Did D’banj read Oliver Twist or someone told him the story?

I heard when NBC banned Dbanj’s song. I was asking myself if it was a ban or a gimmick or for real. Then I saw it in the newspapers and I was thinking to myself ‘I know these people are retards, but are they this retarded? In writing this, I really do not care whether it meets you well or not. I do not care if your hero is bashed. I just want to talk and I am almost sure you will not read this through to the end.
I will begin by saying that I have heard the song. Halfway through this work, I will stop and hear the song yet again. I do this because I want to capture my exact emotions before and after. First thing is that I am not sold out to any of these performers. I listen to some songs and I actually like some. That is not the issue here. Majority of the songs are the same beat with varied idiotic rants.
The issue is that some people are pretending that they have just woken up to the permissive society we have created for ourselves and the generations following us. We often claim that the youths of today are slaves of Facebook and Twitter, Brazilian hair and Blackberry Messenger. What we are not saying is that the teenagers in our homes have no way of affording these things we abhor. We are the ones financing them. And we turn around and cry when they fail SSCE. NBC has always been there and they have often come out to ban songs. It is not a Nigerian phenomenon. I recall the songs of American band 2LiveCrew. Some of their songs were banned in the USA. I recall also Paul Hardcastle whose song about Vietnam War was banned because of these lines,

‘In America, the average age of a combat soldier was 26, in Vietnam it was 19.’

In Nigeria, I recall that Zulezoo’s song ‘Kerewa’ was banned for being too suggestive even when the song condemned adultery in the lines, ‘two people wey God join together, na adultery na im put dem asunder’.

I hear now that 2Shot had a song banned once because of the use of ‘alomo’. Now I have not heard the song. ‘Alomo’ is the name of an alcoholic drink but you can be sure that some twist must have been introduced to the song that would have added to the meaning of the expression and attracted the attention of NBC. That brings us to the first of the issues for discussion.

ISSUE #1: LYRICS:
Many of the singers we hear have a way of creating innuendos. Of all the genres I know, fuji singers are the most mischievous. Virtually everything has an underlying meaning very different from the surface and very obscene. References to oranges (breasts), pestle (penis), mortar (vagina), Bakassi (buttocks), cowbell (breasts), konga (vagina)… the list is endless. When Dbanj showed up on the scene, he introduced ‘koko’ and ‘kokolet(s)’. When the heat built up, he said ‘kokolet’ means beautiful women. I remember reading a piece where he said ‘kokolet meant a beautiful woman like his mother. I cannot vouch that the reporter was quoting him right. If he said that, then it is really unfortunate. Anyone who has been at his show knows that the mannerism that accompanies his mention of ‘koko’ leaves nothing to imagination. He signals to his groin, holding the microphone up like an erect phallus, working his waist forward and backward. This he does as he asks the audience, ‘do you want the koko?’ And the yelling girls go dizzy from replying ‘we want the koko’.

His claim of koko being anything other than the male sex organ is merely a way to get out of the logjam. ‘Koko’ clearly means his penis.
While we were dealing with that, Dagrin (RIP) appeared on the scene and introduced the lines in Yoruba that could be transcribed like this,

‘My Daddy has gone to Lokoja/ will you come play with me/ on the bed or on the rug/ or we could spread a mat,’

and followed with a refrain

‘my mummy is not home, daddy is not home, I am alone at home, come and receive KONDO/ come and see commando’.

The song spread fast. No one was in doubt what he was saying. Even children understood. Then the heat built up and people wanted to know what this meant. On Teju Babyface’s show, Dagrin was asked what KONDO meant; he really had nothing intelligent to say. We do not speak disrespectfully of the dead in Nigeria. But the only people who benefited from the young man’s misfortune when he had the fatal road crash were his colleagues who made collaborations in his honour. Then they began to dedicate every unfortunate contraption they sang to his memory. They just made money. I worry differently for him. I worry about when he stands before God, will he sing Him that song?
But all these really amounted to intros when a new crop of musicians appeared on the scene. We thought we had seen the height of nonsense. Very wrong. A new generation of singers were on the way.

