You might not have seen of his music videos or heard any of his songs but you may have heard about the Instagram (or YouTube) star who is a lawyer and the son of Nigerian legal practitioner, Femi Falana. Falz is a distinct artiste not because of his genre of music but because of his alter-ego with a deep and hilarious Yoruba accent who says Shnardine, Comerbeef, Hegg-yoke and Shin-gum.
If Falz ever thought of leaving music (his first love), he would probably make a better killing at comedy. How else did he get his many brand endorsements? Definitely from his comic performances on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook called #Bants.
See, Falz is a very smart man. He knows there are a lot of rappers (very good rappers) – there’s Modenine, Terry tha Rapman, Vector tha Viper and a lot more of them with very serious and punchy stage names. However, Falz figured early that he had one thing the others had but probably won’t – the typical Yoruba – English accent, which he has used so well that it’s become exclusive to him. Strategy or not, he’s making waves with it.
A comparison of his popular music video Marry me (featuring Poe, Yemi Alade) and How far (featuring Dauda) show that Nigerians (or the world) will take his comic tongue over his rap talent.
On the one hand, How Far, Falz is ‘serious’ as discusses the struggles of Nigeria. In this song/video, there is no point where he uses his Yoruba accent. This video got 51,196 hits.
On another hand, Marry Me borders on how society treats courtship and marriage. Here, Falz speaks in the language in which a lot of Nigerians understand. He quotes the most common pick-up lines from men and usual excuses women give when they want to get married. This video got 1,598,530 hits.
This is a consumer insight into content preference in Nigerian music. It’s no news that Nigerians would watch/listen to comedy rather than tragedy.
Falz is a good case study for upcoming artistes and how they can make hit songs.
Big up to Falz.