Several years ago, when Ice Prince was still hustling on the streets of wherever he was hustling, I’m not sure he was hailing all the corrupt politicians in Nigeria.
Back then when he was struggling with an i better pass my neighbour generator, before he was buying out stores in Dubai, or Foot Lockers in DC, I’m not exactly sure that he was so praiseful of some of the corrupt elements in Nigeria that have reduced our country to what it is today.
Has anybody actually listened to the Aboki lyrics? I mean actually listened to what the talented Chocolatey rapper is saying?
Okay, so he shouts out, half of the corrupt politicians in the North. He hails them, he calls them his guys. The newly found wealth Ice Prince has discovered has definitely put him out of touch with his roots. I doubt Fela would have ever said, “OBJ, is my guy.” Or “Lamidi Adedibu is my guy!”
But Ice Prince throws all caution and wisdom to the wind in a move that will eventually make him prey for his enemies, both lyrically and non-lyrically.
Senator Danjuma Goje is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for a fraud estimated at N25 billion which he allegedly committed as the governor of Gombe state. Now one can only guess how Ice Prince started frolicking with the likes of Danjuma Goje, that made him shout out the destiny destroyer’s name in his hit single.
However one ventures a guess. Ice Prince does a lot of shows. He probably did a show for one of Goje’s wives’ children and got to meet the ex-Governor when he was collecting his cheque. This is all just speculating. But there is no speculation needed on the lyrics of his song Aboki. I haven’t heard the remix, although critics say its mostly just noise, but on the original version which is a very nice song, he hails Danjuma Goje, Nasir el-Rufai, Vice President Sambo and a lot of other Northern politicians as his guys (friends).
Now whilst I’m not exactly sure that Ice Prince and VP Sambo sit down and discuss PDP affairs together, the love affair some of these entertainers have with the ruling political class is a bit worrisome.
Dbanj started it by doing the PDP campaign in the latter part of the last decade. Then he started hanging out with the oil minister’s children, and has an oil company to show for it. People think Dbanj is laughing to the bank as a billionaire solely because of entertainment but he has a vibrant oil and gas concern as well.
Dbanj took it a step further by asking President Jonathan easy questions in the 2011 campaign.
Now it seems all the other entertainers are looking for their slice of the pie. The Central Bank of Nigeria would do well to monitor their activities and put these individuals on a list of politically exposed persons. It has been rumored that some musicians launder money for some of these politicians.
However what the general public must realize is that you cannot just shake your ass to every nice song that comes on the radio. We are the reason these artists are successful and we buy into their product as a diversion from what these corrupt politicians have done to us over the years. We dance to the rhythm in order to forget. Yet is it not unethical to boogie to the beat from a super producer who is heading an oil company because he is being favoured by a corrupt politician or technocrat?
In America, rappers are criticized for going commercial, but here in Nigeria, they are going political. We cannot continue to blindly endorse the materials of our favourite artists when they sell out or sell their souls as it were. We should demand that their loyalty remain with the people as their position of fame thrusts them into a position of being inadvertent role models. They can be advocates of civic change and reforms in the country. We need them to tackle social issues like M.I’s track about JOS and some of his other music. We don’t need to be dancing about how a politician who looted N25 billion, according to the EFCC, is your guy. But kudos to Ice Prince on such a fantastic line up of guys.