Olamide and Lil Kesh
are brothers, bound by the streets, with a shared love for music, and
living it up. They come from the same community in Bariga, where life is
organic, and the most basic drive is a need for survival. These are the
streets, a place of stories, heroes and boogeymen, who obey a different
rule, with survival as the main objective.
It
is this ‘survival’ work ethic and the hood mentality that created the
music that has grown their artistry. They have told tales of happiness,
sadness and triumph. Where the full scope of the human conditions and
wisdom from the streets have guided their art. You could feel the pulse
of their trials and battles in the songs that they release, taste the
joys of being alive in the party jams, and learn a thing or two from
their realness, and insistence on keeping things ‘street’.
Instagram/Baddosneh
But
the hood can’t make all your dreams come through. ‘Street ti take over’
is a nuanced statement that doesn’t entirely hold true. You can start
from the hood, build records from its influence, generate momentum on
the back of that support. But to advance in life, you have to leave the
hood. The big firms aren’t in the hood. The biggest checks don’t hang on
the streets. And even the paying concerts, they aren’t street-oriented
in Lagos.
Leaving the hood means you lose
most of its influence in your life. As an artist, when you take time
away from the source of the inspiration, you begin to lose it. Out of
sight is out of mind. And that’s why there’s a huge influence of
different genres on Olamide’s current music. Compare that project to
‘Street OT’ album and you could find a huge different in composition and
structure.
Where we had ‘Awon goons mi’
and ‘Story for the Gods’ displaying street wisdom, Olamide’s recent
single was titled ‘Wavy Level’. A song about women, the fast life and
living it up.
But this year, the singer
might have gotten a little reminder that while it feels nice to ride the
wave and float in the waters of a trendy movement, there’s still
originality and the intensity of the streets that’s intrinsically
African. Small Doctor has become a hood hero with his ‘Penalty’ smash
hit which has made him a mainstream artist at the moment. The record is a
huge force, pushing through boundaries.
“I told Olamide during a recent concert to not leave the streets,” an A-list star who asked not to be named in this article told me. “I told him to go back and make music for them, that’s how he dropped this new song and it has entered.”
Olamide’s new song ‘Wo!!' Was produced by Young John,
and it contains elements from the street. Delivered in Yoruba, with an
intensity which drives listeners to dance, it is one of the huge records
disturbing the peace already. Street is still in fashion, and any
mainstream act who can deliver on that is almost sure of a hit. Young
John appeared to have plateaued with the coming of the ‘Pon pon’ sound,
but ‘WIo!!’ is still proof that he possesses a chemistry with Olamide,
which can still do damage. The video has already been shot, in the
streets of course.
And let’s not take
away the fact that Olamide marketed the song with a dance competition
which gifted N3 million to the people with the best dance videos. It’s a
tactic that also contributed to the growth of the record, and pushed it
through social media. Already fans are tipping it to knock off Small
Doctor’s ‘Penalty’ as the prominent street record of the year.
Olamide on set for the video shoot of new single 'Wo!!"(Instagram/Baddosneh)
The
lesson here is simple. No matter how far you go, you can always come
back home. The best part of the street is that it will always accept you
no matter what. You can travel far and wide, achieve the impossible,
become the greatest star on the planet, but as long as you touch base
with the source, there’s always something good around the corner.
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