M.I Reacts To J. Cole’s Performance, Asks Nigerian Rappers To Fix Up

American rapper, J. Cole delivered a special performance at the recently held Castle Lite-organized Lagos concert which saw a crowd of Nigerians, cheer him and rap along to his rendition. This has sparked a conversation about the rap culture in Nigeria and M.I Abaga joined in the talk.

For most part of 2017, M.I Abaga was having a public conversation about the dying hip-hop culture in Nigeria. The conversation started after he released a controversial song titled ‘Fix Up Your Life.’ On the song, he called out Nigerian rappers, urging them to do more to raise the standard of the genre.

Nigerian rappers of all stature reacted to this call in different ways, Phyno, Vector, N6, Dremo are among those who reacted. The popular opinion was that rap music is not exactly marketable in Nigeria and it is difficult, especially for the rappers, not to commercialize their craft.

Interestingly, a certain @HEAD_MASTA revisited the topic after seeing the impressive reaction of Nigerians to J. Cole’s music. He put out a tweet that read;

This is J.Cole performing a rap song and Nigerians are singing along word for word.

Nigerian rappers (turned singers) should quit the ‘Nigerians don’t appreciate rap’ talk they always use as an excuse to switch genre.

Work on your craft bruh. pic.twitter.com/U45SUuQeUp

— Taofeek Oseni (@HEAD_MASTA) 28 April 2018

Not surprisingly, M.I Abaga reacted to the tweet, stating that the audience at the event only form a small fraction of the Nigerian music consumer base. In his tweet he stated that ‘Nigerian artists can not rely on these lot to feed us.’

This is also a video of Nigerian aristocracy and privilege. Unfortunately Nigerian artists can not rely on these lot to feed us.. #irony https://t.co/IDATCoxuH7

— Yung denzL (@MI_Abaga) 28 April 2018

In a followup tweet, he left a point of note for rappers that even with the tough market condition, the quality of rap music in circulation needs to be improved on.