With artistes’ rates moving from five to seven figures in
recent years, it is indeed safe to say that the Nigerian Music Industry
is growing.
This growth might not necessarily stem from the depth of lyrics as we
have seen many Nigerian artistes move from deep, emotive lyrics like
“Sweet Mother” to repetitive lyrics like “Pop pop pop Champagne” or
“Take Banana till you go yo” which has an amazing record breaking 16
repeats intro to the song.
It is hard to ignore the fact that music today has moved from pretty
simple lyrics to words that do not exist in the oxford dictionary talk
more of Google.com. How do you explain the meaning of iyanaya’s “na na
na na na na….your waist” or Flavour’s “Porokoto pokoro pakoroba”?
What has changed in the Nigerian Music scene? Is it the psych/choice
of the listening audience or the mentality of the musicians? Or could we
attribute it to the age difference?
With the type of lyrics that are being put out today by Nigerian
artists, it would be pretty hard for an artist who sang “If I could
runaway, I’d run with you faraway” to compete with someone who spills
“Kukere I get money o” on the dance floor.
My years of experience in the Nigerian music industry as an onlooker,
songwriter, bathroom singer and a beat maker, has given me an insight
as to what sells in Nigeria. Trust me when I say I have cracked that
code as to how you can become a successful Nigerian artiste just by
releasing one single! Here are the 10 proven steps you must follow
religiously to become a successful artiste in Nigeria!
1. Mugu Master 101
You might be asking yourself “Wait a minute is this guy telling me to
lick boots” Well Yes! If you must also know, lick the sole and laces of
your boss’s boots along. The reason I tagged this as Mugu Master 101 is
because, if you can’t
2. Use this music formula (beat, lyrics and tune)
Iyanya had to drop his “baby they don’t know how I feel about you”
lyrics for “All my ladies… nze nze” after he had the privilege to listen
to this advice you are reading at no cost.
The kind of beat you should use must be fast-paced; you will find it
in Davido’s “Omo Baba Olowo” and in many of “Terry G’s songs”.
I’m assuming you are an average singer with no music experience, so I
will advise you to stay away from P-Square’s beats if you don’t have
the right tunes and sensible lyrics to back it up.
Worried about your lyrics making sense? That shouldn’t be a problem
because it doesn’t matter as long as you’re able to form whatever words
that pops up in your head even if it is “bla blab la bla”…that’s another
form of expressing yourself. .
Ok, let’s do a simple practice on how to make up the perfect
“meaningless” lyrics. Look at a chick (if you are a guy), what would you
like to tell her? (You dey do me strong thing?) nah! Banky W has done
that.
Think about something you love (food, blackberry) or something
Nigerian (Koboko). It will be silly to sing something like “Your love
dey sweet me like Koboko” are you for real? Koboko dey sweet for body?
Sing in tangent with the beat even of it means distorting the lyrics like “E dey pain me like Kobokoko kobokoko kobokoko”
For the tune, look for a famous foreign tune and morph it into yours.
Remove the Doh-reh-mis and add your own. A Brick&Lace “Love is
Wicked” beats can be morphed into many songs.
Imagine this was formed using the “Love is wicked beats”:
E just pain like Kobokoko
Yagayaga zagazaga
Day wey you pass for Amukoko
You and your friend on Okada…
Now doesn’t that sound just like it?
3. Keep in shape
This is already self-explanatory. You can’t be looking like Rick Ross
and expecting your female fans to appreciate you. In order to be able
to throw off your shirt at any given time, you will need to have the
right 6packs (Please no hungry packs) but the right packs like Iyanya,
Dipp and D’banj. Now if you a female artiste, then you need to shed off
those unwanted fats around your stomach and reserve it for your hips and
bust because this is what Nigerian men love and you need it for your
photo and video shoots.
4. Show some skin
Now Nigerians love daring performances (You can trace this back to
Fela’s days)). In order to have an engaging concert, you must be willing
to show some chest on stage like D’banj and throw your shirt into the
crowd like Iyanya.