One of them is the pastor’s son called Terry Gee. He has completely re-defined the world of obscenity. In one song, the number of times he mentions ‘obo’ (which is the Yoruba word for vagina) is countless. He has disciples of course. There are other names popular for their use of mind-blowing vulgarity. Damoshe (RIP) at that time and Lil Kesh at this moment. One of the songs from Damochee goes,

‘meji l’onyan, okan l’oko’ (breasts are two, penis is one). An ingenious use of pun which otherwise would mean, ‘you selected two but you took away one’.

Now hear this. Kids sing these songs in front of their helpless parents. This is the musical society we have spawned for ourselves. I am told that the girls love these songs more. There is no point wondering why rape takes the pride of place among these youths? Another singer that takes me to the next issue is the one called St Janet.

ISSUE # 2: PATRONAGE
The songs, when they are released, prey a lot on the curiosity of the listening public. Everything is done to create hype in order to attract attention. When St. Janet debuted, she grabbed attention by distorting age-old Christian songs and rhythms, attaching new lewd meanings to them all. For instance, the Christians sing, ‘O ko mi yo,’ to mean,’ God rescued me’ was twisted it to mean, ‘my penis was exposed/came to view’. Yoruba speakers will better understand the magnitude of damage she does to the psyche of Christian minors as well as the deep-seated disgust genuine Christians feel. Most Christian leaders have wisely ignored her. She has patronage of course. I hear that she was accused of singing bad songs and she responded that people who condemn her listen to the songs. This is true but this still does not justify her. I have sat with colleagues as they enjoyed listening to her. Beyond that, I have had a different thought in my mind. Notice that much of her creative energy is directed at Christian songs. This will not make the Muslim listener feel threatened or insulted. I am wondering. What if those songs were patterned after popular Islamic songs and rhythms. Ha! Okay, you get the picture. I doubt if she would not be hiding for her life by now.

ISSUE #3

Radio stations in Nigeria play disgusting songs. I am listening to some now on radio and the presenter is yelling out ‘club mix, club mix’. I am wondering, why is he playing them on public radio with minors listening? Many of the videos we see on TV are hopeless. I particularly wonder about the women and all their noise about ‘dignity of the woman’. There appears nothing wrong in the case of musicals where women are more than half-naked and dancing with over-dressed male artistes. You do not see the idiocy in this until you imagine a female artiste singing fully dressed with boys wearing only pants dancing for her. When is this going to happen? Why do we do sex-dance for kids with all the shaking of buttocks and the suggestive actions? General Obasanjo once invited Awillo Lagunba to a state event with girls who danced like the devil was their father. I wondered why they would be called to do those dance steps and sing words we do not understand. At a state sponsored event! Then we also hosted Brenda Fassie. We love her no doubt. Her popular song, which she brought us, we did not understand. Interpreted, it meant ‘leave me alone to live my life. The life she spoke about resulted in her sniffing cocaine that they suspected had been tampered with. She died of brain damage.

Hear what the artiste Ruggedman is reported to have said in The Vanguard (Friday, September 2, 2011). ‘The truth is that the person that banned this song will hear this song till he is sick of it. He will hear it at almost every party he goes to. He will hear it from the cars that will drive past him. He will hum the melody even in his sleep. He’ll probably record his own version of the Oliver Twist video sef. Lol. He is doing his job, so let us allow him to exercise his power. It’s allowed. God bless him and his hustle. No long thing.’

Now, how you react to this tells you how deranged you are. Ruggedman tells you it does not matter what you think. He cares nothing about the family values you are trying to protect and enthrone in your home. Do this, replace the person who banned this song with the names of your kids and see what he is telling you. Whatever you like, do. I hear Dbanj says, ‘they don’t hawk garri but people buy it’. I cannot vouch for the authenticity. He may not have said it but it sure captures what they care about you and your wife and your effort to protect your children. Beyond Oliver Twist, they do not care if they twist your life or those of your children.

