‘Living things’: metaphor and urban youth culture in Abolore Akande Adigun’s (9ice) hip hop music

ABSTRACT

Unarguably, hip hop has a wide acceptance among Nigerians. One of the obvious reasons for this is its fusion with some aspects of indigenous cultures and experiences. Despite the existence of several scholarly engagements on linguistic and identity formations in hip hop in Nigeria, there is however a need to further explore how the emerging urban youth lifestyles are coded in hip hop metaphor. Hence, in this paper, I focus on the music of Abolore Akande (9ice) and his use of metaphors to discuss urban lifestyles in the Nigerian social space. Through a qualitative analysis of his song texts, using Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor theory, I argue that these metaphors and their conceptual domains are discursive paradigms through which certain notions about sex, gender, social status and crime in contemporary Nigeria can be graphically visualized and understood. I conclude that rather than regarding them as meaningless, unmotivated or bare linguistic practices instantiated only for aesthetic consumption, metaphors in Naija hip hop are significant in grounding and projecting the thriving urban social realities in Nigeria.

KEYWORDS:

• Conceptual metaphors
• urban youth culture
• hip hop music
• 9ice
• Nigeria

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Even though there is no agreeable term to accurately label the brand or practice of hip hop in Nigeria, I refer to it in this paper as ‘Naija hip hop’ to capture the creative synchronization of the features of Nigerian indigenous music and hip hop. More importantly, these features include, but not limited to, the indigenous linguistic peculiarities of this brand of global hip hop that most times function as an index for Nigeria’s socio-cultural realities. ‘Naija’ being a coinage that colloquially or informally refers to everything that is Nigerian in practice and orientation forms a coherent merger or collocate with hip hop.

2. ‘ìsàlẹ̀’ is a Yorùbá word that literally means ‘down’. However, in certain contexts, it is used as an anatomical reference to the downward or below-belly position of penis to call attention to its size or weight. In a more metaphorical sense, it is used as an attention-seeking cognitive reference to the bodily place where the ‘real business’ of sex is transacted. Arguably, this meaning emerges from a sex-related idiomatic usage ‘ìsàlẹ̀ ni iṣẹ́ wà’ (Down is where the business or work is) in Yorùbá.

3. ‘Blow’ is a term commonly used not only by the youths but hip hop artists in Nigeria to represent their break out or success after surviving the ‘ruthless’ struggles and challenges posed by the competitive nature of the industry and other socio-economical problems of the country.

4. “Hard work“ is one of the socio-cultural constructs or standards that is required of every individual in most Nigerian cultures. For instance, the iconic place of this social virtue in the sociological mind of the Yorùbá race is perfectly etched in the classical Yorùbá poetry ‘ Isẹ́ L’ògùn Ìṣẹ́’ (1961) (Hard work is the antidote for poverty) written by one of the foremost Yoruba creative writers, J.F. Odunjo. The importance of this Yorùbá poetry is such that it was included in the popular Aláwiyé Yorùbá Primary Education Study Book II to teach pupils about the Yoruba ethics or morals of hard work.

5. ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ is etymologically coined from the web portal and search engine ‘Yahoo’ to refer to the act of defrauding unsuspecting people of their money and other valuables through the Internet. Yahoo mail system was very popular in the earliest period of Internet presence in Nigeria and many fraudsters used this system for their nefarious activities. Although many terms are used to refer to these people today, they are still commonly referred to as ‘yahoo yahoo’ boys.

6. One of the popular songs in which Segun Wire was featured is Walaitalai by Zlatan Ibile, released in 2016. The lyrics of this song are a reiteration of the strong resolve of most Nigerian youths who conceive ‘yahoo yahoo’ as an ideal job or career and as a result, it should be encouraged. Their argument, as vividly captured in the song, is hinged on the failure of the Nigerian government to provide jobs and also the fact that ‘yahoo yahoo’ has helped reduce armed robbery in the country. Zlatan Ibile and Segun Wire repeat the ‘street consciousness’ of most of the youths who do not conceive of ‘yahoo yahoo’ as a criminal activity but a ‘real work’.

7. “Who book help?“ is a Nigerian Pidgin expression that cynically rubbishes the common beliefs that support education as the way to success and good living. This catchy expression can be argued to emanate from the high unemployment rate in the country as many university graduates do not even have access to the few available jobs in Nigeria. Hence, most youth would rather go into ‘yahoo yahoo’ that guarantees ‘quick money’ than taking their education seriously.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Oluwafemi Ajayi

Daniel Oluafemi Ajayi is a Ph.D. student in Linguistics at Technische Universität Chemnitz, Germany and his research interests cover Psychiatric discourse, Popular culture, and African studies.