A Disclaimer: Please do not attempt this if you do not have a six
packs and your body is only suitable for a Michelin advertisement. (This
is not a sub for special ed)
For the ladies, a little baring of the laps hurts no one. You can
contact Tiwa Savage and Emmy Nyra for a few tips on how to bare it all
and still look classy.
5. Hit the headlines (Controversy)
Denrele once said “Good publicity is good publicity. Bad publicity is good publicity. No publicity is bad publicity”.
Being in the news is key! Do whatever it takes to hit the headlines!
You got to be kidding me if you need suggestions on how to achieve this.
Ok, I’ll give you a few. Have several baby mamas, have several tattoos
or date two popular celebrities, start a twitter fight by dissing
another celeb or release a terrible song, breakup with your music label
or have a groupie take a photo of you in bed while you pretend to be
asleep.
Please follow these suggestions at your own risk because I do not endorse bad behavior.
6. Form a dance step
I’m serious about this. Let’s follow the trend of people who have
their own dance steps. They get popular. Nigerians are always looking
for new dance steps. Marvelous Benji did the “Suo”. Daddy Showkey
brought us the “Galala”, and Iyanya introduced the “Kukere”. Ghana’s
Azonto is still trending and we have found people like Wizkid doing
their own version. 9ice had his own signature dance step. So did Tuface.
MayD has this very unique dance step that looks like Azonto on both
feet. P-Square remixed the Azonto step by giving us a hybrid version
which they titled “Alingo”. You should come up with your own step if you
are creative enough.
7. Get a slogan
You think Tonto Dike was dumb when she thought of #Poko?
We have seen artistes carve a niche for themselves with slangs that
they use. Iyanya gave us “Your waist”, Durella would “Zanga” this, Dbanj
is the custodian of “Kokolet, Labata and Lebete” while Tuface never
fails to remind us that “Nothin dey happen”.
You can use something like “Jati-jati”. Just a suggestion though.
8. Pally with bloggers
You see yourself? After all the yanga and the blasting that you do on
Twitter, you will still come back and beg the bloggers to publish and
promote your songs for free. Bloggers can make or kill your songs o.
don’t try us. Oh. I didn’t mention that I am a blogger too. Look for my
Twitter handle @segunsd.
9. Collabo with the right people
Nobody knows you and you want to collabo (record a duet) with an
unknown artiste. Are you a learner? It is important to know your genre
of music and feature the right people. For example imagine collaboration
between Bez and Terry G? Or DBanj and Asa? Trying to imagine it gives
me a migraine.
If you are an Afro-pop artiste like Tuface, consider doing something
with a Waje, Tiwa Savage (for the voice) or an MI, Ice Prince (for the
rap) or a D’Prince, Wande, Wizkid (for the style).
10. Stick to the elders (OAPs, Social Media publicists, events managers)
Your best friends and allies should be the On-Air-personalities,
Social Media peeps, Events Managers and Music Producers. Consult these
ogas at the top before you record. Ask the OAPs “What kind of songs do
you callers like to listen to?”
Ask the bloggers “What kinds of songs get the most hits”. “How do I create hype for my song or get Eko Hotel to host my event?
Ask Clarence Peters “What kind of videos do people prefer to watch”.
I’m not trying to tell you to follow the crowd; I’m trying to provide
you with the necessary guidelines to create your own strategy.
Disclaimer: You shouldn’t really take these points
seriously although it wouldn’t hurt you to make use of some the points
listed above. See you at the top of your music career.
To learn more about our music career advise, send an email to
pr@naijaloaded.com.
Source:- Naijaloaded.com.ng.
act as a JJC in this industry, then trust me you
are going nowhere! When I say act as a mugu, I mean be humble and
gentle, act like you know no one, you have nothing and your voice is
“just there” be willing to put aside your ego and listen to what the big
boss (Coughs Don Jazzy) says. Even if it takes you two to four years to
complete the Mugu 101 course, do so. Trust me this makes for a good
“Humble Beginning” story so that when you finally sing “Fly” as Tuface
did to announce his successful graduation from Kennis Music, people
would be drawn to you. Wizkid, Dbanj and 9ice did it, so you also can do
it.
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