by Alexander O. Onukwue
Have another look at that video that showed 9ice’s making a response to the comments by Falz about “Living Things” and other songs with such “mo fe chache” lyrics.
What do you see? A defiant defender of his words, or a meek penitent admitting that his last act was actually a bit too minty?
Long before Falz became a sensation, there was the Adigun Baale that was Aboore Akande. In fact, there was that period between 2006 and 2009 when everything 9ice touched turned to gold. None had his kind of street credibility and there was no one who could produce a good photocopy of his good work. He was practically “credible, remarkable, unbeatable, palatable, reliable”.
So we are anything but slaying 9ice for his latest act which looks like a mishap.
The industry is obviously more competitive than it used to be 10 years ago and some new kids on the bloc have taken the crown long held by 9ice as the king of afro-fuji and pop. In the hope of a big comeback to reclaim the crown and win that Grammy he promised to bring back, 9ice has tried a few new things.
The song “Living Things” conforms to the fundamental criteria for a good song in Nigeria being that it is one that can be played by a club DJ. Non-Yoruba speakers would not have bothered to check what it meant, all that mattered was that it was a hit. Heck, someone recently told a lie that he had billions in his account, so what could go wrong here?
9ice would have expected some criticism, as it had not been the kind of songs he had been known for in the past – take your mind back to the 9ice of collabos with 2Shotz and Ruggedman. But, the knock from Falz would have come as a surprise and shock. As the video shows, he does not do a good job of defending himself or denying that he was twale-ing fraudulent guys.
