Papers by Wale Adedeji Ph.D
American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation , 2022
It has been established that the Nigerian music industry has grown tremendously in recent times t... more It has been established that the Nigerian music industry has grown tremendously in recent times through the popularity and dynamism of the Hip hop genre, which has positioned itself as the mainstream music presently. Likewise the Nigerian film industry now referred to as Nollywood is credited as the fastest growing film industry and rated the third largest film industry in the world after Hollywood and India's Bollywood and currently accounts for an estimated N 853.9 billion ($7.2 billion) or 1.42 percent of Nigeria's GDP. This paper establishes the interface between popular music culture (hip hop) and Nollywood through the notion of documentation with a highlight of how Hip hop music is being documented in Nollywood formative years either consciously or unconsciously. The paper adopts a qualitative research method with an in-depth analysis of music in the movie-Campus Queen. The research concluded that a piece of recorded music can be considered a document while the existence of Hip hop music in Campus Queen attested to the fact, thus making Nollywood a veritable source to assess and analyse popular music genre.
South Asian Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2022
Hip hop which originated from the African-American community of the Bronx New York is exerting a ... more Hip hop which originated from the African-American community of the Bronx New York is exerting a domineering effect in most African countries. It is un-arguably and gradually becoming the most popular mode of musical expression among artistes in the sub-sahara region with visible affiliation to the global popular culture trends. The Nigerian youths have embraced this music style and identified with its culture thereby bringing the genre to the mainstream of the country"s popular music scene. Through lyrical and textual analysis of select songs and artistes, this paper examines the Nigerian hip hop brand against the backdrop of its major identifiable themes and attempts a classification module for the genre via its output and messages.
South Asian Research Journal of Arts, Language and Literature, 2022
In Africa, hip hop music is now undoubtedly the fastest growing form of expressive art in terms o... more In Africa, hip hop music is now undoubtedly the fastest growing form of expressive art in terms of availability, dissemination and acceptability. Nigeria not an exception, the genre in recent times has become the mainstream music representing the identity and socio-cultural aspirations of the teeming Nigerian urban youth population. Through incursion into the origin of hip hop, this paper examines the inter-connectivity and the inter-relationship between the street and hip hop music with a comparison of the Nigerian and the American street culture in hip hop music discourse. It is quite evident that hip hop music and the street are inseparable with manifestation which are visibly perceived through the Nigerian rap star- Olamide’s hip hop philosophy, his choice of language for dissemination, message and didactic use of the genre as an alternative and legitimate hustle as opposed to the now common internet fraud becoming a plaque among Nigerian teeming youths.
This paper explores the status of the Nigerian music industry through the paradigm of its music p... more This paper explores the status of the Nigerian music industry through the paradigm of its music promotion, marketing, and distributing structure. Using ethnographic and bibliographic sources, the study traces the history of the Nigerian recording industry which nose-dived from the late 1980s with the exit of major label operations like Sony, Polygrams and EMI due to political and economic factors and recognised the impetus given the music scene through the resilience and creativity of the new hip hop generation who now have to contend with myriads of challenges among which is piracy and copyrights issues. While highlighting some of these challenges, the paper presents an array of possibilities as well as recommendations and concludes that with proper structuring and intervention, the Nigerian music industry can be a major player within the global music scene, and be a viable revenue earner for the country aside from crude oil.
Language In India, Jun 1, 2014
The process of globalization has been of a tremendous impact on African societies while the statu... more The process of globalization has been of a tremendous impact on African societies while the status-quo of expressive cultures have obviously not remained the same due to this factor with popular music gradually becoming homogenised to fit into the western stereotypes. It is quite evident that the Nigerian popular music has been greatly influenced by the dictates and progression in the international scene due to global communication and cultural flows as exemplified by the popularity and proliferation of hip hop culture among the youths from the 1990s. It is quite evident that English is more or less the official language of popular music while the glorification and promotion of foreign music styles especially hip-hop and its cultural expressions is almost making the local music practices less fashionable.This paper explores the Nigerian popular music practice through the current mainstream hip hop and identifies how its practitioners have successfully formulated a sub-genre dubbed ‘Afro hip hop’ through hybridization whereby African identity is portrayed and maintained by asserting linguistic independence with the use of Nigerian languages as medium of delivery through code-switching. This is also followed by appropriating indigenous popular music style like fújì to create a fusion that appeals to home-grown sensibilities while still subscribing to the global hip hop community. This paper reveals the effectiveness of ‘Afro hip hop’ as hybrid music and how it was used as a strategy of resistance towards popular music homogenization brought about by globalization.
Postcolonial Text, Mar 31, 2014
Having witnessed a gradual popularity and boost in Africa from the 1990s, hip-hop is rapidly beco... more Having witnessed a gradual popularity and boost in Africa from the 1990s, hip-hop is rapidly becoming a dominant culture among the youths as a vehicle of local social critique and Global inter-connectivity in the public sphere. While incorporating elements from their own local cultures to appeal to home-grown sensibilities, hip-hop musicians have found a platform for getting their messages and ideas across to local audiences through music.......(etc ..etc...)
