As an avid London lover of dancehall and reggae, the last thing I expected to hear when asking this fresh-faced northern Nigerian Osama what he loved was controversial artist "Beenie Man". It almost made me fall off my chair how immediately singing the lyrics "zim zimmer" united as as a cultural reference point!
The concept of Jamaica somehow importing beats back to West Africa after hundreds of years of separation from its roots strikes me as poignant - a kind of musical re-fertilisation. There was no mistaking this boys' dedication to dancehall as he stuck on one of his very own tunes under his stage name of Osama bin Music. With a finesse worthy of his own carnival soundsystem, Osama bin Music delivered his rhymes about riding round Kano ("K-town city!") in an imported car and picking up his "gyal dem suga" who is dressed gorgeously, as if for the annual Eid procession led by the Emir of Kano! Check him out -I still can't get the chorus out of my head: "C'mon everybody let's groove on!"
Farrah, you never told me you could MC! ;-)
I think that most people in most places in the world can access the technology they want if they have the money. The recording studio wasn't the most hi-tech but it certainly did the job. These guys had reasonable jobs and a steady income, but of course there were plenty of people we saw who had a lot less.
I always thought of Nigeria being quite lacking in technology. I was surprised to see this chap in what would appear to be a recording studio? Another Osama loves playstation. what is the level of technology like there? Are these guys exceptions or the rule?