NIGERIAN MUSIC: MY 21 YEARS AND ITS MANY GENERATIONS

The past 21 years have redefined what should be recognized as the typical Nigerian music. Before then, genres like fuji, juju, highlife, reggae were most popular with great artistes like Kollington Ayinla, Ayinde Barrister, Sir Shina Peters, Ras Kimono, Majek Fashek, Oliver de Coque, Bright Chimezie holding sway.

Afrobeat was a genre which had Fela Anikulapo-kuti as its main life line and it wasn’t until Abami Eda passed away that we started seeing the likes of Dede Mabiaku who was already an established and fantastic concert performer coming on TV alongside many other one-off artistes that sprang up in the late 90s, majority of whom tried to sound like Fela, but it didn’t work out for most of them simply because “ko le werk”.

Even Femi Kuti despite being Fela’s son was able to earn a unique identity which stood him out internationally and that was at the period when Nigeria was experiencing some kind of metamorphosis in our music industry.

Looking from 1995, while the likes of Femi Kuti and some few others were gradually getting noticed in Europe for staying glued to their African identity with the infusion of Pop/Hip-hop tones and sounds, Nigeria was struggling with our pop culture back home and we couldn’t even define properly what our hip-hop music should sound like.

Although we have had the likes of Junior and Pretty, Mike Okri, Blacky, Esse Agesse, Alex O, Alex Zitto etc. who bridged the gap between Highlife, Pop and Hip-hop, we still wanted more, thinking we should actually rap like Busta Rhymes. Then came my generation, the mid/late 90s generation, the generation of “say what, say what”! “Hey yo, DJ, track 2”! We claim to have introduced “real” hip-hop to Nigerian music and in all fairness and with due respect to those great guys whom we rocked some stages together then, especially around 1998 to 2001, they paved the way for today’s industry.

There’s a nostalgic feeling I get whenever I remember the likes of Ruff, Rugged & Raw, Def O’Clan from which Azadus emerged, the North based SWAT Root where we had great rappers like 6-foot-plus, X-Appeal made up of Jazzman and Lexy-Doo, then of course the Trybesmen and my brothers, Maintain to mention a few. Those days, nobody knew Nigerians could sound so good on R&B until we heard Plantashun Boiz “Knock me off” and “Don’t U Know”. Remedies made Yoruba language sweet to the ears with great hits like “Shakomo” and “Judile” and they were the first group to make it big in that era. They remained big even after the breakout of Tony Tetuila who went on to make his own equally big hits.

One problem however remained with us for a long time and this was the inability of most of our hip-hop artistes of that time to compose 100% original tunes of their own. Ghanaian music was getting recognized for identifying their own style which they called Hip-life but we just wanted a bit of everything, sometimes contradicting ourselves on if there should be anything called Afro hip-hop.

Most Nigerian artistes then rather depended on placing their songs on foreign beats especially popular American hits; they also thrived on writing indigenous lyrics using the tunes of these popular foreign superstars. It seemed the faster route to public acceptability or commercial success so almost everyone was guilty, except myself and my twinbrother (then known as Twinax) and few others. The group Maintain seemed the most criticized of all, perhaps because they failed to embrace originality even till mid 2000s when others were already doing outstanding productions out of self-belief and pressure from the media and of course as demanded by a more aware music audience who were quick to compare our standards with that of Ghana and South-Africa.  Thanks partly to the efforts of great music producers and record labels of that time, like the late OJB, Nelson Brown, Paul Dairo, Cobhams and so on, we gradually started to sound original.

One thing remained obvious though, our new found hip-hop industry had great potential and everyone could see that the future of Nigerian music depended on it, but the lack of originality in our music bred bigger challenges for our industry then, which included non-exportability; even the Nigerian media played more of American Hip-hop than Naija Hip-hop or Afro hip-hop for that matter.

Our videos were worse because, as much as we tried to match the foreign standard and pretended like we were “getting it” in our audio productions, there was no hiding place for visuals and we just couldn’t manage to get it right in terms of technical quality due to the level of skills and resources available those days. Compare Nigerian with South African and Ghanaian videos and we were way behind, but some things stood us out, we had the better talents, we were more flamboyant and we always had the biggest market.

