OAPs ARE NOT EVEN MUSIC FANS...

There has been an uproar on social media, specifically twitter about the nature of today's OAP (or radio personality). My people have been accused of forcing false accents down the ears of the listener, of being voices without content and poor contributors to Nigeria's music progress.

Mmmh, na wa.

Recently I made a guest appearance in an edition of the very informative, colourful pan-African digital magazine, E.C.H.O. and some of the questions asked veered into OAP/Artiste/Music relationship territory.

I made it clear though that artistes had to have the right attitude before expecting to hear their songs on the airwaves. However, a portion of OAPs are more interested in hearing their own voices and airing their very limited opinions on very delicate subject matter than paying attention to the quality of music they put out. They have assumed the roles of celebrities themselves, reducing their banter to base gossip or informed ignorance.


I am not going to pretend and act like I don't know that my people have cultivated the art of perfecting the payola system. An artiste manager once defended this position, using a business model. He described it as a basic contract agreement between artiste/label and the OAP and said as long there was no breech, all was fine with him.

I've witnessed a lot of unsavoury episodes between artistes and OAPs. Some ended really badly but no deaths...yet. OAPs got beaten black and blue for collecting huge sums of money from "upcoming" artistes and ended up not playing those songs as promised.

From the songs being wack to an OAP just wanting to display a boss attitude are some of the reasons this happens.

Anyway, here are excerpts from the interview, let me allow you digest...

On whether HipHop Artistes (Naija) get enough love from the Media...

Are we talking about Nigerian Hip-Hop Artistes exclusively? If we are, then there's a growing debate. While Hip-Hop in its academic form may not be enjoying the attention it deserves in the local media, we can't deny that some of our most successful acts have been appropriately dubbed Hip-Hop artistes (Tuface, MI, Olamide, etc.). Are rappers getting love? Maybe not all the talented ones and besides most I know are too busy bitching about the system rather than seeking ways to pimp it. Hip-Hop grew out of aggression, fought against strong winds to survive. Some Nigerian Rappers just want to 'flex' without acknowledging hard truths. Express yourselves if you must but do not insult your audience by forcing your egos down their throats. Most Artistes need to check themselves.

On the flipside, many of these OAPs are not really music fans not to talk of Hip-Hop or Rap fans and they bring their disdain for the art to their place of work. Then of course there's the issue of payola, where radio people are bribed to get airplay. Most talented rappers are broke and few have supporting jobs to protect and or promote their art.

To the aspiring OAPs and other Media Profession hopefuls, I had this to say...

 I would hope that those who seek to get into the media profession are better grounded in the rudiments, can write well and speak right and are always on the look out for something groundbreaking. Go beyond acquiring a certificate. Acquire a skill then develop the skill on a regular basis.