…but a lifelong sibling rivalry won’t make Nigeria admit to it
From music to food and also sports, Nigeria and Ghana seems to have it out for each other.
The two superpowers of West Africa are each trying to outshine each other making neutrals like Mr. Eazi among others having to bear the brunt of picking one side over the other.
https://twitter.com/mreazi/status/819266629196509184
Just recently, a seamlessly harmless tweet (or so he thought) by Mr. Eazi, known in real life as Olorutonsi Ajibade, highly suggested the massive influence of Ghana on Nigeria through music.
The innocuous tweet set the tone for Eazi to be the target of a barrage of attacks by Nigerian Stalwarts in a very unnecessary twitter trend.
But who was Mr. Eazi to be the one saying it?
He was born Port Harcourt, Nigeria and raised and started his music career in Ghana, so there is a sense of gratitude in him which clearly appeared to be the case here but the Nigerians were just not having it.
.@mreazi "after the Life is Eazi concert, no one is talking about me. Let me yamayama the place. Zagadat." pic.twitter.com/f9AeBfrIH7
— Chidi Okereke (@Chydee) January 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/SubDeliveryMan/status/819336669883088896
Although Mr. Eazi was quickly shut down by some Nigerian patriots I would like to state that it is a fact that Ghana does have an influence of Nigerian music but don’t come for me yet because Nigeria also has an influence on Ghana music.
Let’s take a look at a couple of aspects in music where the match between Ghana and Nigeria was made in heaven.
Take for example the Al-Qaeda and Azonto music/dance trend. Nigerians adopted the trend, adapted it and later sold it back to Ghanaians, trying hard to portray them as something that was originally theirs.
The Nigerian duo, P Square, made a rather viral version in the Azonto trend and called it “Alingo”. This sparked a long fight between the Nigerian boys and Ghana’s Samini.
In Samini’s song, he challenges Nigerian duo saying, “What is Alingo?” and suggested that P-Square was ripping Ghana off a local ingenuity.
Nigerian hit boy Runtown, made known of the relevancy of Ghanaian delicacy Waakye and Shito in his hit song “Mad Over You” which is now the one of most played song in Nigeria and is also getting a lot of airplay in Ghana.
Again let’s look at the collaborations between many Ghanaian artistes with their Nigerian counterparts.
Bisa K’dei and Patoranking’s song “Life” is one of the most watched videos for Bisa Kdei on YouTube.
In the same vein, Sarkodie and Patoranking’s have enjoyed massive airplay with their hit single, “No Kissing Baby” which is now an anthem in both countries and all over Africa.
These are a few examples of the masterpiece created by mixing the Ghanaian and Nigerian talents. Ghana music has definitely defined Nigerian music, but to state that without noticing how Nigerian music redefines the unique Ghanaian sound in a better way would be a major oversight.
The rivalry between both countries makes it seem like it would be a shame for either country to back down and admit to this.
The truth is, even if Nigerians appropriate Ghanaian culture, they return it in a seemingly better fashion. But Nigeria is indeed a country with an already unfair advantage over Ghana in size and resources.
I believe most of the rivalry between both nations is just satire. But sometimes, truth is blurred by an overbearing sense of patriotism, so I wouldn’t necessarily call out Nigerians for sticking to their guts and battering Mr. Eazi with memes and mockery on this.