Suddenly! Suddenly! Suddenly!

The first time I heard Dbanj sing, I thought to myself “this guy hasn’t got a talent, what he has is style” and the first time I saw him perform on stage I also thought “he sure knows how to get the crowd screaming for more”. The first “9ice” song I heard was “pass me the rizzla” again I thought “who’s this razz guy and what message is he trying to pass?” Funny enough my opinion does not count because these guys and so many more are making it in the music industry.

Where is she going with this you may ask and I kinda wonder too but please fasten your seatbelt and follow me. The first time I heard “Suddenly”, I was indifferent about it, the track that got my attention on the “Entertainer” album was “U don make me fall in love” because I felt that however corny it sounded it had a message and while “Suddenly” talks about his rise to stardom and how all of a sudden chicks are flocking round him, I still did not “send” the track until I noticed that everyone in the office (especially Bella, who is one of my colleagues) was crazy about the track, then I started growing to like it. But when I saw the video I was disappointed, don’t get me wrong, the beginning was good but the “pool party” had me thinking “no way are my kids gonna watch tv when I’m not home”. I wondered when Nigerians’ value system deteriorated to that. Watching that kind of video on western television is …well, we are used to the Britneys, the Lil Kims and the Lady Gagas just to mention a few but our very own people doing that kinda stuff on both national and international tv got goose pimples on my skin. Ikechukwu was pulling a girl’s panty and putting money inside like she was at a strip bar and she was enjoying herself, Dbanj making lewd suggestions with his hand and everythin in the video reeking of sex and alcohol after all sex sells right?

Let's even talk about Tuface’ “Enter the Place”, “enter the place make we see whether u sef no go carry belle”. What exactly was he thinking? Is he telling me that he has no conscience after fathering three or four kids by three different women and making a mockery of it? I actually have better things to do than sit and count how many kids he has so excuse me if do not know the exact number of kids he has. Pardon me but I’m a traditionalist to some extent and while I believe that change is constant thing and we should be open to it, it does not mean that we should let go of our values that is if we have any left. It was not surprising when these particular songs were banned from playing on air and yours truly was among the happy few. I may not be all innocent and all but what are we teaching our kids? How to impregnate women without committing? How to be women readily available to men for the taking? (And you see our girls strutting their stuff without a care in the world in these videos that even debase feminity) How to depend on “yahoo runs” as a source of income? I did not even understand why Kelly Handsome’s “Maga don pay” was banned until my brother mentioned that it has “yahoo” undertones? Are we encouraging our kids to lose all form of innocence and values very early in life before they even get to their teens?

I miss the days of Onyeka Owenu, Christy Igbokwe, Chichi of Africa and the like just to mention a few. I miss the days of when we actually used to dance (you know the fun form of exercise where we actually move to the rhythm of the music) and not the “sex” we exude on the dance floor nowadays. Have you been to a children’s party recently? You see girls that are barely ten years old dancing like Shakira, all they know how to do is twist their waists like they see on tv. Whatever happened to “running man” it’s old school now isn’t it? And new school dance is called “rocking”, the kind we see in “enter the place”, “do me”. This is not to say that there aren’t modern musicians that pass a message with their music, Psquare still has it going for them, Dare too is good at what he does, Banky, Styl plus too and some others still manage to pass along a message be it love, hurt, or just good old dance.
What the hell is kokomycin? Dbanj has never really told us what “the koko” is now has he? But he has stage presence which is one thing Styl plus totally lacks, even tuface cannot pull as big a crowd as Dbanj. (And he sure is working on his abs! forgive me but between he and Ikechukwu who has a better body?) Now that’s what I’m talking about. Well you really can’t blame me after all, did I ask them to record their video shirtless?

It is not the fault of these musicians is it? I mean they are giving us want we want are they not? I mean here I am dissing some of their videos and on the other hand, admiring their taut bodies. Truly if we didn’t want it we would not be getting it, would we? We all play a part in our society’s moral decadence and I wonder, I just wonder what values our kids will grow into and I can’t help but be afraid. But maybe Sound city and other local stations should air those videos late at night when our kids won’t watch them or what do you think? I mean yours truly has to look at those abs and wish. Okay! Okay! Yes I know that for the purpose of this piece I’m not supposed to but ain’t no harm in admiring them even if their music lacks content. And in answer to my question, Ikechukwu’s body is hotter but Dbanj oozes sex appeal… before I digress further, I think I should stop right here.