“Ha!

You want to bamba

You want to chill with with the big boys

Na you dey run kitikiti

You dey run Katakata

No fit drink water drop cup

Ha!

Hey!

Shey you see how the things goes

How the thing goes…”

As a result of the remarkable success of this musical note, an elite team from TikTok – an app founded in December 2016 to provide inventive entertainment and delight – is meeting Bright Goya as I write, as part of its efforts to strengthen its position in the Nigerian market. TikTok has one billion subscribers.

Otherwise known as ‘Ameno’ Amapiano remix made by Bright Goya, ‘Goya Menor’ (a Nigerian emcee, hype man, vocalist, and rapper), who also featured Nektunez (a sterling Ghanaian record producer), have become the rave of a ‘elongated’ period spanning months of unadulterated popularity

Unbeknownst to millions of followers, Goya did not develop these pop musical notes as a huge endeavor, but rather as a pleasant global tune. It was completed as a joke. Then it became a smash, first in Uganda, then in Jamaica in the Caribbean, back in Ghana on the West Coast of Africa, then in Zambia and South Africa in Southern Africa, and finally in Europe, starting in Sweden and ending in Thailand in Asia. It’s ironic that the song had to travel long distances before becoming a hit in its native Nigeria. It’s not a Nigerian tune.

In 2011, I went to Lux, an outstanding nightclub near China Town in Washington, United States of America. I was astounded by the popularity of Nigerian music in the club. There was so much ‘hysteria’ and excitement, a peculiar sense of nostalgia, among many people there, the moment Naija music sounded, beginning with 9ice’s. Despite the fact that 90% of those in attendance were Caucasian, there was a distinct presence of Nigerian spirit in everyone. While the songs played, I remembered listening to almost all of them while in Nigeria. That was the sense I had across the West Coast of Africa a year later, from Banjul to Freetown, Monrovia to Dakar, Accra, and Lome, where Nigerian musical renditions, regardless of genre, are popular and have swiftly sparked a frenzy. This mental picture makes it even more strange how long it took for ‘Ameno amapiano remix’ to become famous among Nigerians.

The original track was released exactly nine months ago, on June 16, 2021, and a large sum of money was spent to promote it. The promotional attempt, like almost all of Goya’s previous efforts, failed, and the money was wasted. In an odd twist, the work became a success when it was attempted as a joking endeavor. “It was a joke,” Goya told Premium Times in December 2021.

My research indicated that the pop had 17,899,463 views on YouTube as of December 20, 2021. By February 10, 2022, the song has received 9.5 billion views on TikTok. For three days in a row, I skimmed TikTok and discovered that the song was used by three or four out of every ten TikTokers. Yet, it stays  a rave on Instagram.

Let me go on to another paradoxical situation. Though TikTok recognized the importance of meeting Goya, the brains behind pop music, those of us who listened to Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda and Farah Tukan on Wednesday questioned why TikTok did not have a Nigerian office. Yes, the corporation employs Nigerians in Dublin, Washington, and elsewhere. I spotted a few of them on Wednesday. However, the closest TikTok Office to Nigeria is in Johannesburg. Nigeria is not only the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, but also its most populous. This explains our level of campaigning at the event, which demanded a TikTok office in Nigeria. If only to honor Goya.

Let me conclude the paradoxes with the major contradiction. This hymn has been used by numerous groups, including the nobility, the devout, the elite, the lumpen, the bourgeois, and even the deviant. Perhaps it was used more by the last group. Interestingly, this is applied sociology. Goya, 27, a sociology graduate from Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma, created the song to raise awareness among young people about the dangers of cultism and confraternal brigandage. The reason he asked was: “You want to bamba?” “You want to chill with the big boys!”

Interpretively, he poses a hypothetical question: Why do you have to join cults? Why do you want to hang out with the big boys? Do you know what they do for money? So, as the lyrics suggest, you will be running up and down when the repercussions become clear. Similarly, he asks subtly, you don’t have to hang with the big boys because you can be exposed to the wrong things, attitudes, and behaviors. And Goya maintains, as he puts it in his native Ishan language: “Sèbi mekà tàmùwà?” which translates to “Didn’t I tell you before?” Indeed, he stated this in the unsuccessful promotional piece, and it was reiterated in the remix.

In essence, the Benin-born rapper of Ishan origin urges young people, and indeed all of us, to avoid societal vices that have slowed our development and kept us in backward conditions. Goya challenged our sociological imagination to confront vices rather than embrace them. The version of the song I previously uploaded in the thread of my Facebook post is telling and emotional in its dramatic treatment of the lyrics.

As a result, isn’t it an apparently difficult paradox of meaning exchange for even the bad ones among us to sing the magnificent song joyfully while simultaneously deploying a song that questions their conduct and excessive fun-seeking behaviors, without seeking explanation and clarity? Indeed, it is the popularity of the song, even among those Goya refers to.

So let the music play!
Dr. Ibietan contributed this from Abuja.