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Nigerians don’t respect Hip Hop – Rapper, Odumodublvck
Budding rap sensation, Tochukwu Ojogwu professionally known as Odumodublvck has voiced his concerns about the lack of respect for the hip-hop genre and its artists in Nigeria.
In a recent interview with the CTRL Room, he recounted his experiences as a struggling artist when organizers didn’t offer him seats at award events.
The ‘Declan Rice‘ hitmaker also revealed that he once declined his team’s suggestion to collaborate with the afrobeats superstar, Davido, as a means to gain fame. Instead, Odumodublvck chose to align himself with UK grime rappers whose genre better suited his artistic vision.
Odumodublvck said; “In 2019, someone [in my team] said we should go to Lagos and meet Davido. But I was like, ‘What will Davido do for me? Even if Davido takes me to America and puts me on stage and I’m rapping my stuff, his fans won’t understand because they are afrobeats fans.’
“But these guys: Teezee, BOJ, and Sholz, are the pipeline to the UK market. And those are the closest guys I sound like internationally. So why don’t I follow that route to get to wherever I want to get to?’
“I was like, I don’t need Davido for anything now. Let me follow people that align with my vision. And that was how we just came together and we’re here now. Number one in the country against all odds. Tell them, they’ve to respect that thing. Because we went for an award show and we didn’t even have seats. They don’t respect hip-hop in Nigeria. They don’t respect us.”
Odumod expressed his agreement with Wizkid’s controversial statement that “hip-hop is dead.” He echoed the sentiment by stating, “I was tremendously happy about Wizkid’s statement… Hip-Hop was dead.”
This perspective reflects the ongoing discussions about the state of hip-hop and its relevance in the Nigerian music industry.