Interpretation Of Songs by Nigerian LIsteners

By; Bello Muhammed Nauteeq DWA

Like a Nigerian Rapper, Cyrus Tha Virus said in an interview with a popular Naija blog;”there is a huge difference between being blunt and being insultive” and that is basically what most Nigerian music listeners do not understand and that has been a bane to the growth of the music industry since God knows how long, most listeners always misconstrue hip hop and other genres of music which they do not listen to as a bunch of trash.

But literally, music as an art or a form of art usually consist of an intended message to the audience and also serves as a medium of communication, the reggae genre consist of either party or dance hall songs or freedom and voice for the voiceless themes as seen in the works of  Bob Marley and Damien Marley also his Nigerian disciple Majek Fashek , Hip Hop might be conscious, deep and also danceable at the same time a la other genres of music as well.

Most listeners do not take these factors into cognizance before listening and giving their final judgment on a music, before a listener could actually decode a music content effectively he must understand the message and the mood of the artist and the complexity of most songs usually affects the way listeners decode songs rappers like; Mode nine, and XO Senavoe have complex lyrics which at times is traced to being poetry inclined, the later whose lyrics was heavily criticized on the recent BET Cypher hosted in Nigeria was basically criticized because listeners could not understand his complex word plays, hence he earned the tag of being a whack rapper.

 An average listener  judge music according to the beat upon which the lyrics is delivered, and mostly on first listen where the listener only listen to the song once and pronounce their final judgment on it immediately overlooking the growing propensity factor  of a song to the mind. Recently some listeners only want to listen to music to detect the flaws of artists and mostly view them with prejudice due to the artist having a not so fruitful relationship with their favourites, at some instance the later might even be at fault, but his mistakes might be overlooked and the result might be a deadly jab by fans on the later.

Recently many artist have been criticized for churning out what listeners see as a whack job even before they listen to it or probably they have the ability to fore hear what the artist has said in the songs, it might not actually satisfy the yearnings of the fans probably due to the artist wanting to reach a wider fans or audience, but might make a good listen if personal biases are cleared.

“Oyato” is a single released by D’ banj recently and it has met  mixed reactions even before the day it was released with some saying it is a very poor effort by him, actually the song is not that bad as the venting on some social networking media portrays it as, in an attempt to satisfy numerous people after his break up with his partner and producer Don Jazzy he employed a very popular term which is usually used by nearly all Nigerians “OYATO” as the title of the single aftermath the break up hoping that the fans gives it a warm welcome, unfortunately for him it was not as good as he thought it would, “OYATO” which means “it’s different” simply represent what D’banj Is after signing with Kanye’s imprint GOOD music and Def Jam records the song bore the same similarity in tune with “Scapegoat” which is well received then by both critics and fans alike so why the fuss about OYATO? To make him look like a failure? Who knows?

 Fair enough Don Jazzy also received the same treatment when he signed Tiwa Savage onto his Mavin Records imprint and also when he released the debut album under this imprint; Solar Plexus some said it was a hurried job and some graphic designers also used the opportunity to show their talent in using Adobe Photoshop after they manipulated the image changing the album title to “The Avengers”.

Most Nigerians has formed the habit of jumping into the bandwagon of naysayers without having a reason for doing it other than “just hate on the success” Davido’s dami duro was a party song precisely danceable and naturally party songs are known for having  memorable verses  and catchy hook coupled with a strong beat, but some criticized it for not having any message and say he spat Gibberish on the second verse, but barely a month later people were dancing to the tune and most people can even sing it from the First to the last word he Spewed, what is the point of hate? Oops he flaunts a cheque on twitter.

Most artist usually bounce back from these hurdles they’d faced, but not all, the likes of Eedris AbdulKareem, Raskie, Kelly Hansome have not the same story to tell, Rugged man actually ended their career excluding Kelly Hansome’ as he was dealt with by fans of M.I. and The Mo hits Crew in a not so publicized saga, Kelly is undoubtedly talented, but the hate he had gathered as a result of beefing the fans favourites dealt a huge blow to his career as all the good music he had churned out aftermath the Mo Hits saga were met with hate and rarely get posted on major blog sites even if it is a genius effort and since then his career has steadily went down the drain.