ISSUE # 3: REACTIONS
Of course, Nigerians have opinions. One of the opinions is what you are reading. That is if you have not become angry and gone off to something more attractive. We have a way of citing other examples of stink when the one we enjoy is squashed. People ask ‘what about this person, what about that person?’ One Adio Idowu commented on the Vanguard article.

He said, ‘Is it only this song d@t ‘ny@sh’ is mentioned, y r we m@king issue of this fu**, w@t e we going 2 s@y of terry g nd@ll oder @rtiste song. 4 me NBC is losing it’.

This is exactly how he typed it. Now, we will forget his horrid language and focus on his message. He is saying, if we cannot do anything about all of them, we should let them be. I would have bought this but I did not grow up in the gutter.

One Samuel Otu said, ‘what did you tink of this banned?’

Now, who was asking why they do not pass English at SSCE?

One Ogoliegbune says, ‘To be honest, I have heard that song a million times and don’t see any reason it should be banned. Joblessness.’

But Zlurene has a different response from Ogoliegbune. Says, ‘Thank God some of our leaders have enough presence of mind to recognize the level of decadence in our entertainment industry. Let other sectors take a cue.’

The question I ask you is, who would you let into your house to interact with your kids, Ogoliegbune or Zlurene?

One Opeyemi Ahmed is more dismissive. Says, ‘My people to candid with you what dbanj has done is rubbish. He can’t sing a good song.’

This is just one forum and people would like to defend their blocs and constituencies. However, these comments are useful because they give insights to the thought and sensibilities of the people who listen to the songs. You might now wonder. What did he actually say in that song that is causing the furore?

The newspaper reporter who wrote the article in The Vanguard (Adekunle Aliyu) says, ‘The video musical by Dbanj made mention of Omotola Jolade’s buttocks in his new song ‘I like Omotola, her y*nsh is bigger’. Of course Omotola’s fans expect her, if Dbanj was really talking about her, to fire back at him. If she does, it would only be Season 3 and certainly not the finale. Well, let us not forget that Dbanj worked for PDP during the election. Jonathan called him a youth ambassador. Jonathan also called South West leaders in ACN ‘rascals’. His mentor, the General Olusegun Obasanjo (former military Head of State and former Executive President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander of all Armed and Unarmed forces; as well as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ruling PDP and holder of a Diploma, or is it a degree, in Theology from NOUN) called the General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (Former Military President and former Commander in Chief of Armed and Unarmed Forces and the man who helped get OBJ out of prison, dusted him up and installed him President) a fool at 70. So why should it surprise anyone if Dbanj was talking about Omotola’s butts?

Your reaction is yours and you can write a rejoinder to this. But only bear in mind that there is more at stake than music. The damage done by the song ‘Yahooze’ by Olu Maintain is still felt by travellers who encounter foreigners who see the song as institutionalizing ‘Advance Fee Fraud’. This is not helped by the song “Maga don pay, shout halleluyah’ by Kelly Handsone. And then Orezi crowned it with “Won ti sanwo” (They have paid), all the songs celebrating rewards from fraud.

It got bad among the ones who understood the damage they were doing and Cobhams and some others had to come up with a song to counter it. They released ‘Maga No Need Pay’ when Kennis Music-sponsored Kelly Handsome came up with “Maga don pay, shout halleluyah’. Was it also not Kennis Music that sponsored ‘Yahooze’? The fact that NBC kept mute over these damaging songs is why some people feel there is bias. NBC banned ‘Konga’ by Konga but did nothing about Dbanj’s where he blatantly says,

‘every night she’s sucking me, every night she’s fucking me … koko yato si koko’.

Some people will say that is not what he said but we know what we hear. Akon had a song in two versions. One is played only in clubs with adults and the other is for open play. In the former, he says,

‘I wanna love you love you, you already know.’

In the club version, he sings,

‘ I wanna Bleep you, Bleep you, you already know’.

In Nigeria, we play the club version for kids. The question I want to ask is, must the dementia of a few persons be allowed to hold children to ransom?

