Shut Up! The Lack Of Female Collaborations In Nigerian Music Doesn’t Mean They Hate Each Other

Shut Up! The Lack of Female Collaborations in Nigerian Music is not because They Hate Each Other.

I repeat, they don’t hate themselves, they just don’t feature each other enough.

I write for different reasons but in most cases, I write when something bothers me, and I feel that sharing it with you people will give me a well thought out and balanced answer.

Our society is changing, men are growing to realize that we need to treat women better. Men have come to the realization that certain things masculinity regarded as cultural is bare horse shit and only a means our ancestors came up to subdue the women in their lives and the society in general.

The Igbo man refers to his wife as “Ori Aku”, (My wealth spender) while this may have moulded the Igbo man to take up the responsibility of providing everything at home, some have argued that it has also made the Igbo man consider his wife as a property acquired by the payment of an expensive dowry.

This is not the topic for today.

Group of People Waving Flag of Nigeria in Back Lit

Our society is changing not only in the ways men treat women but also in the ways women treat each other. Women are considerably supportive of each other so much so that today, we have an advanced society with room for both sexes to attain unimaginable heights.
A couple of days ago, a day was set aside on Nigerian Twitter for women to praise other women by telling them what they have come to admire about them. It was a remarkable sight.

The changes are not limited to how we treat one another but also towards the things we love. I don’t think there has ever been a time when Nigerians loved Nigerian music and fashion more than today.

We go out wearing Nigerian made/designed outfits, dancing to Nigerian music. We went from a time when Nigerian music got played 25% of the night in a Nigerian club, to a time where we hardly give room for another type of music in our clubs and social events. Nigerians songs are played in major stores, clubs and shows across the world. There has never been a better time to be proudly Nigerian than now.

However, I have also noticed something else; while these changes are taking place, some other important things are not changing with the times and seem to be on a fatal backwards fall, the Nigerian female-female acts collaborations.

I don’t claim to be an expert in music matters, but I love and follow Nigerian music. I have worked with the best of the best in the industry from Mo’hits, Banky W, MI, Waje, Saucekid, Pope,Ycee and Omawumi to mention a few.

I have come up with some of the dopest album and single covers, but this article is not about my work in the music industry.

2face and 9ice

I have heard dope collaborations such as;

• Eldee’s “ Big Boy” featuring Olu Maintain, Banky W & Oladele
• 9ice’s “ Street Credibility” featuring Tuface
• Banky W’s “Lagos party remix featuring D’banj, Eldee,Muna
• Psqaure’s “Bizzy body” featuring Weird MC
• Phyno’s “Fada Fada” featuring Olamide
• Tiwa Savage’s “Malo” featuring Wizkid
• DJ Jimmy Jatts “Stylee” featuring Ela Joe, 2face & Mode 9
• Patoranking’s Girlie O” featuring Tiwa Savage
• Lami’s “ Know” featuring MI
• Ice Prince’s “Oleku” featuring Brymo
• Illbliss “Aiye Po Gan” featuring Terry G
• Nigga Raw’s “Obodo” featuring Klint D Drunk
• Tiwa Savage’s “Eminado” featuring Don Jazzy
• Samklef’s “Molowo Noni” featuring Ice Prince, The Prince & Wizkid
• J Martin’s “Good or Bad” featuring Timaya & Psquare
• 2face’s “Entre the Place” featuring Sound Sultan
• Keffe’s “Kokoroko” featuring Timaya
• MI’s”One Naira featuring Waje
• Dare’s “carry De Go” featuring 2face

And the list goes on but clearly in this long list of hit songs one thing is missing, where’s the banger collaboration between two female Nigerian artist… I’ll give you 2 years to mention 1 that stands out.

I have waited for our “the Boy is mine” moment and it hasn’t come even at this time when the society is changing.

Sometimes, it feels that the Nigerian music industry is set up in a way that it favours only men, but I think this is one time our female artists can come together, change the narrative, and get things going in a different direction.

Tiwa Savage and Wizkid

It seems like we’ve given up on ever having female rappers as none of them seem to be in the limelight or relevant alongside their male counterparts.

I was having this argument few days ago with a female friend who argued that the reason for non-hot collaboration between Nigerian female acts is because of the lack of love amongst them and to this, I disagree.

Dear female acts, I believe in you and I think you can do it. The men didn’t achieve all this because they loved each other more, some of these collaborations were paid for by the smaller acts or their record labels at that time but I believe that women can achieve even more without a monetary exchange of any sort.

We have collectively agreed that the narrative that men and women work better is bullshit, this is the time to turn things around and get this sailing.

This article is a bit too long for my point, but the idea is to highlight the industry today and push for more all female collaborations in Nigeria. There are young fire female acts out there such as Wavy The Creator, Bella Alubo, Lady Donli, Teni (all new school) and they will need love from Tiwa Savage, Seyi Shay, Omawumi, Waje, Niniola et al. Let’s get this ball rolling.

In other news, If you think you have a hot collaboration and I didn’t mention it, don’t blame me, we didn’t have a lot of radio stations in Aba growing up.

Name some female acts you’ll love to see collaborate.

Image credit: Instagram, Naija Loaded, Tech Cabal

Source: Stylevitae