1| PORTABLE: The Unconventional Side of Afrobeats
The consideration of Portable as a rookie in matters bordering Afrobeats is very demeaning to the influence the singer holds in Nigerian pop culture. Since Portable achieved spotlight, he has contributed to the growth of popular culture in Nigeria than every other artiste combined.
The following expressions have found their way on to the social media space since his rise in December, 2021: o tun ti zehh, bo card, dem go rip you, are you mad or something?, you blow reach me?, you dey whine?, shoe gbangba, bata Yahoo, na me get zazoo, poco tua, wahala wahala wahala, who go epp o?, I live in the zoo, can't you praise God? etc.
The "Idamu Adugbo", as he proudly calls himself, has maintained the intensity of the atrocities that handed him fame. For this consistency, it is not a mistake that Portable is the realest musician in Afrobeats.
One of the most remarkable traits in his behavior is his defiance against the norm of the industry. This refusal to be conventional rapidly built the belief that the singer would not transcend his debut hit, Zazoo Zehh, for daring to challenge the excesses of a more famous head deeply rooted in the politics of the industry; Poco Lee. Many Nigerians swore about this on the back of sentiments.
Portable is the most perfect example of what show business represents. The Osun State indigene dubbed "street" has always found a way to sell himself. Two years and counting in the industry, the husband of two boasts of numerous cars and a studio/label artistically named Zehh Nation.
Portable is the most controversial artiste Nigerian mainstream music ever witnessed. Those comparing him to Terry G on the note of "madness" always fail to realize that Portable's behavioral waywardness is not limited to his music alone.
Portable could have earned the most fearless Nigerian artiste but for the jealous history of Fela's activist stubbornness in the face of military repression. An aggressive Portable once stood up against a pack of policemen: in the heat of the controversy, the singer took a break to bastardize himself as a "baboon" live on camera. He would later appear to pay bails at the court at Ifo Local Government, Ogun State.
As ridiculous as it may sound, Portable holds the record as the first Nigerian artiste to perform at a gas station. 2022 was largely political for the singer whose careless campaign put him at loggerheads with Davido, one of the industry's giants.
On some counts, Dr Zehh is a judge assessing the blushes of his colleagues in the industry; Seyi Vibez, Wizkid, Buju, Ruger, Poco Lee and many others were once victims of his regular rants on the internet. On others, he is a beggar acknowledging the mercy of more senior colleagues like Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido.
Speaking of the singer's art, the sound is a form of Afrobeats that largely amplifies the ideologies of the ghetto areas of Nigeria; slangs and some level of what is termed 'craze' by the sacramental characterize this unrefined music.
Most importantly, Portable's discography has produced about three wildly accepted hits in two years. These are Zazoo Zehh, Apostle and Azaman, off different bodies of work respectively.
Endorsement apart, Portable's active career would have known more flowers and adornments had he not lost his nods at the 2022 Headies Awards, in connection to his confession to being a cult founder.
