That Nigerian music has come of age is not in contention anymore. And 2015 was a consolidation on the efforts of the musicians. JOE AGBRO JR., OVWE MEDEME and DUPE AYINLA OLASUNKAMI capture some highlights of the year
2Face Idibia ‘Election No Be War’ Campaigned becomes tool
TUFACE Idibia can be rightly said be part of creators of the modern Nigerian music. However, the artiste made use of his voice in 2015, to encourage youths not to be used as tools for violence was Tuface Idibia, with the flag-off of his ‘Vote not fight Election no be war” campaign, geared towards a violence free electoral.
The timely initiative was officially unveiled at a press conference held in Lagos on the September 30, 2014.
The campaign was put together by the 2face Foundation in partnership with Young Stars Foundation, National Democratic Institute (NDI), and other partner organisations.
The voter education campaign was aimed at promoting peaceful participation by Nigerian youth in the 2015 elections. The campaign seeks to encourage youth to make a commitment to shun violence and embrace peace.
Known for his uniqueness the legendary singer also made headline with his Fortyfied concert; celebration of a living legend, to mark his 40th birthday while also highlighting his achievements thus far, with the launch of a book.
The event attracted top notch personalities and colleagues from around the globe.
Adekunle Gold
ADEKUNLE Gold whose real name is Adekunle Kosoko has continued on a success path following his breakthrough into the Nigerian music scene with Sade 2014. Signed under YBNL Records, Adekunle followed up with Orente and early December, he released his third single,Pick Up, an inspirational song asking God to answer his desires.
His exploits enabled him to clinch the ‘Revelation of the Year in Africa’ award at the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA 2015. Unknown to some people, Adekunle is also a graphic designer and designed the YBNL logo. As an artiste however, he enjoys regular airplay on radio and performs regularly at shows
Small Doctor
SMALL Doctor comes raw, direct and full in your face. Known by his moniker, ‘Akeweje Oganla’, his peculiar style of music which blends fast tempo beats with street lingo and slangs has made him popular. And it is this street credibility that ensured the Mosquito crooner got a 2015 Headies nomination in the ‘Best Street Hop’ category, his first major nomination for an award. He however, will be battling for the title with Olamide (Bobo), Reminisce (Skilashi), Falz (Ello Bae) as well as as Masterkraft’s Indomie which features Olamide, CDQ and Davido.
Olamide
Olamide
FOR Olamide whose real name is Olamide Adedeji, 2015 has been bountiful. The artiste who records his songs in Yoruba with a high dose of street slangs continued endearing himself to a growing global fanbase. His effort was rewarded with the award of ‘Best Male Artiste in West Africa’ at the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA 2015. MTV Base also named Olamide at the Hottest Nigerian artiste 2015.
In November, he dropped his fifth album Eyan Mayweather. The founder of burgeoning music label, YBNL, also got seven nominations the highest for any artiste at the 2015 TooXclusive Awards. And in December, Google also recognised Olamide’s videos of Bobo, FalilaKetan, MeloMelo and Lagos Boys in its YouTube Rewind of 2015 which reviews videos that shaped the world in 2015.
Yemi Alade
Yemi Alade
SHE might not have found her Johnny, but musician Yemi Alade is blazing trails in the industry. She clinched the Best Female Artist in Western Africa at the All Africa Music Awards in November. Earlier in July, the 26-year old songstress got Best Female Artiste in Africa at the 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards, MAMA. In 2014, she released her first album, Kings of Queen which have garnered some awards.
D’banj
AFTER a brief hiatus from active music scene, Dapo Oyebanjo, more popularly known as Kokomaster D’Banj, released a visula EP titled ‘An Epic Journey’ to mark his 10 years of being an entertainer. In July, he won the Legendary Award at MTV Africa Music Awards, MAMA 2015.Confidential, one of the tracks on the album, features Hollywood actor, Idris Elba and rapper, Shadow Boxer.
