if you are a Naira Marley fan, aka “Marlian”, sit back and read this new editorial!
It looks harmless- just ordinary dancing steps. Great legwork and body movements. Very rhythmic and colorful. It’s just a fad. And like all other fads, it will come, be around for a while and then expire. Ar least, we’ve had other fads and none lasted forever. Fads come and fads go. Another one will soon replace this Marlian Fad. Inside life. Right?
I’m not willing to accept this Marlian craze as just a fad. It’s not only banal but it actually plays down social vices such as fraud and debauchery. It goes beyond some seemingly harmless dancing steps. There is a very subliminal but subtle indoctrination going on that encourages rebellion and makes a fraudulent lifestyle acceptable.
Just listen to the lyrics of Am I A Yahoo Boy and lines like “Maga to fun mi lowo steady se Karin wa ko ma daru” (my victim pays me steadily and our relationship should not be disrupted) and then wonder why we have young people adopting the yahoo lifestyle? Or the debasement of womanhood in his song Yanyanyan with lines like “Your bi*ch calling my phone, tell that bi*ch leave me alone, See your girlfriend is a loose girl…That’s why I don’t trust her o, Anything wey you do with am, Make you use your rubber” and wonder how guys will respect ladies? Or his song Mafo with lines such as ” Mo shi fe high, after one original tramadol extra” (one original tramadol extra is not enough, I still want to be high) and wonder why we have a drug epidemic among the youth?
On his song Tingasa, he sang” Obo meiji fun eyan kan, Oyan merin two Nikan, eyin meta bed Kan, prostitute yato si porn star, killer yato si gangster, government yato si fraudster ” (I shudder to translate this- it celebrates orgy which is bad enough but the real subliminal message here is how a killer is different from a gangster- in other words, it’s okay to be a gangster than be a killer while it’s ok to be a fraudster than be in government the same way it’s okay to be a pornstar than be a prostitute).
Wait for his song aptly titled Bad Influence and hear the lyrics ” Can’t tell me what to do, smoke weed, fuck girls, what the fuck I want, I just want to be happy that is all I want”. Or his track Bang Bang that glorifies gun violence with lyrics as ” Safety off, no taking time, I’ll take your life cause word you ain’t taking mine, them nights send shots and they move back, my niggas send shots and they shoot back, boom boom, bang bang for your boom bang”. Can you see this cannot just be a harmless fad? Or is it the song Soapy that glamourizes masturbation while referring to everybody as ‘ole’ ( Ole l’everybody)?
Opotoyi is one of his worst. It’s a song that promotes debauchery, drugs and debases womanhood. Just imagine “Kilo femu, o ni kin fun on ni coke, Coke ke!, Mi or dealer mi, oun sniff, emi gbegbo senu, Ganja” ( I asked him what he wanted and he said Coke. My dealer is sniffing, as for me, I have my marijuana”. The same song also has ” Awon omo soak away, won ni ki n suck am well if I go the club, mo ma take away” (using derogatory words for women -omo soakaway). I guess I’ll just stop here.
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SEE ALSO: Naira Marley – Tesumole [Music]
We can all see the Marlians rules all over. Marlians don’t use belts. Marlians don’t graduate. Marlians don’t take instructions. Marlians don’t have home training. Very subtle but potent messages. It looks like fun but the effect will be very visible soon- young people who drop out of school, people hooked on drugs, gun violence, and a very rebellious generation.
If all these are not enough for anyone who wants to salvage the next generation to show some umbrage, then maybe we are too far gone on our journey to a totally damaged society. This is why I can’t simply understand well-respected people (and even brands) identifying as Marlians and inadvertently supporting a deranged music artist’s mission to destroy what is left of the next generation.
–Bayo Adeyinka