The following commercial cities have produced many notable artistes:
Lagos, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Jos, Kaduna, and Ibadan.
But Abuja??
For a long time, it seemed like Abuja wasn’t the best place to blow in music.
Although the FCT has an abundance of gifted artistes like REEPLAY, Psycho YP, and a great music culture (particularly hip hop and alternative music) – it was almost like the artistes there were fated to remain local stars.
For a long time, Styl Plus was the only mainstream act Abuja could boast of. Ace music producer Mekoyo as well.
Even at the height of Styl Plus’s fame they refused to relocate to Lagos.
They tried to change the narrative that artistes couldn’t thrive in Abuja.
There was this promising Abuja-based female singer, SLK.
Millennials would remember her banger ‘Oju ife lo’. It came out in the 2000s.
(Actually the song inspired this post).
I heard it recently after a long while and really appreciated how sis went hard on that record.
The vocals, adlibs and beat were on point.
Unfortunately, SLK struggled to maintain the momentum and faded into obscurity like most Abuja artistes of the past decade.
After years of waiting for an Abuja-based star to shine on the national stage, Odumodublvck has shattered the jinx.
Whether nwoke okpu agu is good or not, I admire how he’s waving the city’s flag with pride.
Odumodublvck has stated in interviews that he believes he can continue to grow and thrive in Abuja, not Lagos.
And that’s commendable.
Somebody had to pick up where the iconic Styl Plus left off. Somebody had to rep the city at national level.
Ngwanu, I just said I should give 3 hearty cheers to residents of the FCT.
At least they finally have a bragging right after waiting 700 years.*wink*
BTV reporting