So, even the South-African music station Channel-O had no choice but to find their way into our market by playing our musical videos, though they claimed to be very selective with our works which is partially true.

Fast forward to 2015/2016, and then look back again to 1995, you’ll realize those 21 years represent a period of total transformation of our music industry from the American wannabes to the leading light of the African industry. Thanks to the coming of media organizations that raised the standards especially MTV Base, not forgetting SoundCity, the first local music TV channels to refuse airing sub-standard music videos.

One tangible way of seeing how far we have come is through the quality of our musical videos which today rank among the best in Africa, so much that we now dominate continental music video awards. But within those 21 years, Nigerian artistes and video directors or producers have gone through thick and thin giving us some moments of excitement which I think deserve to be remembered for the impact they had in their various era.

The big bucks is here now, indigenous records labels now rent offices in Victoria Island and our artistes can afford to fly to any country in the world for suitable locations and casts. Almost everyone can rent a chopper or yacht and hire professional models for his music video, but are those props the main attraction for our videos?

In the era when we couldn’t afford all these luxuries, how did we keep Nigerians entertained through our videos? We shot on VHS, DV Cameras with just a few skilled personnel available, but we depended solely on CREATIVITY in order to compete.

Having experienced it all through the years, I decided to come up with a chart to pick out my top 21 videos of 1995-2016, putting into consideration that there existed many eras within those 21 years in view.

As a recording artiste who has competed in the same industry, some may want to doubt my objectivity or question my right to such an opinion which publicly criticizes the works of “my colleagues”, but that’s if you are not aware or ignore the fact that I’ve been privileged to experience the Nigerian entertainment industry both as a major player and as an observer who has spent the last 6-7 years of my career doing other businesses outside being a musician.

I may have been a stakeholder, we may have rubbed shoulders with the best in the business, but these recent years of focusing on my modest career in management consulting and living a quiet life as a family man have given me the opportunity to see things from the fans perspective and not as a competitor. The truth remains that I still qualify as a great fan of Nigerian music, I enjoy good music and I’ve got massive love for everyone and utmost respect especially for those artistes who have remained active and consistent all through those years.

While some have come and gone, it’s great achievement for the likes of Sound Sultan and Tu-face Idibia, who continue to wax stronger since the 90s, holding their own in a very competitive industry. The likes of P-Square, D’banj and the evergreen Don-Jazzy came afterwards and they’ve remained consistent as well. KC-Presh I remember won the maiden edition of Star Quest in 2002 and I think KC especially deserves some kudos for staying strong in the business.

Of course not without challenges of their own, these artistes are good examples of perseverance and persistence.

And the new school? I think the likes of Ruggedman, Mode-9, Eedris Abdulkareem should be proud of the next generation of rap artistes they were able to inspire, with MI, Ice-Prince and others currently leading the way. I hope Lord of Ajasa is also proud of Olamide, Lil-kesh and co. May Da-grin’s soul continue to rest in peace. I don’t speak Igbo but I imagine how Nigga Raw feels listening to Phyno, nothing but love I believe. Wizkid and Davido’s followership reminds me of the brief rivalry that existed between the fans of Faze and Tu-face shortly after the breakup of P-Boiz.

Interesting industry no doubt! Very fascinating and I’ve got fond memories too numerous to write about, but please go check out my chart in an article titled “My Top 21 Most Outstanding Naija Music Videos in 21 Years” (1995-2016).

I hope y’all will like it and agree with some, if not all of the views shared in it. 

A people, more than a gender. #BeBoldForChange #IWD2017

The write-up below was tiled "A people, not a gender", I published it on LinkedIn after the 2016 international Women's Day. Today 8th of March 2017 happens to be another celebration of women around the world and I'm posting the article once again to promote my views on some aspects of gender equality.  The theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2017, focuses on “ Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030 ”. Its also a campaign to encourage women to #BeBoldForChange. So I celebrate all the hardworking women in the world today and I hope my country Nigeria someday becomes a better place for all, irrespective of 

"A few of weeks ago, I read an article from an unidentified author which focused on his or her perceived disparities between the manner in which a girl child and a boy child are raised, suggesting that daughters enjoy better attention and training which contributes to why many of them attain financial independence quicker and consequently turn out to be breadwinners over their husbands. The article was written in preparation for the international women’s day and I quote a portion of it where the writer says;

