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A celebrated societal menace - A look at Olamide Baddo
Olamide Adedeji, known popularly as Olamide Baddo is the foremost Aālocal rapperā in Nigeria. He rose to prominence by being one if the pioneers of rapping in the local dialect. Considered by many as the worthy successor to popular Yoruba rapper DaGrin who died at a very young age from a car crash.Ā
Olamide quickly took advantage of the peopleās hunger for an immediate successor to DaGrin and released songs like Durosoke which endeared him to many Nigerians. He was considered to be a āvery brilliant chap who would go placesā.
Eight years down the line and Olamide baddo is no doubt one of the biggest names in the African rapper scene even though he churns out more pop songs nowadays. He has his own record label which is currently working with Young artistes like Lyta, Limerick, Yomi Blaze and co after producing established artistes like Lil Lesh and Adekunle Gold in the past. He has won several awards and even made an appearance in my secondary school year book where a student named him as his role model, insane!
Olamide has made a habit of dropping albums every year and although he keeps up with this, itās the quality of these albums that come under scrutiny. Sometimes, the album looks rushed and shabby and therefore there songs arenāt the top quality that the fans expect. A lot of fans complained about his last album titled āGloryā but the rapper seems unperturbed. He recently dropped a āfamilyā album alongside his new signees and proteges. A very good album throughout, much better than his last two.
Away from all the praises, Olamide has built a reputation as an artiste that feasts on the rot in the Nigerian value system. He takes advantage of the fact that many Nigerians have lost their values.Ā
Olamide _ Melo Melo
When Olamide first released the song āstory for the godsā a lot of people, like me,Ā couldnāt believe their ears. Hereās a scenario whereby a top rapper in the country released a song filled with vulgar and obscene lyrics and a video showing strong sexual scenes and nudity but that was not the worst part of the song.Ā
Some of the lyrics used by Olamide in the song weāre plainly encouraging sex under the influence, sexual assault and even rape, disgusting! Olamide was ādraggedā on social media, but as usual, he termed everyone who dared to have an opinion about his disgusting song āhatersā.Ā No sanctions were given to the song or the artiste except an NBC ban that āonly makes songs more popularā.Ā
If thereās anything Olamide learnt from the previous experience, it was that he should release even more disgusting songs condoning and even encouraging vices like drug abuse, fraud and illicit sexual affairs. That same year, he released a song called āfalila ketanā. Another song promoting obscenities, vulgar language and illicit, even illegal sexual activities.
He went ahead to shoot a video that āsupported the motionā he laid down in his song. There was backlash as usual, but Olamide couldnāt care less, after all, the same Nigerians who criticised him on the internet were listening to the song on their phones and in their cars, thereby, āgivingā more money to Olamide who made it clear that he would go on yo release more of these songs as long as it makes him richer.
Olamide ā Konkobility
In 2015, Olamide released yet another ācorruptā song ādonāt stopā. Not only did this one get a lot of flak, it got banned by several corporations and agencies who had the best interest of the youth at heart. Olamideās fans came to his defence every time anyone dared call Olamide what he turned himself into: the corruptor of the youth.Ā
Itās no surprise at all that social vices have been on the rise and sexual crimes are recorded every other day. While Iām not putting the blame for this on Olamide, I dare to say that whether he realizes it or not, he has a direct influence on these numbers.
Nigeria was rated as the ninth most dangerous countries for a woman to live because sheās constantly susceptible to harrasment and sexual abuse from animalistic men who are no longer scared of the consequences, afterall, Olamide said: ā I want to do shina today, she say she cannot wait o, she say itās getting late o, she say she wants to faint o ah, story for the godsā.
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2015 was a year of obscenities for the YBNL boss as he teamed up with other local rapper Phyno and Lil Kesh to release a song titled āLadiā. The title of this song says everything one already needs to know about the song. This was around the time that a lot of people started to give up on the rapper.
Olamide ā āWoā tobacco smoking health ministry
On the first day of 2016, Olamide displayed what a lot of people termed as an āembarrassmentā. He went on a long alcohol-induced rant on the stage of the headies, Nigeriaās most prestigious music award, because his protege Lil Kesh didnāt win an award in a voting category. Olamide used swear words and disrespected the show organizers and dignitaries in attendance. The year was off to a very dramatic start.Ā
The next morning, he took to Twitter to threaten top music producer and Maven Records boss Don Jazzy, whose signee had scooped the award that Olamideās boy lost out on. Olamide even went as far as telling Don Jazzy not to ācome to the mainlandā as his āboysā would beat him up.Ā Two new slangs became popular from this rant: ādonāt come to main-landā, and āleave trash for lawmaā.Ā
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This, along with his acknowledgement of his āboysā indicates that Olamide baddo knows that he wields some sort of influence among the youth.Ā This totally eliminates the argument that Olamide is subconsciously releasing these songs without having any knowledge of its effects on the youth.
Olamide Red Cup
Olamide never takes a rest from these kinds of things, but he stayed a little under the radar until 2018 when he came with yet another song, this time different from his usual sexually offensive songs, It was titled āscience studentsā. On this song Olamide may have tried to raise awareness of the very incessant cases if drug abuse among the younger population, but ultimately, he failed woefully probably because heās not very used to being a positive member of society.
He started pretty well by explaining the lengths teenagers now go to get high. Later in the song, he went by his usual route of encouraging people to take certain mixtures. Although, he came out later to shed light on the issue, something he never used to do in the past, not many people were swayed. He then pulled a genius by releasing a video that actually spoke against drug abuse. Nice, I wonder who taught Olamide that?
The society has made corruption and vices the norm: The easiest way to recognize this fact is by listening to a song released by Olamide, along with his protege Like kesh put out just some days to Christmas. The song is titled ālogo Benzā and it heavily contains vulgar language, obscene statements and what a lot of people refer to as āencouragement for ritualists and ritual killersā.
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Olamide and Lil kesh put out that song during the festive period, a time when these kinds of ritual killings are very popular. No agency has taken any step against Lil Kesh, Olamide or even the song as at the time of writing this. All that happened was a little backlash on social media and a sold-out Olamide show just days later. This is the norm I speak of, this norm that makes Olamide think he can wreck the moral train of the Nigerian youth without facing any consequences.
Conclusion
Despite all the things Iāve listed earlier, Olamide continues to be the biggest name in Yoruba rap, winning several awards, and selling out tours and shows both in Nigeria and abroad. Perhaps, the silliness with the music and lyrics would reduce if the people took tougher stances against Baddo?
