Who Currently Holds Nigeria’s Pop Music Reset Button?

The past 5 years, only Falz has dared the system to make a change, incorporating rap into the realm of comedy and movie making. Who will be next?

Popular culture or pop culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives attitudes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid-20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century.
Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of our society. The most common pop culture categories are: entertainment (movies, music, TV), sports, news (as in people/places in news), politics, fashion/clothes, technology, and slang.
Technology and the availability of internet has opened Nigeria’s society up fully and created a permeable barrier to Western ways. Pop culture has become a collective way of life with our music contributing its quota to the society. At this point in time, the Nigerian youth are being fed with consumerism and materialism from the music, and it has evoked behavioural patterns that were previously non-existent, or when present, were in negligible doses.
Popular culture is often viewed as being trivial and "dumbed down" in order to find consensual acceptance throughout the mainstream. Nigeria has that dumbing down effect in our music, with the high excessive amount of illiteracy finding its way into the studio, and shaping the creation process of the musicians. As a result, our music has come under heavy criticism from various non-mainstream sources (most notably religious groups, music purists and countercultural groups) which deem it superficial, consumerist, sensationalist, and/or corrupt.
Ever wondered why our artiste make ‘yansh’ and ‘money’ music? Or why radio and mainstream media is flooded with fast-tempo hit songs? The generality of Nigerians who the artistes make music for are not given to philosophy and the quest for knowledge. A song about ‘popping bottles on the weekend’, accompanied by a drum-heavy beat will most likely appeal to more folks, than one centered around ‘finding oneself and the banality of our existence’ .
In pop music, every 2 years or more, we see artistes challenge the established order of things, click on the reset button, and introduce a new element or style into the music. These people are regarded as the avant-garde, and they hold magical buttons to revolutionize the system.
2face Idibia combined romance with conscious music, Wande Coal showed how to make a classic album with his “Mushin 2 Mo’Hits” LP.
Psquare changed the music video scene with new imagery. Terry G injected nonsensical up-tempo influences, M.I Abaga redefined Hip-hop by bringing it down to pop acceptance while retaining the intelligence, Asa showed Nigeria that it had a Soul, the late Dagrin proved that indigenous rap had commercial value, and Falz has recently introduced multi-skill marketing.
While we scream about Wizkid, Davido and
Olamide, they are not a part of this elite group. Wizkid and Davido are benefitting from the good works of Wande Coal, and Olamide came after Dagrin did open up the public to his subgenre of Hip-hop.
The past 5 years, only Falz has dared the system to make a change, incorporating rap into the realm of comedy and movie making. Who will be next?
A new school of artistes have been unleashed into the music industry. Patoranking , Runtown , Lil Kesh, Reekado Banks, Sean Tizzle, Korede Bello and many others are currently pushing their way up the ladder, but they are all operating under the template created by their predecessors. Only one man has attempted to change that. His name is Kiss Daniel.
Kiss Daniel, signed to G-Worldwide Entertainment where his sound is finding success in reducing the tempo of mainstream music. He operates on a mid-tempo level, infusing jazz and multiple percussive influences into his beat. ‘Woju’ , ‘Laye’ , and ‘Good time’ , have churned out copycats, with MMMG’s buzzing man Tekno , recognizing the new movement in there. Also, a look through the works of several acts will provide people working with Kiss Daniel’s template for making hits.
What this means for our music is special. We have another future leader of pop culture redefining what it is, and influencing the direction of the music. Due to his fairly recent emergence, the jury is still out on his longevity, and that is wise. Many times we have had prospects show up, upset the system, and immediately fade into obscurity. These people give Nigeria false hope, thereby hardening our cynicism, the reset button on pop music equilibrium. Another pretender? Perhaps, maybe not. But fun to watch him do his thing.