Olamide
Nigerian rapper Olamide has a penchant for making songs, dance moves and street slangs go viral. The trending dance move at the moment is Shaku Shaku and it has somewhat boosted the popularity of what Nigerians call “street jamz”.
After his hit single “WO,” Olamide dropped another song – Science Students – that can be termed as perfect for the shaku shaku dance. The song discusses the rising rate (or should we say growing popularity?) of drug abuse in the society.
Nigeria’s drug abuse situation is growing and the youth (mainly) now take a variety of hard drugs in large quantities, sometimes mixing most of them (where the “science students” title came from) together. We recently talked about an impending drug abuse crisis. Read it here.
Olamide, regarded as “King of the Streets” for his songs that depicts what’s going one in the ghetto, has had his fair share of criticism concerning his lyrics over the years.
Olamide rapped his verses and sang the chorus for Science Students in mostly Yoruba and majority of Nigerians couldn’t get the meaning, but the beat is great, the skits on Instagram are fun to watch, and the shaku shaku dance must be learned, with this song.
However, the song is sparking major discussions online and offline. On the one side, people are saying it is promoting drug abuse and on the other side, is the group saying tt is passing the message on the effects of drug abuse. Another set of people feel he’s playing his role as a creative in starting a conversation.
Without mentioning names or songs, actress Kemi Lala Akindoju spoke on “the encouragement and promotion to use hard drugs and get ‘high’ under the influence in the name of song and dance,” saying “it is disturbing”.
Music executive also shared his thoughts on the issue:
But first of all, see this translation of the song:
A comedian @Oluwadolarz also made a skit, singing (some parts of) the song. Watch below:
So, BellaNaijarians, what are your thoughts? Have you listened to the song? Do you understand the lyrics? Does it promote (or songs like it promotes) drug abuse? Do you think the song is spotlighting an important issue in the society and starting an important conversation? Please share your thoughts.
Photo Credit: Instagram – @elziavibestudio
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View Comments (3)
- I want to say something serious I swear but i can't get over the lyrics-"are you people competing with Sango? Why is there smoke everywhere?" 😂😂🤣🤣"Plus see smoke everywhere like say mopo throw teargas inside room" 😆😆😆😆Truly, awon street ti take over. Badosneh, where are you?!! I'm gonna start following you on all social media platforms.Singing...Ko se we, ko se gbo"
- Okay, seriously speaking I'm starting to see the genius in this Olamide chap aka badosneh. He creatively addresses two classes of people:On one hand, the bariga folks and awonstreet can relate with our trado-medical practices and beliefs in the lyrics: "are you people competing with Sango? Why is there smoke everywhere?" And "they have mixed gutter water"On the other hand, the uppity lekki and abuja folks who do shisha plus X in the recesses of Bank and Quilox and reinvent themselves fall into the category of "see smoke everywhere like say mopo throw teargas inside room" and "Khadijah has turn herself to CardiB"So before you moan about drug abuse in Ajegunle, Look in the mirror and remember last friday night...
- i think this translated version would make a lot of people understand the song properly cos i'm tired of explaining the meaning of the song to people
BN Hot Topic: Olamide’s “Science Students,” Drug Abuse & the Role of a Creative in Societal Issues
![BN Hot Topic: Olamide’s “Science Students,” Drug Abuse & the Role of a Creative in Societal Issues]()
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January 20, 2018
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