"In too many homes, the wives are the bread winners. Too many women are paying the rent and picking bills that make a man the man. We do not need figures from the Office of Statistics because I know every woman in this country knows at least one family where the man is not truly the head. He is just a figure head... A son attends Babcock University in Nigeria or Imperial College in United Kingdom with a daughter but the daughter is trained to cook, pamper a man, be nice to in-laws and bring up children, all while she’s getting a degree. The son learns how to play basketball and wash a car. The daughter learns how to bake and how to make hair and do make-up. Girls with Masters Degrees see nothing wrong in going to learn dress making. Boys dust their CVs and write glowing stuff about themselves and send out thousands of job applications. After two or three years of fruitless search for non-existent jobs, don’t our boys start ‘processing visas’ to travel to even the most ridiculous places, countries with no pastures, least of all green ones? Meanwhile, the girls set up make-up studios, start ‘mixing cream’ making hats and dresses and everything that makes money. The boys wait for the big time to arrive in one day. It doesn’t, rarely does. So the girls begin to grow in age and in bank balance. Ripe for marriage but no man is plucking because they are still waiting. See why girls are marrying late? They acquire degrees and cars, some even properties while waiting for Mr. Right to come along. By the time he eventually comes along, the girl is already doing well in business, entrepreneurial skills honed. For a while, love covers the gap but men are not wired to be anything but the head".

Well said from a woman's perspective, but these are my thoughts. Raising our sons to earn soft skills has gone beyond the responsibility of the parents in this present day, while daughters who acquire such skills don't do so as a result of any special attention from the mother or father. The survival instinct of every individual determines how he or she reacts to his lacks and wants. By giving credit to the women folk for a perceived faster pace to financial security, I think the writer of that article has failed to pay attention to the other side of the coin. Firstly, from time immemorial, petty trading has been a thing of the women while handwork had been more synonymous to men, but when you find women or girls taking to handwork, you see majority of them going for those with the petty trading traits like bead making, make-up artistry, cake baking etc. (Though they're all big industries now). But talking about the boys; do I really think they all want to wear ties and tout CVs around? NO. Has the writer checked the rate at which the number of young boys increases in fields like web designing, graphic artistry, video production, photography etc.? They simply do their own thing the masculine way and that's why they learn and offer skills that do not limit them to the patronage of individuals only but also the patronage of organizations, trying to “package” themselves for corporate acceptability.

Media and Entertainment for example is a major industry across the world and our boys are not left behind. 70% of Nigerian young men born after 1974 is involved as a singer, rapper, actor, model, DJ, musical instrumentalist or so, if he's neither of those, then he's probably equipped with audiovisual skills either in studio engineering/production or movies/music video production. Go to Alaba market and you'll be marveled at the number of graduates you find there selling CDs and DVDs. Go to Jibowu or Mokola, the two major printing hubs in Lagos and Ibadan, 90% of people working there are boys in their 20s, 30s and 40s, they help us fix our complementary cards, invitation cards, school books etc. The question to our government, CEOs and uncles at the top is... How conducive is our environment for these young entrepreneurs? Boyz are hustling but are d uncles patronizing them? Is the government supporting SMEs? If the female child was the one getting more attention or training from the mother, how come we have thousands of our girls getting introduced to “aristo” every day? How come we have more cases of girls traveling abroad for prostitution every day? How come we have more female house helps than the male ones? For every yahoo boy, there's a yahoo girl partner!

The increase in number of homes where the woman is the breadwinner for me is a pointer to the fact that women are now stepping up their game, working hard to earn something unlike the days when girl education was seen by parents as a waste of money, thus producing loads of illiterate full housewives who end up as their husband's property and responsibility with no right to decision making except those of what to cook and when to get pregnant. Women now need to be successful just as a man should; after all it is not written in any book that a woman's career or financial destiny should be tied to her husband's. Domestic crisis emanating as a result of the woman being richer are more of personality issues from both couple. An abusive man rich or poor will remain abusive while a saucy woman employed or jobless will equally remain rude.

