Skibi’s Death, Olamide's Rape Song And 7 Other Times Nigerian Music Was At Its Absolute Worst

That time Olamide made a rape song

Olamide’s street god banner has shielded him from a lot backlash his outlandish statements and downright flare for controversy would have brought back on his brand. Mostly thanks to fans who justify his crass behaviour as part of his “Streets” brand. Sadly, this blind followership fails to make exemptions on certain yellow tape topics Olamide ought to be called out for should he cross the line. Notably with his 2014 song Story For The Gods a catchy Afropop number with a hook describing how a girl’s repeated refusal of sex advances falls on Olamide deaf ears as he proceeds to have a way with her anyway. Still a veritable club jam nonetheless, but against the backdrop of a country like Nigeria where issues of rape are taken with levity, Story For The Gods is cringe-worthy and invariably vile and disgusting.

Eedris got away with speaking in tongues

Eedris Abdul Kareem was one-third of 90s hip-hop collective known as Remedies alongside Tony Tetuila and Eddy Montana. The rapper was infamously one of the first to successfully put rap onto mainstream airwaves. But a look into the depths of his lyrics gleans an extended artistry of verses unapologetically spliced with of actual gibberish like a cele pastor. The rapper alternated between Yoruba, English, and Hausa, making it convenient for him to slip a chunk of gibberish into his interpolated language use.

The mess that was Tiwa Savage’s Wanted

Between the prior announcement that her video was going be the first rated 18 music video in Nigeria and the failure of the promised feminine sensuality to come together cohesively in execution, Tiwa Savage’s Wanted music video set her up for a giant blip in an otherwise fairly consistent catalog. Wanted was neither cross-fire sexy enough nor did it hold any actual weight in content. The video boosted Tiwa’s popularity points of course, but we doubt she will be getting any acclaim for a watery attempt at shattering industry stereotypes of women. You had just one job Tiwa!.

When Question Mark released an album of demos without Asa’s consent

Everyone knows Asa’s self-titled debut dropped in 2007 officially. But a few years earlier she had been signed to Question Mark entertainment where she recorded a couple of songs that never got a complete go-ahead for release. In 2012, the label and Asa came at loggerheads after the singer’s estranged management attempted to release the demo(s) she recorded under their camp. Asa did fire back at the label with legal threats, but not after both parties had washed their dirty linen in public.

Skibi’s death

We have seen some ridiculous PR related stunts in the past, but nothing beats the death of Skibi. Last year, news broke out in the early hours of the day that 5 Star Music signed artist, Skibi had died. Though he didn’t wait for three days to rise from the dead like Jesus, the incoherence of the accounts surrounding his death and return to life led to series of media criticism that may just haunt Skibi’s career for ever.

P-Square fight

The Okoye brothers are currently at it after a concert only Peter had been booked for was promoted as a P-Square show. But they have been going about tackling their internal problems publicly since 2013, what used to be a bond between the blood-related members of the African music powerhouse machinery has become an orgy of over bloated egos and petty bickering over money like teenagers.

Banky W hanging Skales out to dry after a failed attempt at making him Wizkid 2.0

According to reports, when Skales penned a signature to his contract with EME, it was intended that the Kaduna-Born rapper would be the rap counter coin to Wizkid’s singing to create a perfect synergy. But Skales repeatedly failed attempts at scoring a rap hit prompted Banky to re-direct Skales career towards a more singing-intensive style. For a while, the trick worked and Skales was finally able to stay in rotation with songs like Mukulu. But his transition from rapper to singer took too long and eventually label boss, Banky W kicked him off the label before reaching his full potential as a rapper or singer — even though the same person had creatively set him on the path.

Nude bodies and hacked accounts: A MoCheddah and Eldee love story

2011 was a great year for everything Nigeria music and following an enviable level of fame that culminated a MAMA awards performance alongside Rick Ross, singer MoCheddah was rising to super stardom at the right time. Until an allegedly leaked nude picture sent from a barely 21 MoCheeddah to a 35-year-old Eldee set the Nigerian twitter upside down. The two actively denied the picture, blaming it on a hacking activity on their accounts, but MoCheedah’s subsequent disappearance from the game until 2014 makes a curious note of what actually transpired. Clearly, Mo’ could either not stomach media backlash or she was running away from something, either way, we were all eternally scarred by what we saw.

Between Kiss Daniel’s official and professional age

Kiss Daniel’s infamous response to the question about his age on Ebuka hosted Rubbin’ Minds has become somewhat of a Nigerian pop culture anecdote for how a bulk of artists deny their real ages to get an extended lifetime of youth for their music careers. The stories have lingered in the press before, but with Kiss Daniel, we get a to see a clearer picture of how easy artists can unwisely deflate years off their career.