In 2017, Feyi Fawehinmi wrote an iconic essay on the state of Nigerian music. In this essay, he examined the role pop culture can play in documenting history. Fawehinmi’s points, especially on Nigerian pop culture, were valid for a lot of reasons. The identity of Nigerian music worldwide as it is now is of no-worries and pure groove. While this is an accurate representation of the present era, there are some stories our musicians are giving inadequate documentation.
These stories are so important, however, the nature of our society means most of them are repressed. Therefore, for any historian willing to revisit this era, the available documentation may prove problematic and even misleading, because beneath the shiny tales of women shaking bum bum and putting money on somebody’s head are more gloomy tales.
“It’s perhaps useful that so many Nigerian songs today have verses about ‘bank alerts’. Future historians might find this useful in documenting the spread of mobile banking in this era. But broadly, when you listen to Nigerian songs today, it is hard to see what it is that they are writing down for historians of tomorrow.” — FF (2017).
Olamide’s highly controversial song, “Science Student” is one of those few songs digging up the gloomy tales. Immediately after its release, there was an embargo slammed on it by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), because it supposedly glorified drug abuse.
It seems odd that, as a music community, we are more comfortable with Afropop songs documenting us as party people and womanisers than drug abusers. However, I hope we can all agree that the country has a drug problem among its youth. Yet, we choose not to talk about it. Our high-context culture makes it difficult to say things as it is. This makes the argument that Olamide should have been explicit in condemning drug abuse fall flat.
There is no glorification of drug abuse in the song. Both in the aspect of language and technique. “Science Student” is both judgmental and mocking in tone. Perhaps, a viable argument against the song would be the seemingly cavalier disposition towards the subject of drug abuse because of its vibe-y beat. Even at that, it is still erroneous to say the song was calculated to promote drug abuse.
Eruku ti poju, asiri tu /
Afefe fe atiri furo mother nature /
Gobe ti sele asiri tu /
— Original lines from “Science Student”
There’s too much smoke, the secret is open /
We’ve seen what you’re trying to keep secret /
Trouble has happened, your secret is out /
— Translated lines from “Science Student”
Olamide is Yoruba and he approached the subject of drug abuse the way regular Yoruba folk would, in a high-context way, of which most Nigerian cultures are that way too. Yoruba people are not explicit: You simply discern and pick yours from the message. This is what Olamide did in “Science Student”.
For effect, the rapper created actual characters, then he became a passer-by in the story he has chosen to tell. This enabled him to cast warning to them in a way that stings.
Khadija se wo mo’n wo lo kan yi, iwo omo ti mummy ran lo s’Harvard /
Ore mi, you dey okay, you dey alright are you really sure /
Tori bo se’n gbese yi, e dey wavy lai shey Frank Ocean /
— Original lines from “Science Student”
Khadija, are you not the one I’m looking so? You that your mother sent to Harvard [University] /
My friend are sure you’re all right? /
Because the way you’re moving, you’re wavy, when you’re not Frank Ocean /
— Translated lines from “Science Student”
The rapper went further in the song:
Eluku, mede mede, tramadol lo n mu bi tonic water yi.
Olamide is surprised to find Eluku, who is most likely Lukmon popping Tramadol as if it’s something harmless like tonic water.
Throughout the song, the tone and his choice of words are riddled with dissociation. In the hook, he uses the word “won” which is roughly Yoruba for “them”, he could have used the word “ah” which is “we”. Olamide is condemning people who abuse drugs—most of who are his fans—in a way that the is not offending. While doing so, he is also getting them to dance.
In addition, the effectiveness of this style is underrated. His target audience know the song word for word. They would dance to it and it would stick. And in their moment of sobriety and introspection, the whole message would crystalise. They would eventually know he was not hailing them after all. Discernment may take time, especially because of the lack of a call to action in the song itself.
The intention of Olamide is clear in “Science Student”. The good thing about the song is that it brought attention to a discourse most of us do not intend to have. By doing this, Olamide has written down relevant material for future historians to refer to whenever they want to revisit this particular era.