My submission is this; the youths in Nigeria have the same problems, irrespective of their gender. Girls getting financially established faster than the boys, then turning out to be bread winners over their husbands is totally not an indication of how untrained the boys are or how better trained the girls are in alternative skills. We cannot say absolutely that while our girls in the absence of white collar jobs quickly embrace alternative means of income, the boys don't have various other trades or skills they learn to make ends meet too. The boys have no catching up to do with the girls, but rather our country need to catch up with other great nations. I just heard this morning that power supply is worse in Bangladesh than in Nigeria! So, how come there are many "made in Bangladesh" products in our market? It shows that some countries in worse situations than Nigeria even manage to be productive while we depend forever on crude oil! Looking at the International Women’s Day 2016 campaign theme #PledgeForParity we need to rise above gender disparity, tribal and religious differences and think about how we can have a Nigeria which is better managed in terms of economy and infrastructural development. Then we may begin to witness the consequences of a better Nigeria in all our micro-economic lives.

Trust me, for every Lynda Cakes, there is Musa Graphics, for every Omolola Makeovers, there is Emeka photos, for every Fatima the bead maker, I'm sure you'll find DJ Frankie the beat maker. But, if truly the girls "make it" faster than the boys, then we all should ask ourselves why it is so?"

Written by

Taiwo 'tywo' Akintoye 

Project Management - Brand & Business Development

                 2016   @TywoAkintoye 

Project Management: Certification or Education?

When I decided to venture into project management some years ago, the first step I took was to register for a training program and it turned out to be one of the best career decisions I ever made. This training opened my eyes to a profession which by the virtue of its importance should be as prominent as economics and Information Technology in the development of any nation.

But how was the knowledge of project management being sold to Nigerians? I observed that, beyond the very common 35-hour PMP trainings offered by many consulting firms across the country, no training service offers real Project Management education where the students are taught the skills of a project manager through workshops, case studies and so on, except a program by the Project Management College UK., a three month course called Advanced Diploma in Project Management delivered then at their Lekki-Lagos study center.

The Advance Diploma by PM College UK which cost about four hundred thousand naira (N400,000) in 2010, I thought was VERY expensive by Nigerian standards, but I later realized, after getting exposed to the world of project management training internationally how fair the pricing was, especially after attending further trainings in the USA myself. The truth is, Project management education is not cheap, except you’re satisfied with attending fast track PMP or PRINCE-2 certification exam preparation trainings which offer nothing except “exam prep” without any guarantee of exam success.

I got curious, how do we bring affordable Project Management education to Nigerians? PM education focuses on proficiency, it offers you the skills required to manage projects successfully, it takes time, you can’t rush it like the exam prep, you need facilities, templates and course materials to learn with, not just by studying the PMBoK or cramming the PRINCE-2 manual, you need practicing project managers as facilitators to help create the scenario expected in a project management office (PMO) for the students to gain richly. Then my brainstorm began.

Why is Project management skill still so important to me? I had a critical look at my environment. Unemployment has been a major problem in Nigeria; in fact, statistics from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) showed that an average of 1.8million youths has been graduated into the Nigerian labour market as at the year 2011. According to the chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Employment Programme (Sure-P) under the previous administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, not fewer than 40 million people were unemployed in Nigeria as at 2013. These were very alarming figures!

The National Bureau of Statistics shows that unemployment rate in Nigeria had increased to 23.90% in 2011 from 14.60% in 2006, with figures forecasted to have risen to 24.30% by December 2012 and above that by December 2013. Despite a notable change in the political system after the 2015 general elections which promised economic transformation, youth unemployment rate has continued to rise with statistics showing a 24% rise as at July 2016.

The Honorary International Investors Council (HIIC) linked the growing unemployment rate to the rising number of poor skilled workforce in the country, so, it is somehow right to believe that the employment problem in Nigeria is not entirely because there are no job opportunities, but lack of skills to fill the available positions. Then, why don’t we as a nation pay more attention to empowering our youths with skills rather than the exaggerated degree certificates from our tertiary institutions where we consistently produce poorly skilled and unemployable graduates?

I observed as well, that the entrepreneurial attitude of an average Nigerian graduate is very poor; most only consider it an alternative means of living after failing to secure regular paid employment. This is quite unfortunate in a world where many countries like China depend on the growth of SMEs for the development of their nation’s economy; with obvious results there for us all to see.

