The Peacock and the Egg [Featured Artiste: Midnight Crew]

Male Peacock / Image Credit: Flickr
Do you remember that age-old question, “Which comes first: the chicken or the egg”? Well, I thought about it recently and frankly I don’t care which comes first as long as they all end up well-cooked and seasoned on my plate (*dodges tomatoes, lettuce and even okra from animal lovers*). But I decided to name this blog post “The Peacock and the Egg” for two reasons:

1.  I wanted an excuse to put up a picture of a peacock on my blog (How shallow…I know *covers face with hands*); and

2.  I was thinking of music videos and how they remind me of peacocks.  Oya, let me explain.

The Nigerian music industry as a whole has undergone a serious makeover in the last couple of years in terms of audio quality, but the music videos have made this even more obvious.  If you examine the quality (not necessarily the content….leave that one for now) of music videos today, they tend to be much better than they were about 10 years ago.  Agreed? The music video is not just the next logical step after releasing the audio version of a song on radio; it is a very potent marketing tool.  At least, I think so (*smiles*).  Music videos today tend to be quite colorful and well…interesting.  The gospel music videos are of course not left out. You don’t just see some sisthren and brethren wearing gloves and waving (or worse still dancing “choreography”) anymore.  Well, “anymore” is too general.  Let’s just say it is on the decline! The videos are actually now more…emmm… “watchable” and presentable.  




BUT, yours truly has noticed that too many artistes come up with music videos without working on the quality of the audio version of the song.  It is like they feel that the video will make up for the “sorry-ness” of the song.  As in….the audio (quality and content) is just … BAD! And then, they go and release a music video for the same song, complete with collabos with other gospel artistes *smh*  The collabo is not bad; but doing a collabo on top of a bad song is just like watching a train wreck….that keeps getting worse….and worse....and worse….

My own two kobo is this:  Although the egg of the peacock looks nothing like the peacock (the male one, at least) because it is dull and unattractive, the beautiful peacock will emerge from it (*Say What!*) …. *slaps forehead*… WHAT?!!! LOL! Sorry, I was trying to make up a proverb (an “owe”) and failed miserably.

Peacock Eggs / Image Credit: Flickr
In plain English, gospel artistes (and artistes in general) need to go back to the drawing board and focus on making good music.  Make sure the quality of the song (that includes lyrics, music production, etc) is really good, especially since for the most part, that is what people interact with, i.e. people listen to the audio version of a song more often than they watch the video.  The music video should come AFTER doing a good job on the audio.  Alright, with my unsolicited advice and input catapulted into cyberspace, I can now end this blog post with a song (see below) *whistling and walking over to the next section*

Featured Artiste: Midnight Crew

As much as possible, I try to feature artistes who might not be well-known on this blog, because I believe they deserve a chance (several chances, I daresay) to share their talent with us.  Today’s featured artiste (should I say “artistes” instead since they are more than 1? *shrugs shoulders*), or maybe I should call them a gospel music group is called Midnight Crew.  

Midnight Crew / Image Credit: MySpace
[Left - Right: Michael Abdul, Odunayo Ojo, Patricia Uwaje-King, Gbenga Oyebola]
I am pretty certain A LOT of us are familiar with them and do not need any introduction, but for those who don’t know, they sang that popular song (*Golly! How helpful! *sarcastic smirk to myself*) called IGWE.  *clears throat and starts singing*

Ko s’Oba bire
K’osi Baba bi re
Ko ma s’Olorun bi re
I-G-W-E!

Okay, enough of my singing.  I recently came across a song off their new album.  The song is called “E Gimme Money” (you might recognize some familiar lyrics in there from another popular song by a secular artiste *laughs*) and it was produced by Music Producer Extraordinaire, FLO (Real Name: Nathan Akinwunmi Akiremi).  I think Flo did a pretty good job on this track, don’t you? Alright, listen to the track and judge for yourself. 

Here is also some information on Midnight Crew:


Group Stage Name:  Midnight Crew

Group Members’ Real names: Michael Abdul, Odunayo Ojo, Patricia Uwaje-King, Gbenga Oyebola


Featured Song: E Gimme Money

I hope you enjoyed the song as much as I did. Have a fantastic weekend!

hummm... I honestly don't know how I feel about the song, I think the first minute of a song is always the most critical, if you cant capture people attention by then there is a problem. The rap in the song isn't bad. You have made a very good point with this post, artists need to work more on the actual songs.

9jaFOODie

I agree that Nigerian artistes need to work on content. But they will tell you that is 'rubbish' that sells these days, so they have to go with the flow. Honest truth

I agree with you. Sincerely, I don't know why the Nigerian music industry seem to have gone watered down recently. The music videos sometimes are even poorer than the audio. Have you not heard a wonderful audio and see a worse video? That's what happens when quantity seem to have become the watchword over quality.

- LDP

9jaFoodie:

It's okay! Maybe if you listen to it a few more times, you'll change your mind *wide grin*

I see what you mean about the first minute (it was like they were just buying time), but the hook for me is IT, and that's what stuck in my head.  The rap is just okay (it could be much better, I agree). The quality of the audio version is critical ... Next stop, music videos -- those need to be more creative!

@ilola:
I can imagine that that is the reply I would get ... for real.  If all they want to do is make money from these records, then by all means they can sell make 'rubbish' music.  But, I believe there is a market for music that is well though-out, deep and inspirational ... Not that that is all there is to music, of course.

LDP:

I don't know why either, but I would partially attribute it to a limited perspective.  Nigerian musicians seem to think there is just "ONE" way to make music, which essentially is copying Westerners and "injecting" some Naija flavour.  I know they can be much more creative than that....I just don't know if they see that possibility.

And yes, quality trumps quantity anyday, but people would argue that quality means "more expensive" but that isn't always the case.  

haha the beginning of that song made me LOL. E gimme my money o

Cor d'Harmonie

Wow I really love this song, besides the hilarious beginning. I like the rock thingy going on, and the rap. I think the producer did a really awesome job with mixing styles.

Cor d'Harmonie

LOL! Me too ... The song is full of humor.  I am happy to see you noticed that. 

By the way, it looks like it's your first time here.  Welcome! 

Aha! Someone who speaks my language.  The rock style was innovative as far as combining it with English and Yoruba.  The song kinda builds up and hits all the right spots. At least, I think so.  I am glad you love it too!  Thanks for stopping by!

haha yes it is, thnx!

Cor d'Harmonie

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