10 Years After Talk About It: The lost savior and appreciating the past of a tainted present.

Let’s talk about how people no longer appreciate lyricism but instead are in awe of philosophical mimicry from their artistes without really knowing half of the things he/she is talking about.

Let’s talk about how your MCM who last year went on tirade on how his peers in the Nigeria Hip-Hop scene need fixing up but no one caught on to the truth that he needed them to take the route he took, and actually get a fix, swapping lyrical grit for lethargic poetry.

Yes, let’s talk about the man, M.I Abaga aka Mr. Incredible aka The Chairman aka the rapper who made “Safe” and blew everyone’s mind with his unprecedented lyricism when he had first burst onto the hip-hop scene back in 2008. Subsequently, that same year he also released his debut album “Talk about it” and like the famous snap of Thanos’ fingers, he basically obliterated every competition in the rap scenery at that time.

The beauty of M.I’s appearance on the rap scene was not because he brought anything typically unheard of before with regards the art form but more because he embodied the complexity of the rap form and yet made it so simple without diluting its potent powers. Yes, that description sounds wishy-washy when re-read. However, my point is that when we had to listen to Mode-9 weave through lyricism without him not actually caring whether we followed or not, M.I held our hands with the needle and guided us as he threaded impeccable flows and delivery, almost making us, the listeners, feel like a part of the sewing process itself.

There are some who today crown M.I as the pioneer of rap music and one of our best rap export to the world and they would be almost right if there hadn’t already been names like Mode 9, eLDee, Freestyle and a couple of others, who for a long time felt as though they had the kind of divinity-esque feel in their artistry, which could save Nigerian rap from total extinction. Little did we know that these fellows were more John the Baptist in their efforts as compared to M.I, the soon to be savior.

And when the savior came onto the scene, he was a breath of fresh air because he made us understand that the art form of rap as a whole was not as complicated as we had thought it to be. Before his coming, a lot of us believed there was a kind of Holy of Holies – a certain je n’ais se quoi – which some select few possessed to be able to enjoy the art-form that was rap. Thus, in order for our ears to be blessed by such surreal clarity of understanding, we needed to pay obeisance to an ordained few who would intercede, as it were, on our behalf and then come back with reports of great tidings and possible instructions, cue Cally Ikpe (New Live Beat) entering the scene.

Mostly, back then to us listeners, our love of rap was reliant on the reverence we had for our indigenous rappers more than our appreciation of what the art form is. It was simple: we listened to the foreigners rap and any one of our indigenous fellows that sounded something close to what the foreigners sounded like was seen to be on a clergy-like pedestal -they were like the Chief Priests, one could say. And when Chief Priest, Mode 9, rapped some complex wordplay that our ears couldn’t grasp but which sounded just as sophisticated as what Jay-Z said one time, we did not bother trying to decipher the meaning; we just hailed him as wise and most-knowing and kept the sour-taste in our mouth holy. No complaint – just good ole ignorance and shit.

But deep inside of us listeners, we craved for more. We wanted to see what was behind that Holy of Holies and basically I think we were just tired of seeing Cally Ikpe’s face every Friday night on AIT. So, what did we do? We prayed and prayed and asked for a messiah and voila, we got our very wish. Prior to MI’s arrival, Mode 9 already had at least three albums/LP’s and these were not just ordinary these were body of works that were as lyrically condensed and wholly sophisticated as where their respective titles. Please tell me that reading album names like “Pentium IX The Mixtape, E' Pluribus Unum and The Paradigm Shift” would not have made you want to sit at the rappers feat and feast on the knowledge you were sure he would drop. But personally, besides a few songs, I have no true recollection of a connection with any of these particular bodies of works and I totally loved Mode 9 –or maybe the idea of him. Also, I understand that I might be alone in this as I know there may have been some who were keen followers of the Chief Priest back then who had a more vibrant connection with his music. However, by a show of hands, please tell me one person who did not nearly, if not totally, memorize the words to M.I’s single with Djinee, “Safe”. Who?