Let’s leave all that and come closer to today’s music. Lil Kesh does not see what is wrong with vulgar lyrics. When his song ‘gbese’ was banned, he had this to say, according to http://pronaijamusic.com/index.php/2015/09/18/lil-kesh-explains-why-he-embraces-vulgar-lyrics-in-his-music-2/

“I don’t see anything vulgar in ‘Gbese’ but I appreciate the ban after the song had blown, I could remember they banned ‘Shoki’ also when even JSS 2 students had it on their phones so their ban doesn’t make any difference but more controversy and putting my name out there again so no wahala”.

Now, if that was not vulgar, how about his song “Ladi” which means to ‘suck vagina’?

Here are part of the lyric, the part by Lil Kesh.

[Lil Kesh Verse]
Emi Keshi ehnn baba shoki ehnn
kima ladi, kima Jedi ehnn kima mudi ehn.. wah wah
Emi Keshi ehnn baba shoki ehnn
kima ladi, kima Jedi ehnn kima mudi ehn.. Kima ehn ehn
Iranu abasha iranu abasha iranu abasha iranu abasha
iranu abasha iranu abasha iranu abasha iranu abasha
Na ija lyrics zone dot com
Olurun… jeje mi jeje mi mo joko si’ta
mo bari omo kan to’n pe ni kemi
nigba ti mo ri idi kemi Mo pariwo ahhh!
Mo ni Kemi wa se o ma femi.. ehh
She say kesh so you want to sample me [Sample me]
Are you sure that you can handle me [handle me]
Skibo, wait are you kidding me?
So you mean you want to ri idi mi
O gbe idi soke mo de fa poran jade
Nigba to mo ko fun owa ki mi kare
She say this your thing it is big o jawe
Ejo mi ko, oluwa lo da mi lare
Leyin to je banana nana
Me i now want yash her yash her
She say lick my pulet pulet i say kai abasha basha

If you don’t speak Yoruba, please do not ask anyone to interpret these words for you. You will hurt yourself.

The more saddening part is that Phyno and Olamide are part of that song, consenting and contributing. Hear again how Lil Kesh defends his song,

“They are singles not an album, I know the kind of market am directing my songs to, am from the streets, I know what the people from the street want to listen to. A normal conductor on the street can be vulgar for 24hours so to catch his attention you need to study the kind of life he lives. Whichever way, all that is going to change before people tag me vulgar they should wait for my album that is expected to drop towards the end of the year. I have very positive songs.

Now, how about that?

Now you get the message. Some of the songs your children sing and internalize are not meant for them. They are songs that add nothing to them but wears down the wall o resistance against immorality. They ‘unteach’ the things you would have loved them to learn and which you may have put in so much to teach and uphold. Many parents have been shocked to their bones to see the kind of dance their young daughters did at their birthday parties. We hanve had man and wife look at each other, their eyes asking the same question, “when did this happen?” and feeling quite betrayed by whoever had the more charge over the girl.

