Nigerian music is riddled with not one, not two but thousands of songs that are sexist — objectifying and degrading women. The lyrics and videos of these songs, support or justify misogyny and sexism, yet a lot of them have such catchy tunes, we sometimes cannot resist them.
In this year of our Lord, how are sexist Nigerian songs still a thing? Pretend we didn’t ask that. The answer is obvious: Misogyny is fire in this country.
Anyway, since it is women’s month, we made a list of a few songs that fall under this category. The misogyny in these songs is so bad, many women will not listen to them.
1. Falz’s Child of The World
The song is a Nollywood trope and that’s that about that. It talks about a good girl who was raped at a young age and then becomes a runs girl. If you listen closely, there’s a load of victim blaming and very little about the abuser, an uncle who raped her. And it is for this reason women hate it. Read more here.
2. Kizz Daniel’s Pak n GO
This song is on top of every woman’s list. If you do not pay attention to lyrics, you probably want to pay attention to this one because the beat is perfect for a night out with your girls. Almost everything about the song is sexist. But you know what takes the crown? This part: “O l’omoge biggy-biggy, when will you marry eh? Until your bobby touch your belle oh?”
3. Oritsefemi’s Igbeyawo
This song is definitely stuck in some century that is certainly not the 21st century. If you’re not Yoruba and do not understand Yoruba, you’ve probably been jamming this song and enjoying it, especially at Nigerian weddings and other kinds of parties.
A translation of the first verse of the lyrics is enough to tell you that this song belongs in the dustbin: “Wife, listen to your husband, prepare food on time, fetch water on time, wash clothes on time, GIVE SEX ON TIME????” It doesn’t end there. In fact, he tells women that it’s what we neglect that another person will pick up.
4. Yeba by Kizz Daniel
Some songs should come with trigger warnings because, I don’t see the point of this line in this song: “Uncle, stop touching.” It clearly shows someone is not comfortable. Yet it is said so, so casually. While the beat of the song is delightful and upbeat, that line triggers lots of women, especially women who have experienced some form of sexual assault. What’s worse is that he was called out for this nonsense lyrics and went on to justify it with the tweet below. Kiss or Kizz Daniel, please.
There are a lot of sexist Nigerian songs, but we’ll stop here. Did we miss any song? Add to the list! Let’s compile them until the government sees this and bans them.