 9ice well known for his proverbial lyrical content, also was tongue-lashed by numerous people, a lot of allegations were made on him, bad publicity and what not, but he proved to be beyond what anybody can mess with when he released a semi-classic Tradition album and a combination of impressive Bashorun Gaa and Versus albums respectively, but still yet some still believed that he had exhausted his proverbs and lyrical ingenuity on Gongo Aso, and that is where the bandwagon effects comes into existence as the term “exhausted his Proverbs” was coined from the Rugged man beef against him back then in 2010.

Like the popular saying “what goes round comes around” Rugged man’s career is also being threatened as he is no longer respected by fans even though he introduced Nigerians to new and fresh era of hip hop songs at the detriment of other artistes in the game then, he released Ruggedy Baba Part 2 and it was rated as an average track and an insult to the first version were he featured 9ice.

Numerous others also had their own stories to tell, but fans should desist from making destructive criticism about these acts as it would not help in correcting their flaws. Nobody is perfect we all just dey try our best. And like another rapper said on his own track;” you no like my track? Why you no just shut up and skip it”.

How do I become a Radio Presenter?

source; media courses.com 

How do I become a Radio Presenter? Over the years I have been asked this question more than any other about the radio industry. There is no easy answer, you will not wake up one morning and find a wanted ad in your morning newspaper for the next greatest talent to step forward and present your local radio stations breakfast show.

So where do you start? The answer to begin with is to take one step at a time.  Get to understand the industry you want to work in by taking courses at The London Academy.  Well I would say that wouldn’t I? The truth is though that the Academy Tutors have a wealth of practical knowledge that you can use; remember we have all trodden the path you wish to take.
Places like University Radio and Hospital Radio are also good starting points.  They can give you an opportunity to shine and allow you to present a wide variety of shows.  I started out on Hospital Radio and worked on a whole range of diverse shows from news to requests to a series I put together about the history of pop music! Well I was an overly confident teenager at the time.
Networking, finding other people who share your interest or work in the business also is another step in the right direction.  Internships, which are often unpaid, are another opportunity to see the industry from the inside.
And remember practice makes perfect, sit down at home in front of your pc and make some radio shows.  There is plenty of free software.
Finally a direct approach, find out who is in charge, get their name right, use it in your email, prove you listen to their station and ask if there are any opportunities?

Impact Of Journalism In Anti-Corruption Crusade

 By Ahmed Abdullahi 001

The media is widely regarded as a very effective tool in the dissemination of information and transfer of both informal and formal education to the citizens of any country in the world. It has variably played a vital role in shaping the lives of the citizen through it’s massive distribution of information either on; television, radio, newspaper, and magazines. In this piece the role of the media in anti-corruption struggle in Nigeria is basically looked into with a critical emphasis on their activities.

Corruption is widely seen as a bane to the growth and development of countries affected by it, it is a very common occurrence in the third world nations otherwise known as developing nations like; Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon among others. Like Rick Stapenhurst said in 2000;”if corruption is not contained, it will grow” that is exactly the root of the evils in Nigeria and the media has done a lot to arrest this drastic  parasite that is slowly ripping off Nigeria as a  Nation.

The most biggest step against corruption in Nigeria was when the then President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo established two anti-corruption bodies; economic and financial crimes commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices commission, and the media through investigative journalism propagates the role of those bodies by publishing and broadcasting relevant information about it’s activities to the public.

Numerous media houses had supported the anti-corruption and currently more attention is being shifted to the reporting of crime and corruption news most especially the print media, albeit the broadcast media also dedicates noticeable airtime to crime stories example is; Crime Fighter on Galaxy TV and other private stations even though it is criticized for laying too much emphasis on Armed Robbers and not the real political Riggers and Looters at the helm of affairs. Notable writers like; Tunde Fagbenle of The Punch Newspaper and The editor-in-chief of PM News Bayo Onanuga  also have columns dedicated to monitoring and criticizing of government policies.

Through highly inquisitive journalism the media provides an important backdrop on the abuse of power for the enrichment of private pockets and shed lights on the excesses of political office holders. Irrespective of this the freedom of the press is restricted in Nigeria as the censorship of Broadcast/publishable materials has really affected the flow of Information this is seen in some sensitive matters where the Government lie about it being a so-called National Security precaution and therefore not-to-be-broadcast/published.

