It’s not news that Twitter has been banned by the Federal Republic of Nigeria for some issues relating to the deletion of the President’s tweet. While agreeing that the decision should be reviewed due to the negative impact it would pose to our economy and reputation as a country, we have enough evidence of the positive effects the app has brought to the lives of many Nigerians, especially in the music industry. Over the years, we have seen talented creatives take advantage of the interconnecting power that Twitter possesses; which birthed the popular saying “it’s not just Twitter”. This article would look at the Twitter effect in the career rise of three reigning stars, Buju, Blaqbonez & Fave, and attempt to unveil their personal strategies in the use of the app.
Boujie Buju
Daniel Benson aka Buju became popular in 2018, but his day one fans have known him and his involvement in music since secondary school, where he performed at various valedictory services. Catch a vibe, released in February 2018, was his first major single after rebranding from “Drizzle” to “Beauty Underneath Just Understood (Buju)”. However, it wasn’t till he featured Zlatan in 2019 that his fame grew rapidly. Twitter was an instrumental tool in this feature because his friends and fans urged him to shoot his shot at Zlatan, and on the 27th of June 2019, he tweeted “I really need a verse from Zlatan” with a snippet of his hit single “Spiritual”, which Zlatan saw and hopped on it immediately he could. Since then, his talent has gained him a spot in the limelight which began with just a tweet. He has since gone on to release his most popular song to date “Lenu”, which caught the attention of his role model Burnaboy, who signed him immediately to Spaceship records and hopped on a remix which has ravaged the Nigerian airwaves since its inception. Buju is currently charting 3 songs in the top 10 (one single, two features) on Nigeria’s official Top 100 Chart, including the number 1 song “Feeling” featuring Ladipoe. He could be said to be a benefactor of the supernatural powers that Twitter wields.
Brilliant Blaqbonez
Akumefule Chukwuemeka aka EmekaTheeStallion came into the Nigerian hip-hop scene without any respect to his predecessors, claiming he is the best rapper in Africa. Many laughed and didn’t take him seriously as they believed it was for clout, but they failed to see through the game plan this brilliant rapper was unveiling. His constant tweets asserting supremacy in the rap game raised a sizeable amount of buzz on him, which made people inquire into the actual quality of his music and listen to him; and of course, most people who did were hooked to his distinct sound. From Mamiwota, Shut up, Haba, and BBC, to his cyphers and rap gigs, Blaqbonez delivered hits on hits to keep his newly formed army satisfied. The most amazing thing about his recent success is the strategy he employs to stay relevant and keep his songs charting, which all points to how he has fine-tuned the power Twitter has to work for him. Blaqbonez creates funny but intelligent short videos that trend on Twitter, and in turn trends the theme of the particular song he is promoting, and creates a wave of attention to what he is selling. Part of the success of his current album “Sex Over Love” can heavily be attributed to the power Twitter possesses, and of course to the talent of the engine which is Blaqbonez. Bling, which features Buju and the amazing Amaarae, earned the number 1 spot on Nigeria’s official Top 100 Chart as a result of the brilliance of Blaqbonez and his management in the use of Twitter.
A Fave.
Many of us know her through her viral twitter videos, serenading us with her blessed vocal cords, but there are a lot of things we don’t know about our fave artiste. Favour Chidozie, who is remarkably still an undergraduate of Obafemi Awolowo University (law student), started out by putting up short freestyles on her Twitter. Her obvious talent and constant motivation from friends and followers to put out more music encouraged her to drop two singles; MOMMS and DAL. These didn’t get as much buzz as she would have wanted because she was still a newbie then. The moment she recognized the power that the bird app possesses, she got her big break. Fave began dropping freestyles on twitter more frequently, and was able to organically grow her fanbase and Twitter followers to about 10 thousand following in just a year. Her hit single NBU, which was first released as a freestyle, gained 225k views and 1.3 million impressions on Twitter, and was afterwards dropped as a single. The industry big boys noticed and recognized her illuminating talent, resulting to top echelon collaborations with BOJ and music producer Sess on the Mainland Block Party Confluence project. Since then, Fave’s career has been upward and forward, releasing a viral single “Beautifully” in 2021, and securing a distribution deal with Empire. It’ll interest you to know she has been confirmed to be on Olamide’s upcoming album UY SCUTI. The truth is you cannot be an average artiste, and get to feature on not only one, but two songs on an Olamide album; even Baddo recognizes a real one.
At the end of the day, it’s never “just Twitter”, and there are thousands of case studies that follow this same theme. More people are realizing, and taking advantage of the enormous power social media has in intelligently propagating their craft to their target audience, and the world in general. Without an iota of doubt, Twitter has been an instrumental tool in the rise and propagation of the careers and businesses of numerous benefactors. On behalf of the stories untold and the veiled creatives waiting for their chance at the spotlight, the appeal goes to the government to review the resolution to indefinitely ban Twitter.
Written by Alonge Dominic for the 49thStreet
