The Guardian, Nigeria
Nigerians Get 'Constipating Dose' of American Hip-Hop

By Dr. Marie Steve

October 21, 2006

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It was a call to duty. Senate President Ken Nnamani promptly rose and led his entourage to the Music Festival to celebrate Nigeria's 46th Independence celebration organized by ThisDay . He had to be on hand to welcome our brothers and sisters from America. It was on this occasion that Beyonce brought Nigerians and many of our senators to tears when she sang the National Anthem in her resonant voice. The two-day music extravaganza featured African-American hip hop stars such as Jay Z, Missy Elliot, Ciara and Snoop Dog. It was a truly emotional "home-coming" for many of them. Why, Beyonce could pass for a Calabar princess, and Jay Z for an Ijebu man!

[Editor's Note: Calaba is a fabled 2,000 year old city on southern Nigeria that was once known to have beautiful princesses. Ijebu was a wealthy but short-lived kingdom in 15^th century Nigeria].

Nigerian artists were paraded beside their American siblings, and for many of them it was an overwhelming experience. They too did not disappoint the audience, although it can be tough to prove yourself when you have to compete with American artists in a borrowed American style. After all D'Banj can't be more American than Jay Z, nor Weird M.C. than Missy Elliot. I was born into pop culture myself, and I grew up enjoying pop music.  But still, it isn't quite right that it was this heavy diet of American hip hop that Nigerians were treated to at the Independence Day Musical Festival. Yes, there was a sprinkling of King Sunny Ade , and a simulation of Fela by his son Seun. But for a show that was designed to celebrate Nigeria, was this not a constipating overdose of American hip hop?

The Government officials that were ostentatiously flowing in and out of the venue didn't seem to think so. When have our senators and government officials ever trooped out in such great numbers to welcome a Nigerian who had done the country proud? I wonder how many of them sent so much as a greeting to Yerima , who just won the NLNG prize for Literature [A prize awarded by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited]. Yet our owambe senators put on their dancing shoes and poured out en masse to welcome the American hip hop royalty under the guise of an Independence Day celebration.

[Editor's Note: Owambe is a type of Nigerian music].

Perhaps the organizers of the event thought Beyonce and her American brothers might not have been thrilled to see a Bata dance from Ibadan, or the Swange [a dance] from Benue? Might it have been a trifle parochial? Nigeria's rich cultural dances were quietly locked away in some dusty cupboard lest the visitors would find them. We sometimes fail to recognize opportunities to contribute to global culture. The organizers missed a wonderful chance to bring the ancient and the new together in an amazing African renaissance. But that's no surprise. The imported and the foreign have always appealed to us more than the home-made and indigenous. Beyonce and her Missy Elliots may be great performers, but how does that celebrate Nigeria's Independence, and if Nigerians cannot show them the pride of their black heritage?

Our lawmakers have just endorsed these hip hop figures as role models for Nigerians, especially the young. I wonder how many of them ever saw Beyonce's semi-nude picture on the cover of Ebony? I doubt if any official would dare stand for a snapshot beside Anita Hogan [a nudey Nigerian actress], yet one of our governors and his wife proudly flanked Beyonce for a picture that made the front page of a Nigerian daily!

Pop stars may have excited millions of people, sometimes to dangerously hysterical levels, but they lack the power to transform the mind in any constructive way. The real stars are truly enduring people that can move civilization in a positive direction. Wild dancing, foul language, flimsy dressing and the "stars" that symbolize such behavior belong in the world of frolic, which fades and is soon forgotten.

What do these hip hop artists sing about? Lurid sex, murder, empty boastful words, ghetto violence, drug abuse, all conveyed in gestures which many of our own artists strenuously imitate. There is a distressing trend of companies considering it their social responsibility to bring these characters into the country as entertainment. This ends up projecting a borrowed hip hop culture while our own indigenous culture withers. There are too few companies promoting local Nigerian dance, which is just as in danger of extinction as the much talked of endangered animal species. Many Beyonces have come and gone, but some of our young people will never enjoy the long-enduring Atilogwu or Nkpokiti dances, because these have been swept under the carpet.

Next time we roll out the drums to celebrate Nigeria, let us be sincere enough to proudly show her glorious colors.

Dr. Steve lives in Lagos