I have been meaning to correct a few misrepresentations and misinterpretations. This I am doing with all sense of responsibility and humility and it’s not intended to discredit anyone.
“Street ti take over punchline o ja’wo mo”. One of the reasons why I started paying serious attention to Olamide is because of his metaphors and punchlines.
There are probably more punchlines and Metaphors in any of Olamide’s song than you will find with most western rap tracks or Nigerian rappers who speaks orthodox English. That you rap in your local dialect does not mean you are not a punchline rapper. CDQ is, Olamide is. “I’m from the project and I got fame kini mo fe lo se ni Project Fame” from Olamide’s introductory track Eni Duro is a punchline. I can’t say much about Phyno because I don’t speak Ibo. Emma Ugolee please help me here?
Punchline by definition according to Wikipedia is “the final part of a joke, comedy sketch, profound statement, or story unusually the word, sentence or exchange of sentences which is intended to be funny, or to provoke laughter or thought from listener(s).
Talking about the streets, rap itself is street music. It’s not and has never been music for the elite class. Some of the biggest names in rap today started from the streets. 50 Cent for example was born poor in South Jamaica, New York City and sold drugs on the streets of Queens in New York. It’s not everywhere in New York that looks like what we see in TV. Eminem, Jay Z and Snoop Dogg were all born poor.
People who have travelled around the world will tell you that Nigeria may not even qualify when you talk about real street hassle. Places with serious gang-banging, drugs, guns and poverty. Places where gangs kill their friends for survival.
@localrappers that you rap in your indigenous language does not mean you are a local rapper. Every local cat can become international depending on geographical location, except of course this is meant in another context.
That you speak big grammar does not qualify you as international. No matter how big you are, you are local where you come from: so Jay Z, Lil’ Wayne and Nikki Minaj are local rappers in America and Olamide, Mode 9, Vector, Ill Bliss, Reminisce and Phyno are local rappers in Nigeria. Check the dictionary meaning of “local”.
The fact is local is great, so great that one of the world’s biggest bank-HSBC claims to be the world’s “LOCAL” bank! Being “LOCAL” for HSBC means they bring more to the table for any one consumer/customer anywhere in the world than any other bank. For HSBC and any other great forward-thinking brand, being local is a key element in championing the cause or meeting the need of their constituency.