ISSUE # 5:
THE YORUBA-SPEAKING SOCIETY AND THESE SONGS
What I will say here may offend you but if it is true, hit the roof alone and come back down. When I say the Yoruba-speaking community, I do not mean Yoruba people strictly. I mean everyone who speaks and revels in the beauty and wealth of the language irrespective of where they are from. The Hausa have mature songs but their societies are not permissive enough to allow these songs to openly thrive and threaten the sanity of their children. Calabar people are said to be promiscuous. We hardly know songs that propagate this, except of course those ethnic contraptions by KC Presh. I do not think anyone has found them significant enough to bother to translate them. The Edo are culture-bound and God help you if you sing obscenities in Edo, Ishan, or Urhobo. The Igbo society loves songs. But when I spend vacations there I am amazed that songs like ‘Yori Yori’ and ‘Ada Owerri’ do not get anything you could really call airplay. Even Phyno is popular with club-goers and is not getting the Olamide reception. The mind set there is culture and religion bound. Even M. C Logh’s jazzed up version of Osadebey’s ‘Osondi Owendi’ is offensive for some. So what goes on air? More of traditional music and gospel music in English and Igbo as well as classics. I still hear Mary McKee, Don Williams, K C and the Sunshine Band, Manhattans, Abba, Smokey, Majek Fashek and Bongos Ikwue. I am not saying they do not play new songs or hip-hip. I am saying they do not come anywhere near ruling the airwaves.
Here in the South West, I commend their love for their own traditional genres: juju, apala, fuji, senwele, etc. But the airwaves belong to the younger artistes. I also find that of all Nigerian languages, Yoruba is the easiest to fuse with hip-hop, makossa and reggae. Zaki and Darey Art Alade have done songs in Hausa with varying levels of success. This is very difficult to accomplish in Igbo which flows more naturally with highlife. And of all the Nigerian societies, there is none more inundated with this scourge of lewd music than the Yoruba speaking areas. Skin me if you want but that is what I have found. The question I ask is this. Why do we sit back and allow this to happen? Why do we then get mad when someone steps up to clean the mess? For Lagos governor, Raji Fashola said, ‘don’t display pornography on the street of Lagos’. He did not say don’t buy, acquire, borrow or watch. Is it too hard for us to say, listen to whatever you want but don’t bring into the open ANYTHING, ANYTHING, ANYTHING, ANYTHING that has the potential or suggestiveness to compromise the innocence of the younger generation. Is it too hard?
ISSUE # 4: IS THIS A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE?
Some would ask, ‘is this about Christianity?’. I will answer no. There is gospel music as a genre and there is Christian music. If you didn’t know, now you know. This is not judgemental; it is only based on the expectation of the Christian community of the people they allow to minister to them. Let me say it again. The Christian community allows for anyone that wants to sing Gospel to do so. Beyonce, Elvis Prestley, Kenny Rogers, Boney M, Whitney Houston, Dolly Patton and so many others have recorded Christmas albums. They have a right to do so. But they are not doing the Christians any favour that the latter would ever acknowledge. They may not even play the songs. Why so? Because the Christian community expects some more from people THEY ALLOW TO MINISTER TO THEM. This is why they appear to judge musicians. Every time someone rises, and Christians support him, the integrity of Christianity is at stake and Christians see it as their responsibility to support the singer (who is also a minister) and help him/her to live what he/she sings. This is the reason artistes like Kenny St Brown, Bouqui, (and who was that who sang Lele), Tunde and Wunmi Obey, Yinka Ayefele, Oritz Wiliki, Jeremiah Gyan, Beenie Man etc are considered singers in the Gospel genre but are hardly invited to sing in Christian concerts (except of course the ones organized by their churches). They will be in Kennis Music Easter Jam but will not be in a Gospel Revival or Crusade. Now forget that thing Kennis Music does at the Beach at Easter. That is also why Kenny St Brown finds her audience in Clubs as her videos would show.

Let me ask. Korede Bello’s song, “Na Godwin” is currently rocking the airwaves. But is it gospel? Yes as a genre but no as Christian music. It has more appeal in the clubs and bars than in praise worship in church. Compare it’s impact on the Christian community with Midnight Crew’s “Igwe” and tell me what you think.

Ask yourself which names come to mind when you plan a Christian concert. Here are a few: Midnight Crew, Infinity, Buchi, Eben (who many of us do not know), and Lara George. In the Christmas of 2010, Cool FM’s Praise Jams featured Ron Kenoly. Now they are asking people to call in and say who they want. If I called in, I would ask for Ray Boltz, Phil Driscoll, Fred Hammond, Israel Houghton, Kirk Franklin, or Nicole Mullen. Call in and say Beyonce and see the response you get.
This is not about Christianity but if it is what helps us to protect the younger generation, then let it be about Christianity.
Finally, listening to the song ‘Oliver Twist’, these are my standpoints

There is nothing special about the song, there is nothing striking or novel about it. It is just like the tepid movie District ( that Dora Akunyili made noise about and helped boost its sale in Nigeria
Three minutes and fifty-seven seconds of something pleasant to the ears, that sounded more like swing than what Nigerians would usually dance to. But it is still Dbanj! DJs will play it because it is Dbanj. If I played it as a DJ, I would play it out of compassion. It might just sound wonderful to other listeners, let’s not forget.

