THE CLASH OF THE NIGERIAN HIP-HOP HEAVYWEIGHTS
It’s no news that there has been a subsisting rivalry between two Nigerian hip-hop veterans , Jude Abaga popularly known as M.I Abaga and Olanrewaju Ogunmefun professionally known as Vector Tha Viper. They arrived on the scene at almost identical times as part of the new generation of rappers and despite having differing fortunes they are two of the most recognizable rappers in their generation, a fact agreed upon by fans all over Nigeria. However, a war has been declared by both parties in recent times and speculations from fans tend to expose that it is as a result of a rivalry that has been brewing for about a decade since the onset of their musical career.
The Evolution of the Feud
Background research on the career path of both rap artistes have shown that the rivalry began from as far back as 2006 when the duo began to hit the limelight. It could be observed that Vector, being predominantly known in the western part of Nigerian (Lagos specifically) started to gain mainstream relevance before M.I, who was majorly known for his music in the North. As they say, “Lagos is where it all happens” and as such Vector gained more popularity in the hip-hop music industry, way before M.I did. However, a twist of fate saw a rise in M.I’s musical career when in 2008 he released the now iconic track titled ‘Safe’ featuring Djinee which was then corroborated by his classic album ‘Talk About It’ and two awards at the MTV Music Awards in 2009. In turn, Vector proved his resistance to defeat in a 17 track debut album, tagged ‘State of Surprise’, which sparked the interest of fans, particularly on track six where he referred to M.I as a “Kid”.
Fast forward to 2017, when further speculations of rivalry began to arise when Vector in an on-air interview with Cool FM addressed M.I stating that he was wrong to have recorded his track ‘You Rappers Should Fix Up Your Lives’ which had lyrics and verses fired at Vector nay every Nigerian rapper. Although the duo have appeared on songs together, they have never really featured each other.
Other speculations as to the origin of the “beef” were that the artistes were both popular liquor brand ambassadors, M.I being that of Martell and Vector, that of Hennessey, with the latter perceived as a more successful and bigger brand. However, it was said that M.I was infuriated at Vector’s repeated display of incompetence in handling the more successful brand in the Cypher business as such he felt that being the more successful rapper in the music industry, he deserved the position at Hennessey instead.
Another issue that solidified the speculations was the tweet by South African rapper, AKA about South Africa’s loss to Nigeria on July 11th , 2019. As it is often the case with Twitter, the Tweet was unearthed months later and it sparked an uproar of attacks tracing his statement to the xenophobic attacks in September. M.I, in his tweet made it clear that he was in support of AKA and that the tweets were simply misconstrued which saw a response from Vector asking him to “sit down”.
Again, there was the ‘Headliners’ segment of the 2019 Henessey Cyphers in August 2019 where Vector deliberately featured M.I’s brother, Ice Prince and also where he rapped the following lyrics: “I’m here to rap, you scared to die, you p***y… I’d rather lyrical bars over Sarz killing the things, over trying to trade bars over alcoholic drinks. Your period of drought, this is your summer days. “We know the sun dey hammer you now… And the whole world has heard you subbing me in other ways, but we all know you shading me won’t keep your sun away…” The “period of drought” possibly referring to M.I’s failure to produce a mainstream hit and his vacation from office as the Chocolate City Music CEO and Boss.
In response, M.I fired heavier shots at Vector on the Martell Cypher II: Purification which dropped on September 10th 2019 where he stated the following lyrics in a verse: “Hi hater, I hear you talking…” and continued with, “When you’re ready, it will be a seismic event, I think you chicken though ‘cuz chickens only lie with their hands…” He also referred to the Hennessy cypher as boring and likened it to an economic event or an oil drill.
The Release of Diss Tracks
At this point, speculations are no longer being made as to the conflict and rivalry between the hip-hop artistes as it is made clear through the direct jabs being thrown by the both parties via diss tracks. It all started on September 20th, 2019, when vector released ‘The Purge’, a diss tack aimed at M.I which featured Vadar and Payper who took turns in firing their shots and clearing the air on several events that took place in preceding months. The release of this track made social media go wild.
M.I practically trivialized the release by posting a parody image of the cover art and leaking the track, an effort which arguably took some sting off the track.
Subsequently, Vector went on to release another diss track a few days later, titled: ‘Tetracycling’ in which he continued with a flow of shots at M.I and his rapping skills by stating that: “Mr Incredible…you get your lines online you’re a Konga rapper”
It is often said that the internet never forgets and shortly afterwards it was revealed that “Tetracycling” was actually a freestyle from 2017
On October 5th, 2019, M.I released a track in response to Vector’s preceding diss tracks which is titled: ‘The Viper’ or the ‘Letter to Vector’, which he says isn’t a diss track but a lesson, and unarguably schooled Vector whom he kept referring to as ‘Lanre’ and this sparked a massive social media reaction.
Social Media Reactions to the Feud
The ongoing feud between the Nigerian hip-hop heavyweights has created a buzz on social media. Also, like a game of chess, it’s keeping everyone anticipated on the next move. Here are some tweets and reactions:
The Significance of the Feud to the Nigerian Hip-hop Industry
As it may be observed, conflict is an inevitable human occurrence and it is only natural for competition to arise in any successful industry or entity. Although it is stated that the Nigerian hip-hop industry should be focused at establishing consistent mainstream relevance, hip-hop feuds are also a way of making sure that this is possible as it creates notoriety and popularity. It, may be perceived as a distraction which tends to hamper the creativity of the sensitive artistes but in actuality, any hip-hop artiste who is capable of getting distracted by diss tracks and feuds may not be successful after all.
With an increased technological growth and social media evolution, these feuds can in some way or the other, put the Nigerian hip-hop industry on the map thereby allowing contending parties the chance to express themselves while the world listens.
The ongoing feud has created a buzz which the artistes have used to (re)fuel their careers. For instance, M.I recently tweeted that all his albums are currently being featured on the Apple Music Top 100 chart.
And that he will be going on a ‘No Snakes Tour’ later in November.
Also, Vector tweeted that a collaboration with music star, Davido, is on the way in a track titled ‘Comfort’.
This goes to show that the more viral the diss tracks and feuds are, the more friction is created and- if managed well- can lead to worldwide streaming and huge musical contracts and shows for the Nigerian hip-hop artistes.
Nonetheless, feuds and diss tracks should never be seen as the basis for Nigeria’s hip-hop culture and industry.
By Asiana Ijeoma [Tweets @IjeomaAsiana] for Urban Central.
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