
Twitter, ‘I inspired most of the rappers on that
list, do the math ‘.
Jesse Jagz who was also missing from the list
voiced out his opinion, also faulting it ‘Just
’cause u own a blog doesn’t mean you know
anything about music.. Business and the art of
hiphop are two different things‘.
US returnee and freestyle king Godwon (one-
time winner of Eminem’s freestyle battle in
Houston) also questioned the list saying ‘So
there’s a top ten list and I’m not there? #
GTFOH’, adding ‘Banky is a better rapper than
at least 3 niggas on that list, this is not
controversial, its bullshit! ‘.
And more comments poured in from not just
Hip-Hop enthusiasts but just about everybody,
most of them faulting the list, giving an
opinion as to who should and not be included.
Others were upset with the ranking, expecting
their favourite rappers to closer to the top
spot.
WHY ALL THE DRAMA?
Hip-Hop music is likened to the sport of
boxing, there must always be one champ in the
ring, if you want a shot at the title, you’ll have
to fight for it; from time to time, an MC (what
a rapper is also called) comes from the nooks
to test the champ, he either wins, loses or in
rare cases pulls a draw.
The thing is Hip-Hop music in Nigeria has been
generally conceived as a less viable genre of
Nigerian music – in fact the, Hip-Hop music
falls in fifth place to more favourable genres
like Pop, Highlife, Fuji and RnB. Nevertheless,
Hip-Hop music or Rap music has played a vital
role in the Nigerian music industry in the last
14 years and even a bigger one right about
now as rappers battle for the top spot.
Similar to the Western region where the
culture/music was birthed, there seems to be
two states of Rap music where its apostles lie –
the underground and commercial state.
Nigerian fans have one time or the other
witnessed a clash of these sides; whether it
was Ruggedman going off on Eedris
Abdulkareem in 2003 or Freestyle and eLDee
da Don in 2007 or Modenine and Ruggedman
in 2008.
MODENINE REMAINS KING
For a long time, Modenine has been
considered an unmistakable legend of rap
music in Nigeria with quite a lot of instances
to proves him worthy of the throne – defeating
friend-turned-foe Ruggedman in a prolonged
‘beef’, playing down Sinzu and Ghetto P‘s jabs,
throwing former-rapper-turned-OPA K-Show
to the curb, surviving M.I ‘s intrusion into the
Hip-Hop game and throughout the period,
winning the ‘Lyricist on the Roll‘ award (six
times in a roll). There however has been no
hierarchy after Modenine’s position, making
the rap game an open battle field for the
others who are desperate to claim the nearest
top position.
THE ROYAL RUMBLE
So it seemed like NotjustOk’s rap sheet was
just the right elixir to spur every rapper and
their mama to claim their position. After Terry,
Jesse Jagz and Godwon’s outburst on Twitter,
eLDee’s Trybe Records protégé Rukus verbally
assaulted Naeto C, M.I, Vector and Ice Prince
then Godwon and Sinzu released multiple diss
songs at each other, dragging their baby
mamas and kids into the beef, Naeto C
released a subliminal at Rukus, Ice Prince spat
back on Twitter. Right before the list was
published, Vector and Yung6ix took claim to
the throne, individually stating they are the
best in Nigeria. Before now the scene had been
quite silent, with every rapper trying to score a
hit like Wizkid .
BEEF IS GOOD
It’s quite surprising that things have quickly
heated up in the Hip-Hop community in 2013,
following the poor run in 2012 where only
four Hip-Hop albums were released into the
market; surprisingly all indigenous albums –
Jhybo‘s ‘Be Naa Ni‘, Reminisce ‘s ‘Book of Rap
Stories ‘, Illbliss‘ ‘Oga Boss ‘ and Olamide‘s
‘YBNL‘.
Modenine and Jesse Jagz are the only two MCs
to have released albums so far in 2013 but
with upcoming releases from Ice Prince (Fire
of Zamani), M.I (Chairman), Reminisce (Alaga
Ibile ), Olamide (Take it Outside ), Yung6ix
(6ix O’Clock ), Terry tha Rapman, Phero and
Overdose ( BANS), 2Shotz ( B.O.S.S ), the last
quarter of the year will be explosive just like it
was in 2010 (over to 10 rap albums were
released then).
The recent controversy just serves as a perfect
platform to re-introduce the genre which is
steadily becoming more appealing to the
Nigerian listeners.