My Advice To Airforce1 And Other Nairaland Upcoming Acts

This is strictly my opinion and I think I have been vindicated over the years in most cases.

I write to you all(upcoming artistes) with good intent and purpose. I write as someone who has been a music lover for so many years,someone who followed Nigerian music from the late 80's down to this very day,someone who listened to pioneering American hip-hop acts from the late 80's,someone who listened to music when we still had music genres like soul and funk,someone who basically likes and has a substantial knowledge of what good music should sound like. Music is a form of art,and good music should sound pleasing to the ears. The melody,lyrics and instrumental should be good and the overall production must be of the higest standard. I don't believe in people doing mediocre jobs and promoting it. Majority of the songs we listen to today on radio,should normally not even get airplay if standards are to be maintained.
I know most people reading this piece,would eventually attack me and say stuffs like "you don't know what it means to go into the studio to record a track cos if you do,you'd know it's not easy". Before you guys slaughter me with that line,listen to this song with the following link:

http://www.datafilehost.com/d/2934af36

The above link was a rough demo I recorded at our studio when I was still neck deep into music production and entertainment years back. I was conducting an interview for an in-house producer we wanted to employ and I asked him to make the beat and produce me as an artiste. I did the entire song myself,and directed the production and we finished the whole song in about 12 or 16 hrs. Despite the fact that it sounds a lil bit appealing to some people,it's still not a standard job that can be played on radio. That being said,let's move on to the main issue(since you now know I've also had studio experience).


I decided to write this article cos over the years,I haven't seen any artiste blow up from nairaland. The only person who has blown up from here(nairaland) that I know,is Dee Tunes. I remember when He sent me his crew's demo several years back and after listening,I told him to stick to his production and shun rap(not like He was terribly bad though) which He did,and has now made a solid career from. He might not remeber me today,but I'm happy He has made a name for himself in production,and now charges 400k per track. Apart from Dee Tunes,all the other artistes who I had the opportunity to talk to and advice here on nairaland,are still where they are. Reason is that when you advice most artistes and you don't tell them they're the next best thing after fried rice,they tend to see you as their enemy. The average upcoming artiste thinks He's the best and when you point out their flaws,they find it difficult to accept. Most people don't like the truth and that's why we have so many trashy sounds on radio. A good song should have good lyrics that makes sense even if it's meant to be a danceable song. The fact that a crappy song like Terry G's "knack you akpako" made waves,doesn't make it the standard for an upcoming artiste to emulate.
Artistes should also know learn to carve a niche for themselves and not just do what every other person is doing. There should be something extra that you're bringing to the table and as such,you need to put a lot of hardwork into your song writing and deliveries.

With the hype airforce1 has been enjoying on nairaland and His assurances to fans that He wouldn't disappoint them,I was expecting something better from him. All I can advice him to do,is to first and foremost,try to discover himself and find out what genre of music He is good at. This His "such a diva" song isn't it at all. That brings me back to a particular artiste who was hyped here some weeks back. The original poster even went as far as comparing him with Cannibus but when I listened up,song was quite wack. The dude can't even make the list of top 50 rappers in naija. Instead of people to tell him the truth,they kept typing "d.ope","drugz",etc.
I can't remember who the artiste is again but I'd say this: "only those who want you to succeed will tell you the truth". There's no point believing sycophants who praise you cos they don't want to bruise your ego. Whatever is worth doing,is worth doing well.

Finally,all I'd say is this: be open to criticisms,learn your art very well,work on your lyrics,carve a niche for yourself and be yourself. Don't try to copy what others are doing;be original.

I hope someday,nairaland would produce it's first music superstar.