3. It disses someone. It might be difficult to say if it is Omotola. He does say someone’s yansh is bigger, and does also say he likes Omotola because people like her. It comes down hard on the person he is dissing. He may want to explain that himself. I wouldn’t know who among the persons he mentioned has the ‘bigger’ bottom. Each time I see them on TV, I concentrate on their faces. Wherever Dbanj is looking is his headache.

It is structurally deficient, because it misrepresents Oliver Twist both as a novel and as a character. This is problematic for a generation that has forgotten how to read and depends on hear-say. Somewhere in the minds of the kids, Oliver Twist will now become some sort of Casanova. Dbanj’s confession is that he likes and wants all these women (Beyonce, Rihanna, Omotola, Genevieve,Toyin Buari) which makes him an Oliver Twist for wanting more and them all, even though ‘I know it’s wrong’. On a personal note, if he says he secretly longs for them all, he only speaks his emotions. If he is Roman Catholic, it is a new dimension in Confessions.
By extension, let me tell you the damage by way of analogies.

Example #1
(‘The evil that men do lives after them, the good is often interred with their bones’- Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar. )
Nigerians often say, ‘the evil that men do live with them’. This is not nearly what the text means. It must be interpreted in full. Caesar was dead, murder by his foes among whom was his bosom friend Brutus. Mark Anthony only meant that when a man dies, only the evil he did is remembered by people. The good he did are buried with his bones.’ Does that come close to what you have always read?

Example #2
(‘The end justifies the means.’ Machiavelli in The Prince.)
This passage is often interpreted to mean that whatever means you used to get a thing is justified, as long as you have got it. Although this is an accurate interpretation, the writer meant the exact opposite. His message to the Prince is that the means MUST justify what you get. If the means is armed robbery, your end, the jeep CANNOT be justified by the fact thqt you now have it.

So let us do damage control next.
Please tell the children that Oliver did not want more sex of female company. He only wanted more food to keep from starving. Older listeners may understand what Dbanj was inferring but please let us not compromise the younger generation.
As for the ban, if it is for reason of big yansh, then it is only a ruse aimed at selling the record.
Are you still there?

Long Episode
But Unfortunately vulgarity has come to stay...

You cant control it anymore... even kids of 3 are humming this songs

Very insightful write-up.
Its unfortunate we have so many non-functional regulatory bodies in this country.

Wow!!!!!!!!!! I thought you were never gonna stop writing or are you still planning to do. BTW, vulgarity has bcome their selling point so why won't they continue to be vulgar since they are making money. Even the indigenous secular songs in the 60's, 70's down to 80's I mean the Barristers, Sunny Ades, Apala singers made use of vulgar words and they were not condemned but rather appreciated so guy vulgarity is a marketing srategy

Op you have done justice to this sickening trend. The fact that we are having more of obscene lyrics is quite depressing. Things just have to change especially in SW or kids armed with the language will cause negative things to happen.

Op, aptly nailed!
Just today, I was humming the remix Mo So Rire done by Paul Ik Dairo and I was nostalgically thrown back to some nice era of listening pleasure. Most of what we have today don't just meet up. Really sad.

Wtf man!! @op just burnt my dinner reading ur extremely long post...damN!

WOW! Beautiful post. Unfortunately, majority of those the OP is fighting their cause won't even bother to read more than two paragraphs (That is if they even read any at all). Indomie generation indeed.

I so much love this article ...

Nice article buh its too long ...
like someone said vulgarity has come to stay... and also why the personal attacks on Lil kesh?... kesh was only featured on the song and the others were pretty vulgar buh u just singled kesh out..

Thats wat music has become these days. Its hard to hear good music nowadays, vulgarity is a trend for artists i dont know who give them this bad idea. In us, some years back, when a rapper, kanye west released a song, jesus walks, he was told that such a song portraying blatant declaration of faith wont make it in the music world and told to withdraw it, but he didnt. It became one of his most successful song ever and topped so many charts.