Out With The New! In With The Old?

This is something that has NOT been on my mind a lot.

But I saw an interview with Oga Boss; Ill Bliss Goretti and it led me down a rabbit hole.

Okay so (I say this too much don’t I?), I saw the interview. I am honestly still learning how to work this so I will TRY to put the snippet here.

Let me start by apologising for not posting as often as I said I said I would. February came with some serious blows. I lost a sister. No not my biological sister but if you know me or even follow me on social media you will know. It hit me really hard. Rest with God Odemz ❤️❤️🕊️🙏🏾

It also brought some joy. My auntie became the first Supreme Court justice from Plateau State.

Okay so this is the snippet.

I completely agree with Ill Bliss. Yes. I imagine it must feel kind of shitty to be a trailblazer.

Or be among them. Or around them… because let’s face it. Some people were just there at the time…But that is not the issue… and see these kids blowing up arenas and buying Bentleys and you aren’t even mentioned while you try to get an Uber.

It must.

This brings us to this conversation in the music industry where the “old cats” complain about the “new cats” not giving props to the ones who blazed the trail and the “new cats” saying stuff like “Nobody did anything for me” and even denouncing the “afrobeats” genre that the “old cats” worked so hard to build (this is a whole other conversation).

Both sentiments are valid.

I say this because like Illi Trafficante said, the music from back in the day is very poorly documented. Just last month I went through a struggle for hours just to find songs from Specimen A and Maintain that were of a quality worth listening to.

It’s bad enough that the production quality back then looks like comparing a SNES to a PS5 today, but to search for hours and even be willing to pay, only to now get some rubbish 2MB quality files?

Might as well not bother cos the person you want to put on to those sounds can’t begin to understand why you are playing these noisy sounds to them. Lol!

Anyway that is one problem. Problem two? To me? The OGs can’t just go to podcasts and demand recognition. It makes no sense to just start whining about not getting respect.

You did not carry these lads and lasses in hand and put them on. Don’t expect them to act like you did.

So here is what I think.

This is my opinion! Ill Bliss has been putting work out. I personally love the albums. Sure, even my 29 year old youngest barely know who he is.

But we do. We stream it.

Kel put out Credit Alert and a whole EP a few years ago. It was dope. There is not a lot of “Fem-Cee” activity out and she did the thing. Forget about Grammys and the selling out the O2 Arena for a short minute.

Just do the thing.

I have always been a fan of posse/collaborative mixtapes or EPs. So maybe this is just me.

So how about these old cats go and dig in their crates for some of their gems? Their hits. And the unreleased stuff they know is mad. Redo the beats. Put some of these younger cats on them, with them. And let us rediscover them along with the new guys.

I would love to see a Mode 9 and SDC/ Payper/ Poe/ Boogie or Paybac mixtape.

I would rock with a Trybesmen/Choc boiz thing.

I won’t list many examples. You get the point.

And I will stick to hip hop cos a lot of the old stuff really did not do it for ME!

I respect it. I see the musicality. But I didn't really rock with it.

Daddy Showkey + Burna + Odumodu might be some magic. Kwam 1 / KSA and Olamide and Reminisce.

Go crazy. But put the work out.

And involve them.

You can’t sit there and be demanding respect from Nedu’s mic. Nobody cares. Until you do something.

This is not my typical post, I know. I will return to quietly annoying you all with my aimless discourse.

Salute.