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... The list is in no way exhaustive and many artist have also left the country prior to this tim... more ... The list is in no way exhaustive and many artist have also left the country prior to this time, including Lijadu Sisters, Dora Ifudu, Orlando Julius, Alex Zitto, Tera kota, Jheri Jatto, Felix ... resistance strategy Omoniyi (2009: 124) also believes that ‗Nigerian hip hop artists as social ...
The concept of Africanity traverses many decades, being a socio-political ethos or cogitation per... more The concept of Africanity traverses many decades, being a socio-political ethos or cogitation perceived as manifest reaction against slavery and colonization. As a resistance mode, imbuement of the Africanity philosophy has shaped people of African descent in the Diaspora and many post-slavery generations all over the world in maintaining their African roots identity. This paper examines the concept of Africanity in the 21 st Century Africa, using the Nigerian popular music scene as a paradigm. Against the backdrop of the present mainstream Hip hop music style referred to as " Afro hip hop " , the study will use music and video analytical procedures with the objective of identifying the various media through which hip hop artistes project their Africanity. It is quite evident that music artistes still strive to maintain their African identity despite subscribing to a Western originated music style. This is made manifest through language use, nomenclature, message, visual projection, and sonic arrangement among other parameters.
Identity is an integral part of human existence and as a cognitive phenomenon it is regarded as a... more Identity is an integral part of human existence and as a cognitive phenomenon it is regarded as a basis for self-realisation and actualisation. Popular culture is an important conduit through which identity can be formulated and expressed. Music on the other hand as an expressive art is a major appendage of popular culture and a fertile ground for identity negotiation and formulation, in this instance through language use. This paper investigates the music-Hip hop, the language-Yoruba and examines how the artiste-Ruggedman employs the use of the mother-tongue while exploiting the general acceptability of the Yoruba language to popularise hip hop music in Nigeria .The research argues that, through the artiste " s Yoruba linguistic affiliation he is able to formulate a national identity with a language not his own in a country where there is an overt subscription to ethnic loyalty rather that national. INTRODUCTION Nigeria has a dynamic popular music scene which has in many ways projected her cultural richness. Through her musical output the country has earned international recognition in the popular music arena, and with the strength of the country " s population of over 150 million, most artists tend to look inward as the local market seems large enough to ensure their commercial success. In this vein emphasis is often laid towards the satisfaction of domestic needs through the use of regional languages while creating musical hybrids through appropriating elements from hitherto existing traditional and folk musical styles. Popular music genres that are visibly represented in Nigeria include: jùjú, afrobeat, fújì, gospel, reggae and hip hop among others,
This paper explores the status of the Nigerian music industry through the paradigm of its music p... more This paper explores the status of the Nigerian music industry through the paradigm of its music promotion, marketing, and distributing structure. Using ethnographic and bibliographic sources, the study traces the history of the Nigerian recording industry which nose-dived from the late 1980s with the exit of major label operations like Sony, Polygrams and EMI due to political and economic factors and recognised the impetus given the music scene through the resilience and creativity of the new hip hop generation who now have to contend with myriads of challenges among which is piracy and copyrights issues. While highlighting some of these challenges, the paper presents an array of possibilities as well as recommendations and concludes that with proper structuring and intervention, the Nigerian music industry can be a major player within the global music scene, and be a viable revenue earner for the country aside from crude oil.
Since MTV pioneered the art of music video broadcast in
1981, music video has gradually become o... more Since MTV pioneered the art of music video broadcast in
1981, music video has gradually become one of the most important outlets for music promotion and an indispensable marketing strategy for an artiste. In recent times music video has almost assumed a life of its own and somehow larger than the music itself with a lot of investment in energy and finance being put into it by artists, labels and management. Africa on the other hand is catching on with this trend as there is an overt visibility of MTV Africa and other satellite television stations like Channel - O, Soundcity, Nigezie and Trace solely dedicated to promoting music videos. This paper examines the concept of music video in the Nigerian popular music context while extracting its functionality in the contemporary Nigerian hip hop genre. Against the backdrop of the ‘Ruggedy Baba’ video this research isolates the primary function of a video to music and argues that through visual representation of music, identities can be formulated as presented in ‘Ruggedy Baba’ where traditional Africa is prominently represented in a music genre deeply rooted in urban street culture.
Postcolonial Text, 2013
Having witnessed a gradual popularity and boost in Africa from the 1990s, hip-hop is rapidly beco... more Having witnessed a gradual popularity and boost in Africa from the 1990s, hip-hop is rapidly becoming a dominant culture among the youths as a vehicle of local social critique and Global inter-connectivity in the public sphere. While incorporating elements from their own local cultures to appeal to home-grown sensibilities, hip-hop musicians have found a platform for getting their messages and ideas across to local audiences through music. However, in recent times hip-hop has been an object of constant criticism for veering off its path of consciousness with its projection of affluence, materialism (‘blings’), over-sexualisation, and misogynist(ic) messages by its artists. This paper argues that despite a lot of negative criticism trailing hip hop worldwide, Africa still remains a fertile ground where the genre is being deployed by youths as a vital tool of resistance and a powerful voice for socio-political and economic change. Using the Nigerian hip-hop scene and the critical analysis of the music of artists like Sound Sultan, 2Face Idibia and Eedris Abdulkareem, I demonstrate the ways in which popular hip-hop music has now assumed huge cultural force for youth in urban Nigeria. I argue that the hip hop generation in Nigeria still believes in using the genre to effect a change in a country riddled with corruption and abuse of public office, thereby choosing the path of consciousness over commercialisation and large-scale hedonism amongst youth.