The reasonable solution would be for the government to improve on its synergy with the various industries in order to build basic education geared towards enhancing the capacity of our workforce for the industrialisation of our economy. We need to develop more job creators than job seekers, more entrepreneurs than employees. There are jobs in Nigeria, available for those who can create them, but they need to be educated on how to identify opportunities and above all how to acquire skills to start-up and manage their ventures.

Professional certifications are good too, but how many certified project management professionals are actually skilled without practical experience? I’ve seen people study vary hard to pass professional examinations mainly for the purpose of seeking new opportunities either in form of new jobs or promotion in their current jobs, but most of the time they lack requisite competence to back up their application. It turns out that these certifications are fast becoming as exaggerated as some of our university degrees and we need to start looking in the direction of proficiency.

Here in Nigeria, we run a capitalist economy, where all means of production like land, labour and capital is freely owned by individuals or organizations and they are at the liberty of using it whichever way they chose to. There also exists economic freedom where individuals or organizations are free to produce what they want and consumers are also free to consume as they want, a system which directly affects demand and supply and also allows people to do whatever kind of job they prefer or invest in any business they so wish. Fortunately for us, our huge population favours local consumption which consequently encourages the profit motive which exists in a capitalist economy like ours. This means entrepreneurs have a big chance of avoiding major loss provided we can manage the dynamics of our business terrain and the competition which is common in this system.

Like Business Development, Economics and Information Technology, Project Management is one of such vital skills which I have always believed can be very valuable to entrepreneurs, but the first hurdle is to address its own challenge which is to “bring affordable Project Management education to Nigerians”. Life itself is a project and we need to begin to see all our endeavors as individual projects which require skills to manage properly. However, in the context of economic development and youth empowerment, we should consider a kind of project management education which stimulates entrepreneurship in the hearts of our youths, thus, making them more of job creators than job seekers.

TYWO: Think Your Way Out: The FANTASTIC FOUR: We all need these

TYWO: Think Your Way Out: The FANTASTIC FOUR: We all need these: The reason God has created us in the first place is for us to come to the world to do exploits, primarily to glorify his name and secondly ...

WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN

The reason God has created us in the first place is for us to come to the world to do exploits, primarily to glorify his name and secondly to be successful while fulfilling our purpose in life, and yes, every man has a purpose peculiarly designed for him or her and all the tools we require to fulfill our purpose in life have been given to us according to the bearing of that purpose. However, we experience challenges in the course of our journeys and we sometimes find ourselves going out of the will of God for us, consequences of which is always bad. Our ability to hold on when such challenges come, coupled with our tactics at successfully steering our turbulent ships will determine if we can say at the end that we’ve run a good race.

Common among the struggles of most human beings is having secured finance and having life fulfillment. While finance or money is a straight forward desire, fulfillment can be relative, as in, what we crave to be fulfilled in life varies with each individual. Some just want to be married and have children, some want to rise to the pinnacle of their career while some just want to be happy living with their loved ones. The bible says “…seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mathew 6: 33), yet all these things don’t come so freely for children of God. Why is this so? It is because the world has been designed such that we have to work for whatever we earn (Genesis 3: 19). Usually as a good Christian, you’re expected to live within some principles of holiness and decency and you want to avoid engaging in sins that may damage your destiny. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people do various unholy things to succeed, but the word of God consistently comes to our own minds that we “should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6: 14) and it takes perseverance to stick with the lord when those hard times come.

There are many environmental factors which affect our individual lives. In a bad economy for example, you’re naturally lured to corruption. As Christians however, the choice is ours if we want to bow to those pressures or uphold our dignity. Coming up with this write up, I looked at the current economic recession in Nigeria and I asked myself what we can do to sustain ourselves financially, not only as Christians but as Nigerians in general. Most finance experts will readily tell you about the importance of saving, investing, living within your means, avoiding luxury and so on. But there are some more generic measures we can also apply and I came up with some of these God-given and self-developed attributes which can be very useful for us both in good times and tough times. To apply these ideas either as proactive or reactive measures, we only needed to have developed ourselves in certain ways like education, information or skills that can make us productive one way the other and also help us to cushion our normal efforts. We also need to be constantly guided by the Holy Spirit in order to avoid being desperate.

