EVOLUTION OF RAP IN NIGERIA.

I remember back in 1998 when the remedies dropped the track "shako mo", people were still strongly hung up on foreign rap, that the song was not highly appreciated.
Although the song had its faults, like eedris abdul kareem rhyming with syllables we couldn't comprehend with. It was more of a mombo jumbo of words, but the delivery style could be comended. It grew on people, through the constant air-play on radio, but at that point you could not be caught dead listening to a Nigerian rap song, or a Nigerian song of any sought. That period, i can say, marked the begining of a big industry in Nigeria.
The remedies dropped a series of other singles like "shade", but it was still the same style of rapping from "eedris abdulkareem", not untill the trybes men, in 1999 dropped "shake body", that people started paying more attention to nigerian rap, and having a feeling that Nigeria could go places with the hip hop genre of music.
The group comprised of three rappers, eeldee the don, freestyle and kabom. There had mastered the rapping style of foreign east coast rappers like jay-z. Their songs, "shake body" and "who do this rapping" gained massive air play, but the rap scene was still not set in nigeria at that point. They got some shows, but had to market their cd's themselves, mostly in unilag, where eeldee and kabom were schooling.
The group got larger in 2000, with addition of "sasha", "too-shortz", "blaise" "sid", "timmy" and some other off and on rappers.
At the same time in abuja, there was an alliance of rappers building up collectively called swat roots. Comprising of "ld extra large" "modenine", "terry da rap man" "six foot plus", who were more into hard core rap.
Then, around 2001-2002, you had a series of off and on rappers. Rap had started gaining more airplay ON RADIO. Around 2003, you had "too shortz" of the trybes men hitting the airwazes with a lot of commercially successful songs. Around the same time, the trybes had the "oya" song which had like 8 verses from all the members, that had never been done before in a nigerian rap song.
The next big entry into the nigerian rap scene was rugged man, who gained his acclaim by taking lashes at fellow rappers that he felt were doing the rap thing all wrong, and music generally. Eedris abdul karem, mentain (olu, and tolu maintain), rasqui, were some of the artist he addressed in his song, "ehen".
People supported his movement, and it was like Nigerians had been deceived all this while, and rugged man brought a fresh breath of air. He has so far become successful with the rap music he does so well.
He and modenine are supposedly having a beef on who is the king of nigerian rap. They bought have a lot of supporters.
Other rappers that have made notable name for themselves are,naeto c, ikechukwu, lord of ajasa, sasha, weird mc. Naeto c had a big rap track earlier this year, "kini big deal" can be said to be the biggest rap song of the year.
Ikechukwu, his label mate (storm records), also had a big song aroud the begining of the year, "wind am well". The song featured both "d-banj" and "don jazzy".
There is also a long list of female rappers that feel the game is not to be played by the male sex alone. You have "sasha" formerly of trybes records, now on "storm records", "Kemistry", the presenter/rapper, "Blaise", the former trybes records artist, and underground queen of rap, "bouqui", the female gospel rapper, "weird mc",the aunty of them all (cos she has been doing it since 1994), and not to forget the new chic on the block, the finest of them all, "capital hills"one and only queen, "kel".
In the evolution of rap in naija, we cant leave out the super skilled gospel rap group "roof top mc's", that sprang up in the mid 2000's. They had a big hit earlier this year, "lagimo"
In 2008, the rapper to watch out for is the new kid on the block, the nasarawa based rapper, the messiah of rap in Nigeria, the must talked about rapper in any barber shop, the mixture of nas and jay-z in style, the one and only, M.I.
The kid has just two songs on airplay, he got everybody talking. Not only are his lyrics deep, his delivery is phenomenal. Watch out for him 2009.