Language In India, Jun 2014
The process of globalization has been of a tremendous impact on African societies while the statu... more The process of globalization has been of a tremendous impact on African societies while the status-quo of expressive cultures have obviously not remained the same due to this factor with popular music gradually becoming homogenised to fit into the western stereotypes. It is quite evident that the Nigerian popular music has been greatly influenced by the dictates and progression in the international scene due to global communication and cultural flows as exemplified by the popularity and proliferation of hip hop culture among the youths from the 1990s. It is quite evident that English is more or less the official language of popular music while the glorification and promotion of foreign music styles especially hip-hop and its cultural expressions is almost making the local music practices less fashionable.This paper explores the Nigerian popular music practice through the current mainstream hip hop and identifies how its practitioners have successfully formulated a sub-genre dubbed ‘Afro hip hop’ through hybridization whereby African identity is portrayed and maintained by asserting linguistic independence with the use of Nigerian languages as medium of delivery through code-switching. This is also followed by appropriating indigenous popular music style like fújì to create a fusion that appeals to home-grown sensibilities while still subscribing to the global hip hop community. This paper reveals the effectiveness of ‘Afro hip hop’ as hybrid music and how it was used as a strategy of resistance towards popular music homogenization brought about by globalization.
WARIMA Conference, Nov 2014
The fundamental concern of the Arts disciplines (Humanities) is with man and his complex nature, ... more The fundamental concern of the Arts disciplines (Humanities) is with man and his complex nature, cognizantly his multifaceted relationships with the world around him and beyond. It is in this context that each Arts discipline tries to investigate and explain those aspects of man’s nature that particularly concern or challenge him. In a more specific context, the study and practise of Performing Arts is saddled with the expressions of these realities offering opportunities to display cultures and traditions while “mirroring” the society. In recent times there has been a sudden rise in interest and attention given to the creative and cultural industries especially with the popularity of Nigerian popular music and video film across Africa and beyond. Further to this, a lot of young minds have been inspired to seek university education in this area in order to develop their artistic instinct and build their creative capacity towards economic self-reliance. This paper highlight the objectives of the Elizade University Performing and Film Arts degree programme as it experiments with the concept of ‘total theatre’ incorporating drama, music, dance and film. Furthermore, the idea to deviate from the traditional nomenclature of ‘theatre arts’ by incorporating ‘film studies’ into the programme is being stressed here to portend the ability to produce thorough bred professional in the field that would eventually be ‘job givers’ and not ‘job seekers’ The paper also traces the origin of the Nigerian film industry now called ‘Nollywood’ and asserts that in the nearest future the Elizade Performing and film arts graduate will be ready to fill the capacity requirements of Nollywood, and be part of the generation to take the industry to the next level. It is hoped that this paper will generate more interest in emphasising economic sustainability through university education using the Elizade Performing and Film arts degree programme as an impetus.
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Papers by Wale Adedeji Ph.D
1981, music video has gradually become one of the most important outlets for music promotion and an indispensable marketing strategy for an artiste. In recent times music video has almost assumed a life of its own and somehow larger than the music itself with a lot of investment in energy and finance being put into it by artists, labels and management. Africa on the other hand is catching on with this trend as there is an overt visibility of MTV Africa and other satellite television stations like Channel - O, Soundcity, Nigezie and Trace solely dedicated to promoting music videos. This paper examines the concept of music video in the Nigerian popular music context while extracting its functionality in the contemporary Nigerian hip hop genre. Against the backdrop of the ‘Ruggedy Baba’ video this research isolates the primary function of a video to music and argues that through visual representation of music, identities can be formulated as presented in ‘Ruggedy Baba’ where traditional Africa is prominently represented in a music genre deeply rooted in urban street culture.
1981, music video has gradually become one of the most important outlets for music promotion and an indispensable marketing strategy for an artiste. In recent times music video has almost assumed a life of its own and somehow larger than the music itself with a lot of investment in energy and finance being put into it by artists, labels and management. Africa on the other hand is catching on with this trend as there is an overt visibility of MTV Africa and other satellite television stations like Channel - O, Soundcity, Nigezie and Trace solely dedicated to promoting music videos. This paper examines the concept of music video in the Nigerian popular music context while extracting its functionality in the contemporary Nigerian hip hop genre. Against the backdrop of the ‘Ruggedy Baba’ video this research isolates the primary function of a video to music and argues that through visual representation of music, identities can be formulated as presented in ‘Ruggedy Baba’ where traditional Africa is prominently represented in a music genre deeply rooted in urban street culture.