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Around the world · Nigeria · since 1991

1991
International
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Lagos

Nigeria
Pidgin & Yoruba flows · Afrobeats fusion · street-hop
Ride the roster2:00
Story, bloodline and 6 names

Nigerian rap's breakthrough came when artists stopped imitating American accents and rapped in pidgin, Yoruba and Igbo. Olamide made indigenous-language street-hop the biggest thing in the country, and the boundary between Nigerian rap and Afrobeats has been productively blurry ever since.

Bloodline · 1 stop from The Bronx
  1. 1973The Bronx
  2. 1991Lagos

TransferLondon

American records came in through import shops and returning students, and London's huge Nigerian community shuttled tapes both ways. The scene only broke when it stopped rapping in an American accent.

Chocolate CityYBNLMavin
Roster
2004
Ruggedmandeep cut

The record that told Nigerian rappers to stop faking American accents.

YTW
2004
Mode 9deep cut

The purist's choice; Nigeria's most technically respected MC.

YTW
2008
M.I Abaga

Talk About It made Nigerian rap a national commercial force.

YTW
2011
Olamide

Yoruba-language street-hop; the most consequential Nigerian rapper alive.

YTW
2014
Falz

Comic persona, then genuinely political records.

YTW
2019
Blaqbonezdeep cut

Chocolate City's provocateur, keeping the rap lane distinct from Afrobeats.

YTW

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