These are the 10 throwback Nigerian songs that remind about childhood.
If there’s one thing we 90s if babies have heard aplenty is the fact that we’re gradually becoming old, and here are the 10 throwback Nigerian songs that remind about childhood.
Our responsibilities tell us but so do our memories. These memories might not all be pleasant but we can all agree that times were better then, as we lived in a world where knowledge of the latest lyric lines and not shiny jewelry or ice was all that was required to be considered cool and in vogue.
In honour of children’s day and to continue to keep our inner child bright-eyed and alive, here are 15 Nigerian throwback songs from the noughties, 2000 to 2009, that remind us of times of our childhood.
Throwback: 10 Nigerian songs that remind about childhood
Why Me – D’banj
If you don’t have active memories of screaming “File ah, she no gree!” And the entire lines of the song with possibly even more vim than the singer, D’banj, then this list would be more of a fun educational trip and not a nostalgic one.
For 90s babies, this 2006 released song was the signal of a good party time at a friend’s birthday or in the classroom.
Close to You – Mo’Hits
Anytime this Mo’Hits crew song dropped, girls everywhere dedicated their waists to whining off the hook, in appreciation of the frenetic beats. And boys whipped out their coolest party-scatter moves.
Released in 2009, Close to You was everybody’s jam even if most of us were yet to feel such longing for another.
Kiss Your Hand rmx – R2Bees feat. Wande Coal
Wande Coal’s debut project Mushin to Mo’Hits is regarded a classic by every 90s kid. This is a status it earned due to the quality of songs on the album.
Quiet a number became hits but none was as seismic as the remix to Kiss Your Hand with Ghanaian group, R2Bees.
Like jollof rice, this song brought Ghana and Nigeria together in a refreshing way and had us chanting every word of the record.
Yahooze – Olu Maintain
A good number of us may have been too naive to understand the source of the wealth Olu Maintain sang about it in his 2007 hit, Yahooze, but we definitely knew the song was a jam.
And so we’d perfected our two-fingers-in-the-air move, adding as much ‘effizi’ as we could in a bid to be crowned best dancer.
L’ori Le – X Project
This song has never failed to re-ignite excitement and energy into the bodies of dancers and party going 90s babies since it dropped in 2008.
Whenever the heavy synth-infused trumpet instrumentals come on, even till date, it officially becomes the time to show up and show out your Alanta skills while sprinkling in some upper body action as well.
Olufunmi – Styl Plus
A pop rager filled with a lovers’ angst we didn’t know anything about. But we definitely didn’t let this stop us from singing wholeheartedly to the song and even feeling the feels while in the process.
It’s safe to say Stylplus with this 2003 banger, gave many of us a soft introduction into the rollercoaster emotion that is love.
Nfana Ibaga – 2Baba
2Baba, who was then known as 2Face, started this song’s hook with the lines
“Wake up in the morning and I stretch up my feet, say a thank you prayer and I brush up my teeth” and that was all we needed to make the song into the soundtrack of our every waking moment as well as the spark to our dreams and ambitions.
This was also everyone’s introduction to 2Face as he broke out in 2014 with this song before going on to give us even greater hits.
Mr President – African China
Well before the advent of legwork movements like shaku shaku and zanku, a galala wave had swept the nation and had made people put in rhythmic legwork to tracks of reggae and dancehall.
One of such tracks we’d done the galala to then is African China’s thought-evoking, socially-conscious, Mr President.
Sadly despite the song being 15 years old, it still captures the poor state of the country.
So while we 90s babies might now have rusty galala, we make sure to sing our hearts out as energetically as any galala move, to this record.
Kerewa – Zule Zoo
This is one of the songs where everyone has a personal memory of singing along to the explicit and colourful lyrics and afterward suffering some African-parent given punishment for daring to sing such.
Ironically, the theme wasn’t about sex but the now amplified topic of rape.
A realisation many of us were then too naive to make back in 2005 when it was a hit.
Fire on the Mountain – Asa
Indeed Asa’s breakout song is one we enjoyed but now serves to remind us of the poor state things have continued to be in since 2007 when it was released and even before.
But beyond the obvious message of the song that is yet to be heeded, lies for the 90s baby, tonnes of happy memories that reminds us of our introduction to the ethereal melodies of Asa.