In the spirit of giving, in anticipation for the most revered moment of the start of every new year which is FebThe14th and a way of contributing to the rise of emerging artists who added to their prayer list at the 2023 crossover service their need to ‘blow’ this year’, we at District234 have come bearing gifts, allegedly, the answer to your prayer.
However, before we proceed, there is the need to issue out a warning to artists eagerly consuming this piece— THIS IS FOR RnB ARTISTS ONLY. FOR BELIEVERS OF LOVE AND PARTICIPANTS OF ROMANCE. We’re not sure about other kinds of artists that don’t fall under this category, but we’re hoping we eventually get yours someday.
Here’s the deal— in this piece, we’ll explain how easy it can be for you as a RnB artist who constantly patronizes love to ‘blow’ in the Nigerian music industry; we say this, because we have watched under the radar of the likes of Johnny Drille, Ric Hassani, Chike, and even Omah Lay— who you might want to argue, but walk with us?
It’s impressive how you’ve chosen this path of music as a way to make your big breakout in the Nigerian music scene, while we’re not sure how long you’ll last in the game, we’re definitely sure that this guidebook 101 will show you ways to make your big breakout, as well as employ one or two on staying relevant.
Before you decide that it’s love and romance you want to sing as a male artist, before you decide that it’s a woman’s body you want to glorify (we’d rather you glorify God, but it’s okay, we understand, it’s art), please ensure that in your over two decades of existing in this gruesome country, you have been in nothing less than six relationships. We’ll explain — there is no way you want to sing about love without having to see the various fabrics love has showed you at the market.
Before you can pick your pen and paper to write about this thing called love, you have to have had over five relationships, to at least understand what love sort of means. For better comprehension and a clearer composition of your music, we advice you to have experienced different tribes of women. Don’t box yourself dating Igbo women; Igbo women are wicked, but have you met Benin women? Yoruba girls are the sweetest, but have you met Ibibio ladies? Range! Range is what is advised in this particular area.
We’re not sure how to say this but we’ll say it anyways, after all it’s for your own good— it’s important for you to be not only an in-depth thinker, but equally a quiet person. Look at the range of artists in the love music market, you notice how they all carry a certain soft energy around them? Exactly. You should have that trait in you. Anything else, and you shouldn’t be here, find your category anywhere else but HERE.
You should be soft spoken, either when you speak pidgin or proper English; as is seen with Ric Hassani’s music, Chike’s amazing fire tracks, or even Omah Lay’s music, that bears a little bit of trauma. You need to be an in-depth thinker, because your penmanship has to be deep, and intricate, and should in fact, be poetic. We’re not rooting for shallow lyrics such as “if you like karate, I’ll teach you mathematics”, we’re going for “Sipping on life at the liquor bar/I see you at the corner/Are you alone tonight?/Has anybody told you that you look so nice?”, something profound.
Another area to properly deliver a stealth love song is to be easy on the eyes. Fine boy, fine voice, always sells. Look at the catalogue in the Nigerian music industry and revert back to us, see if we’re deceiving you. The last thing you want is to struggle selling your market to an obvious female demographic, because you’re not easy on the eyes. It’s not your fault if you aren’t fine, but in this “You must blow in 2024” guidebook, we’re not sure we have your answers here. You can try pure Afrobeats, Afro-pop, or Afro-romance, anything basically, it should sell.
You’re never a complete RnB/romance/love artist if you haven’t experienced at least two heartbreaks. And here’s the icing on the cake, the moment Nonso breaks your heart, Yemisi cheats on you, or Ibinabo goes to the village and comes back as a fully married woman, you should be in the studio, shedding tears and pouring your heart out in that studio. As an artist of this caliber, it is important to sing through pain. You can’t always make love songs, you should flex with heartbreak music, and while at it, you should be deep about it. Rage should be littered in your voice while at it too, remember the end goal— to sell your music.
You see how relatively easy it is to compose love songs as an emerging artist, and to decidedly maintain this line? It’s nothing deep, it just borders down to your experience and your character buildup. Here’s the sad truth— you either have it in you or not.
For those who have ticked our easy peasy boxes in this guide, well, congratulations! Don’t forget to make your music to perfection, and promote it with everything in you. We’re rooting for you, and soon, you’ll be in the same room as the likes of Chike, Johnny Drille, amongst others.
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