For a while now, to have a hit song in the Nigerian mainstream rappers have had to move away from making rap songs to making pop, party songs, Lamba or just following whatever trending sound in the country at the time. Simply because the majority of Nigerian music listeners do not show rap songs the same amount of love that they give to songs from these other genres.
Artists like Olamide in particular have been heavily criticized for it. Reminisce, Phyno, IcePrince, Ycee, and a host of others have also received their fair share of criticism on this topic. “Sell out” is the derogatory term used by group rappers that move away from making rap songs.
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This year, the rap industry has found a new lease of life due to the new trend of rappers collaborating with singers in a Rap sub-genre known as “Rap-Sung”
Nigerians just want to vibe and move to the sound of good music. It has been a working strategy as the singer delivers a catchy chorus which becomes the main attraction of the song and the rapper still gets to flex his rap ability by delivering bars and punchlines.
Vector‘s Early Momo with Good Girl LA, Ladipoe‘s Feeling with Buju, and Blaqbonez‘s Bling with Buju & Amaarae are among the biggest songs this year has produced so far and they were all Rap-Sung collaborations. Iceprince‘s Kolo and MI‘s All my life both with Oxlade have also followed the trend to a decent amount of success.
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Actually, Rap-Sung collaborations have been the easiest way for rappers to make a hit record without having to move away from the genre.
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We’ve had hits like Iceprince‘s Oleku & MI‘s Action Film both with Brymo, Vector‘s Angeli with 9ice, Falz‘s Soldier with Simi among others and just last year Ladipoe had “Know You” which featured singer Simi.
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This track went on to win the best collaboration at The Headies.
Melodic rap is the way and I love this new trend.