1.       JOB: It is important to have a job whether in the form of a service rendered, trade, business or paid employment. The first or most elementary step towards financial help as recommended in many books is usually to have a job. Even the bible says “faith without works is dead” (James 2: 26), so there’s little anyone can achieve without having at least one source of income. When we listen to life coaches or read motivational books, we’re usually told that if you ever want to have a career working for somebody, you’re better off building your career along a field you find naturally interesting to you and that is the only way you can find your job enjoyable. Yes, that is common sense advice, but in these tough times which will not last forever, one can be smart to also apply temporary survival measures by taking any job. This isn’t suggesting you should take a derogatory job, but “menial” jobs sometimes simply means it’s a boring job or you’re over-qualified for it, so you may not enjoy it. Don’t worry, it just might be a stepping stone to your dream job and trust me, tough times don’t last forever.

2.       TALENT: A man’s gift maketh room for him and bringeth him before great men (Proverbs 18: 16) not his education or connection. It is definitely not a bad idea to keep two jobs but if you have a talent or a creative gift that can fetch you some revenue then it’s better to explore the opportunities around it. For example, I see a lot of Nigerian youth with passion for football and they’re so informed in their analysis of football matches, some may end up as footballers while some don’t have enough talent to make it on the pitch, but there are other ways. How about taking an evening job as a football coach in a private primary or secondary school where your tactical knowledge of the game can be put to use with school children at an amateur level? How about joining a music band as a backup singer? This is something that would not tamper with your regular 9-5 job or education. You’ve always been the funniest babe in your class and till date you remain the most humorous in your place of work, whenever there’s a need to speak to the management, your colleagues always prefer that you represent them. How about taking MC jobs at events on weekends? Or, have you thought about art enthusiasts in your church who might be interested in buying your paintings. You’re losing extra bucks. Think about it!

3.       HELPER: If you have always been a lone ranger in business, this is the time to rejig your style, reach out and dabble into businesses that involves partnership thus reducing the magnitude of risk you bear on your own. I mean there are too many economic uncertainties in Nigeria now, starting a new business or sustaining your existing business is in bigger difficulty than ever and you need strategies to reduce the financial risk especially when you have the mindset that you need to protect your investment. This is about networking and building bridges, so it’s that season when we need to spread out, come up with sellable ideas and shop carefully for ambitious groups or individuals to collaborate with. This helper may come in form of a partner or an investor but they have one thing in common which is the fact that they are interested in what gains are there if they collaborate with you. So, besides selling a good idea, you also need to have initiatives that are profitable and can add value to people’s lives, that way, your idea will be worth the risk your helper bears and you may yourself have just become someone’s helper through that simple idea of yours.

4.       GIVING: “You reap what you sow” is a general principle which covers both Christians and unbelievers; it is influenced by fate and can be categorized under something called the “law of karma”. It is commonly said that “givers never lack”, that is absolutely true, but the concept of giving to receive is not within our control, you cannot sow today and expect or influence your possibility to reap today, you can’t force it, it takes processes to germinate and bear fruits. So, the best we can do is playing that primary role of being givers, water our seeds with a good heart and attitude, then leave the rest to God. However, if you’ve been a cheerful giver all your life, then I doubt if you will ever suffer in these hard times, in fact, you might be in the category of people who claim they’ve not experienced any recession in their homes and that’s simply because God favours you and before you go broke, something happens which bails you out and puts food on your table. For the rich, this is another major tool which makes them richer, maybe not deliberately, but when you’re well-to-do especially in Africa, you’re naturally surrounded by people in need and you feel obliged to assist. Money though is not the only substance you can sow. A doctor who treats for free or the teacher who takes extra classes with that dull pupil are both fantastic givers, trust me, they will never lack anything good.

Finally, to survive hardship, everyone needs at least one of these tools mentioned above, if you have only two, your chances are higher, if you possess three, then it’s a wow situation for you, while I believe if you possess all the four, then you can never be a poor person no matter the severity of the economic recession. Above all, we must learn to manage our resources very well. Like the three servants who were given talents to trade with (Mathew 25: 14-30). Let us show our master how much we appreciate him for giving us the gift of life, by treating “life” itself as the first major resource input to being productive. Let us impress our master with our efforts, so that he can make us “ruler over many things”.