When it comes to how to figure out the popular Nigerian style of music that will help you blow and get big in the music industry, there are two factors you must consider, and they are original and proven styles.
Now let’s begin by seeing the meaning of both original and proven styles of music.
What is the original style of music?
Originality in music is the way of inventing a new musical style, which will help an artist, especially an up-and-coming, to be heard by thousands of other musicians in his genre.
I believe you’ve heard a saying in the industry that goes “as an aspiring musician, you have to be original if you want to stand out from the crowd”.
What is a proven style of music?
Proven styles are those styles artists who are already making waves in the industry are using.
Thus, before any artiste attempt to break into the music mainstream.
He should first and foremost sit down and ask himself these two questions:
Can being original pave way for me, as an up-and-coming artiste, to become a musician everyone is dying to listen to?
Or
Will using proven styles that are already working for the big artists, work well for me as an artiste who is struggling to come up?
I will therefore try in this article to give my views on these two questions.
Hoping you’d find the knowledgebase that will help you make the right choice, which will become instrumental to your becoming a superstar.
How to use the original style of music in Nigeria.
If there is no other popular musician in Nigeria who is presently using the style you are inventing, being original will really help you stand out from the crowd, but only if you will have the capacity to promote yourself.
And in so doing, attract music fans who are keen about the new style, they are hearing from the new artiste.
Then take on the task of spreading the word about you, as well as, passing your music around to friends and families; who will quickly embrace the new style and become a fan.
Once this happens.
Bloggers and media corporations will begin to give you press coverage, in order to bring more traffic to their sites.
Secondly, before you settle for originality, you must ensure that you are talented enough to put out songs that people will find hard to resist.
As well as, also be able to prove that originality at any given time or place.
Lastly, on this point, you must note very well that it will never benefit you to be original in a bad way.
For instance, if you make weird sounds when singing or rapping, it will make it easier for people to identify you once they hear your song.
But on the other hand, if those sounds are putting people off, they will definitely skip your track or change the radio station, once they hear your song coming through.
So, therefore, be certain that you invent the kind of originality that music fans will accept and imbibe, or else your music career will end before it even begins.
How to use the proven style of music in Nigeria.
In case you never notice, there tend to be ways and patterns in the music industry, when it comes to what’s popular and trending at the moment.
If you look into music charts, you will discover that a certain style of music is taking up a lot of the top positions.
And if you dig out that style, incorporate them into your music where necessary.
It can definitely help you to secure a better place in the music industry.
Never forget that music charts are determined by the kinds of music currently trending and selling.
And if more people are streaming and buying that particular style of music, it shows you will increase your chances of making it in the industry if you use the same style.
However, you must be mindful of the fact that it is not everyone who makes a song that suits a trending style that will eventually sell out.
And for that reason, you must ensure that you step up the quality of your brand when using the style every other successful musician is using.
Else you will just be pissing fans who are patronizing that style off.
Another important point to note is that when incorporating or using the music style other popular or successful Nigerian musicians are using, ensure you don’t copy their outright style or lyrics.
The key point here is to dig out a certain element of what that big artiste is doing, and so many fans are dying for, and adjust it to suit your own brand.
The truth is there are only a very few musicians out there who are even 90% original.
Everything your so-called big artists are doing has already been done before.
The majority of them are just incorporating things they have learned from others into their own style.
The current Afro-Pop that is sold in Nigeria today was adopted from the Cameroonian Makossa.
Then blending that with the western RnB made the music become popular in Nigeria.
And till today that style is still selling out so many Nigerian musicians.
If you have been doing it unknowingly before now.
I think it is high time to start consciously looking at the style of music that is working well for popular Nigerian musicians in your chosen genre.
And use any of those parts to your advantage.
The secret is to listen, for instance, to how those big artists in the Afro-Pop genre are rendering their vocals.
Also study how they are formatting their lyrics: Verse=Bridge=Hook.
And after the second verse, a little Ad-lib is added before the Hook returns to fade.
Then once you pick on a particular vocal rendition and get your formatting right, you will finally realize how professional your music begins to sound.
Lest I forget, when settling for a proven style, ensure that you have an alternative style you can switch to.
In case that proven style fades out of the music industry.
Yes! It has happened before and will continue to happen.
Ajegunle had their own style of music, but today that style is no longer in existence.
But am still seeing the modern-day up-and-coming musicians, still making that AJ style of music.
And I wonder where it will take them to.
I think Oritse Femi has this knowledge base, that was why he switched to Afro-Pop.
And so remains the only AJ musician who is still making waves in the industry today.
Conclusion
In conclusion, whether you are trying to be original or using a proven style of music, ensure that your Nigerian style of music bonds with what is accepted in your own culture and is also popular.
For instance, I see so many artists here in Nigeria trying to make their music sound western, thinking it’s going to prove how good they are.
But how I wish these kinds have the understanding that, trying to make western music as an up-and-coming musician has been the reason so many artists here in Nigeria never made it.
I was among those kinds of artists.
During my days, I was unfortunate to learn very late about how many rappers either switched or reshuffled their raps to bond with the Nigerian culture.
For instance, after Ruggedy Baba rapped like the Oyingbo for years and couldn’t break into the industry, he finally decided to incorporate pidgin and the Yoruba language into his raps.
And once he did that and came up with “Ehen” a song he dissed Eedris Abdulkareem, he became one of the early Nigerian Rapper who made waves.
Simply because he made his raps go together with the Nigerian culture.
He then immediately seized that opportunity and returned with a dance track titled “Gbaraje”.
In no time Ruggedy Baba left the up-and-coming category of musicians and entered the league of the early rap superstars Nigeria has ever had.
Many rappers back then began to follow the same path, when they realize it was selling out.
Finally, Nigeria had early successful rappers in the likes of Nigga Raw, Mode 9, Eldee, Slo Dog, M.I Abaga, Ice Prince, the late Da Grin, Olamide, etc.
Changing the face of rap music in Nigeria.
And it’s very sad to realize that, the majority of modern-day musicians, whether singers or rappers are still making this same mistake of settling for a musical style that is not popular and will never help them enter the Nigerian music industry in the near future.
So, therefore, you must know the best way to use a music style popular musicians are using in Nigeria if you really want to blow in the Nigerian music industry.
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