Wizkid Comments On Rap: Is Hip-hop Genre Really Dead In The Nigerian Music Industry

The perennial "Rap is dead" conversation has been a subject of arguments on social media in Nigeria's entertainment scene, especially on Twitter in recent months. Netizens have argued and debated on the genre. While some said it's not dead, some agreed that even though it's not dead, the genre is nose-diving into the abyss due to the "Afrobeat to world" agenda, which has overpowered the genre over the years.

In one of Wizkid's latest interviews with a British magazine called 10 Magazine, he made an ignorant comment where he said he doesn't listen to hip-hop or rap anymore because, according to him, the genre is boring and dead. In his words, "Afrobeats is the new pop. I sold two million copies in America off of one song! Even some American artists don't have a diamond record. If I'm being honest, I don't listen to any other genre of music anymore. I don't listen to rap - that sh*t is boring to me. It's dead now; it's tired. These guys do the same shit, rap on the same beats and the same flows."

These particular comments have since then caused arguments and reactions among hip-hop artists and fans. The Iconic Nigerian Hip-Hop Artist MI Abaga also showed his solidarity with other artists by mentioning names of rap artists doing excellently well in the music industry. He listed Falz, Vector, Ladipoe, Blaqbonez, and Erriga, among others.

The Jagaban Crooner and Nigerian Rapper and singer, YCEE didn't also hold back his grievance on the comments. He clapped back at Wizkid on Twitter for his statement. According to YCEE, Wizkid's comment about Nigerian rappers does not make any sense. Thereby highlighting the influence of rappers in making some songs hit. He referred to Mayorkun's viral hit "Geng" and Kizz Daniel's "Fuck You" challenge. The Indigenous ace rapper Ola Dips also didn't hesitate to drop a short rap video in response to the comments.



Hip-hop Genre: Boring, Dead Or Thriving Genre?

We cannot deny that Hip-hop isn't thriving like before. Nigerian hip-hop artists don't pack out venues as old; the stream platforms are low for them and high for the pop artists. This is because rap, like all other genres that exist, has undergone an evolution. Every genre is bound to experience it. Presently in Nigeria, rap has mixed with Afrobeats, R&B and Fuji. It has never, for once, died. It just evolved. A rapper only needs to understand that he must spice his rap with the Afrobeats genre to appeal to a broader audience: to find the perfect intersection between pop music and hip-hop because Afrobeats remain our cultural driver. Every bit of achievement and progress experienced by the Nigerian Music industry has always come from afrobeat.

Rap isn't dead. People who subscribe to that opinion do so to feel among, without due examination of its meaning and efficacy. Those kinds of opinions find their roots in people who are suffering from juvenoia and those who are opposed to genre evolution. To them, Rap only remained in its purest form when it was in its Boom-Bap phase, and the theme explored revolves only around violence, drugs, and sad things. One thing is constant - change, and all brands of music must evolve. Art forms don't stagnate. If art stagnates, it means people are dying.

Classical music evolved brilliantly into Jazz, and it's since become a myriad of so many different sounds, that you can hear Jazz influences in Wizkid's 'Anoti.' Rap has never died. Ignorant adopters of that rhetoric just need to accept that Trap, Mumble Rap and Sung-Rap are all different versions of Rap music. In essence, Rap is just rhythm and poetry, delivered in a sequence and a discernible flow scheme.



It doesn't matter if there is storytelling in its delivery, and It doesn't matter if it was delivered on a Pop, Street-Hop, Boom Bap, Trap or Soukous beat, Rap is Rap. Olamide is a rapper. Mohbad raps. Naira Marley is a rapper, Zlatan also raps, and Zoro is too. Even if the artists themselves say they are not doing rap, it doesn't matter. Rap is definite.

Ultimately, the hip-hop genre isn't dead, and it's not boring, although it lacks the platform to maintain the same level of international attention as Afrobeats, the sold-out shows, the numbers and all. Hip-Hop is much more alive, just refined into pop.