The average Nigerian music listener doesn’t even want to listen to street music, or stories about hustle.

The Street Take-Over

What Nigerian fans really wanna hear is songs about ladies whining their waist and dancing, and loving.

Point is, for many years, this is how it has been. The emergence of artists like WizKid, Wandecoal, in the early 2000s totally shifted the musical appeal of the fans to sounds.

First it was the South African House-influenced Afro-pop, and later it was the alkayida sound from Ghana, popular around 2017.

Now, we’ve got what is called afro-fusion, and this is the coolest our music has been in a long time. It’s a rampage, and who are the artists that are killing it? Artists with vibes heavily influenced by people like WizKid. Rema, Omah Lay, Buju, Oxlade, etc.


But somehow, lately, there are these breed of guys from the streets who have taken over the music industry.

Just last year saw the emergence of Zinoleesky, Jamopyper, Bella Shmurda, Mohbad, Seyi Vibez and they are certainly killing it.

Their music penetrated so much that people thought Bella Shmurda was going to win the Next Rated award over Omah Lay. It was like the 2015 Lil Kesh-Reekado Banks situation all over again, except this time, no one was fighting.

But if the average Nigerian music audience isn’t interested in street music like that, why are artists like Bella Shmurda popular? What could it be?

I don’t care if it’s a good or not. Frankly it doesn’t matter what I think. Long as the music industry continues to thrive.