D’banj who was appointed as Agriculture Ambassador by the Nigerian government last year also became the Brand Ambassador of Slot, and he received a brand new Porsche for that. After a spending seven years with Mo’Hits records with Don Jazzy, D’banj signed to Kanye West’s Good Music record label.Also, after a two-year break, D’banj is also set to revive his Koko Concert, taking the show to five Nigerian cities between December 5 and December 29.
The maiden edition of Koko Concert took place in 2010 in the United Kingdom while the subsequent year’s concert was held in Nigeria. The 2012 concert saw D’banj bring to Nigeria G.O.O.D Music acts Big Sean, Pusha T as well as Tinie Tempah and Idris Elba.
Supreme Mavin Dynasty
Arguably the most successful music group in Nigeria, the Supreme Mavin Dynasty led by Don Jazzy continued to be impressive. Though SMD’s first lady Tiwa Savage put to bed a baby boy and wasn’t so much active, it wasn’t the case for the rest of the crew.
The family – Don Jazzy, Tiwa Savage, Dr Sid, D’Prince, Di’Ja, Reekado Banks and Korede Bello came out with a single, Jantamantafollowing the mould of Dorobucci and Adaobi.
In August, Don Jazzy and Reekado Banks won the City People Entertainment Awards respectively for ‘Special Recognition’ and ‘Most Promising Act of the year (Male)’ categories while Mavin Records got the Record Label of the Year Award. Reekado Banks and Korede Bello’s videos have garnered over 1.2million and one million views respectively on Youtube. Tiwa Savage and Reekado Banks were also nominated for the 2016 KORA All-Africa Music Awards in the Best Female (West Africa), Most Promising Male Artiste of Africa categories respectively while Mavin’s Adaobi was nominated for Best Collaboration.
On their individual capacities, Don Jazzy became a Johnnie Walker Ambassador while Korede Bello was practically everywhere as his hit single, GodWin, trended on virtually every platform. GodWin won ‘The Song of the Year’ award at the 4th Annual Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards (GIAMA). Bello who is back in school for his HND even performed at President Muhammadu Buhari’s inauguration.
Reekado Banks, famed for his singles ‘Chop Am’ and ‘Katapot’ also did a foreign collaboration with one of Jay Z’s artistes.
Wizkid and Davido end rift
They are contemporaries yet the music industry has cast a sort of rivalry between Wizkid and Davido. This has made the young musicians to be pitted against each other to determine whose music is better, who is richer, who has the most awards and who has more fans.
Though this rivalry may be good for business, those expecting a collaboration had waited a while. The fans however, got their wish as Wizkid and Davido stunned industry watchers when they both performed at the grand finale of the Remy Martin club tour which held at Ocean View, Victoria Island, Lagos early December.
Though their new albums are due to be released in 2016, fans enjoyed the sight of Wizkid and Davido on the same stage at the same time before 2015 wound out.
ONE campaign
ONE Campaign, inspired by an advocacy organization ONE, made headline in the year 2015, with its focus on using prominent singers globally to preach against the impact of poverty on gender equality.
The campaign had seven prominent African singers -Victoria Kimani from Kenya, South African Judith Sephuma, Waje from Nigeria, Vanessa Mdee from Tanzania, Arielle T from Gabon, Gabriela from Mozambique and Selomor Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe – recorded the song ‘Strong Girl’ to address the gender inequality that they believe goes hand-in-hand with poverty. They sang their hearts out in the song.
The song is inspired by a recently released report by ONE, an advocacy organisation that aims to fight extreme poverty and preventable diseases particularly in Africa titled Poverty is Sexist: Why girls and women must be at the heart of the fight to end extreme poverty.
Lead singer of legendary Irish band U2 and founder of One Campaign, Bono, also paid a visit to Nigeria; Bono who is the front runner of One Campaign’s philanthropic movement to alleviate poverty in Africa got to meet with some of Nigerian celebrities like Cobhams Asuquo, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Waje and D’banj.
‘Strong Girl’ was produced by award winning music producer Cobhams Asuquo.