Exactly, the rap messiah for Nigerian Hip Hop, as it were, arrived and “BOOM!” nothing else mattered. Only thing that mattered was that everybody was rapping to the same tune, coursing through the same motions as some of us rapped rhythmically with him saying:

Listen y’all, yo! Mo gbono feli feli, I’m spitting like Machiavelli
I’m always inside your telly, your lyrics are smelly-smelly
I’m chilling in Pelly Pelly, I’m chilli inside your belly

Not only did it sound catchy, it was also quite deft in its near nonsensicality as well. Then there were some of us, due to our licentious tendencies, who were more drawn to lines like:

Yup, you can only watch like a movie
Ruby, I’mma milk the game like a booby

All in all, he summed up the entire messianic take over when he raps:

The flow persistent and so consistent
Other rappers distant, they should have listened
Because I’m the engine room and the gear and the piston

It was cocky, boisterous, but without the noise of arrogance; and it was damn right true. He was the engine room to move the game forward. And we were all witnessing it: the Messiah’s long waited reign and the seeming end to our oppressive trappings within the confines of ignorance with regards what the art-form entails. MI rescued everyone and showed us that rap was not as scary to understand as the Chief Priest’s alluded. He let us know that we did not need to have a special kind of access to enjoy the fluidity of flows and cadence, neither did we need to learn at anyone’s feet to be exposed to the unique clarity of word-play and punchlines. The Messiah had come to save us all and show us the new way. And, without a moment hesitation, we were ready to follow him to paradise.

Fast forward ten years later and the Messiah’s latest body of work titled “A Study on Self Worth: Yxng Dxnzl” has him worrying about himself whilst shrouding his ego in the over flogged rhetoric of “depressions and struggles with fame” aka “wokeness”. Yes, it would appear that in 2018, our messiah has discovered that he could rhyme “ecology” with “biology” and “mythology” and somehow that would make him closer to the Chief Priests of the old days and maybe adding “Nubian” would make the rapper, Nas, more likely to refund his money for a feature.

Yes, it would appear also that in 2018, our messiah has had a rethink of his stance and instead of towing the path of lyrical liberation that he so carefully championed and pioneered, he would rather regress and take us back to the days where reverence for the unknown was considered bliss.

Indeed, it would appear to seem that four albums and three mixtapes later, our Messiah decided he no longer wanted to make good music. Instead, he opted to make the next best thing: veritable sound laced with lackluster poetry that would be so skewed and ambiguous, people would have no choice but to term it a “masterpiece”. It was the same route the Chief Priests of the rap game had earlier taken when most of the listening populace were still blinded by ignorance. But no one would have expected that our messiah would take a U-turn, especially since his arrival on the scene had been the very reason why a revolution had begun and today we now have, intelligible and marketable rappers like A-Q, Vector, Show Dem Camp, Boogey, Eclipse, etc.

But maybe the listeners were the problem right from the start. Maybe we were so lost in the euphoria of his first coming we believed that there had to be a second coming. The Messiah’s return had come after a brief hiatus from the rap scene, for a long time he had teased his return and like the biblical book of Revelation, he had prophesied the burning demise of all those who had laid claims to his throne without actually obeying his tenets and laws. So, as faithfuls, we anticipated his return to the rap scene like the rapture; expecting to be caught off guard when he drops down and to be whisked away into the skies, our bodies floating in blissful serenity as we gasped in awe of the kind of lyrical and sonic greatness that would take us back to the first time we heard “Safe”.

But that was never to happen.

Don’t get me wrong though, the rapture did happen. People literally were swept off their feet in awe as he, the messiah, dropped “A Study on Self Worth: Yxng Dxnzl”. But there are now fewer faithfuls gathered around his religion because some of us have decided to move on to other religions. Why? Well, it just became too difficult trying to reconcile the person we knew and looked up to back when we needed liberation to the one who has returned and seems more lost than we ever were.

But like I said, maybe we the listeners were the problem from the start insomuch that we forgot that there is no salvation without sacrifice. Some of us are of the opinion that “M.I has lost it” (I am) and only now do I realize the double entendre behind that statement.

M.I aka Mr. Incredible has indeed lost it because he made the ultimate sacrifice and for this most of us are grateful and would always remain in his debt, even from far across the waters of the new religion we have chosen to follow. And Epictetus says it best when he says, “All religions must be tolerated…for every man must get to heaven his own way”.

So, on its Tenth year anniversary, I encourage anyone reading this to go back and listen to the messiah’s first album “Talk about it”. He saved us with this classic. Let’s hope someone saves him from himself soon enough.

By Mifa for Urban Central, Tweets @Mifaunuagbo_

Remember you can also follow us on Twitter @TheUrbanCentral

If you enjoyed this story, please click the 👏 button and share to help others find it! Feel free to leave a comment below.