The freedom of the press is very important in the anti-corruption campaign as journalist can present un-tainted facts and figures on critical issues of national interest, besides several journalists had been killed and maimed in the course of discharging their duty and the people behind it were neither prosecuted nor jailed. Some media houses which were established by politically ambitious individuals had lead to the development of unpopular in-house styles in which journalists are expected not to publish any anti-owner news story otherwise risk losing his job hence the saying; “he who pays the piper, dictates the tune”.

Journalist must be well-trained and media houses should be well equipped to snoop-out vital information on complex crime stories, and then an increase in the remuneration of journalists would also help check the case of compromise by journalists to discard a vital information threatening the image of an over-zealous personality after they are being cajoled with large sums of money.

By A

Kwarapoly' Post-Utme out on Wednesday

the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin has released it's much awaited 2012/2013 post-utme examination form for candidates willing to take the exam into the next session 2012/2013 National Diploma Program ND.
the form according to a reliable source will be on sale from tomorrow 12 September 2012 and registration for the screening shall begin until the 26th of the same month.
it is going to be sold for a speculated amount of #4750 in any commercial bank within Ilorin and it's metropolis, all prospective candidates are there by advised to quickly purchase their forms and register before the said date as there would be no further extension .
the screening exercise shall begin by 1st October and runs till the middle of the month.
prospective candidates willing to apply are expected to have met he requirement of admission into the institution with the already stipulated 5 O' Level credits and as well must have beat the average cut-off mark in the UTME examinations.

Career Talk; Specialisation in Mass Communication

As a Mass Communication student, you might sometimes want to ask yourself some mind bugging questions after bagging (no pun intended) your certificate on prospective career opportunities you can fit in to or the one that pays you, probably questions like; am I going to be a news reporter? Is it the only job up for grasp after studying the whole years? This article is going to enlighten you about other fields a mass communication graduate can venture into with your certificate;

1. Journalism
2. broadcasting
3. public relations
4. advertising
5. book publishing

Journalism as a field is the practice or an art of disseminating information to a large, heterogeneous group of people through mass media vehicles. These vehicles include; radio, television, news paper and the internet. The print media is the most common in journalism practice beside it is the traditional form of spreading information and just like other professions journalism has its own field i.e. being a journalist you can be in either of these three fields ; Photojournalism, Editing, and Documentary the first newspaper in Nigeria is Iwe Iroyin 1859 by Rev. Henry Townsend and the first English Newspaper is called “Daily Courant” established in 1702 and wound-up in 1775.

Broadcasting is another area of specialization for a graduate of mass communication; it involves the spreading of information (visual and audio) from transmitters to a receiving device i.e. radio and television sets, this means you can become a Television Presenter, a radio presenter, On-Air-Presenter (OAP), A newscaster, sound engineer and others.

Individuals and organizations use Public Relations for information management, meanwhile Public Relations stretches beyond information management alone; it entails proper image making through publicity, maintaining mutual understanding between an organization and its publics and public opinion management. Public relations practitioners are called; “ Public Relations Officer(PRO)”,” publicity managers”,” Publicity Secretary” depending on the organization.

Edward Barnays can be said to be the father of modern Advertising after he established Madison Avenue in the 1920s, advertising involves making known a product or service as it involves marketing and also the persuasion of target audiences to patronize a product. However Advertising can either be commercial( goods and services) or non-commercial which is usually done by non-profit organizations like Political parties and NGOs  through free modes like Public Service Announcement(PSA) and word-of-mouth, everybody should be familiar with this system e.g. Molue adverts commonly used by Preachers and Drug peddlers in Lagos or chants by hawkers on the street.

The advent of the internet has shaped the way Publishing is being practiced; according to Wikipedia Publishing can be defined as;” the production and dissemination of music, literature and information to a large group of people” the most common form of publishing is Book and Novel publishing,  there are three forms of publishing it include; non-paid publishing, semi-paid and paid publishing, you decide the form you want.

 Written by; Bello Muhammed Nauteeq (DWA)

General Course Review For Freshers; Series 1

Mass communication entails the dissemination of information to large and heterogeneous audiences. Communication is the basis and fundamentals of human life that is, everybody engage in the act of communication either by all means, it is actually important to note that communication is not complete when either of the parties involved do not or cannot effectively decode the intended message sent by the encoder or the source just as the concept of production communication is not complete unless it has reached the receiver.

Literally, for a person to be an effective communicator he must have absolute control over his body language and also over verbal or non-verbal skills. as mass communication student familiarization with the course of study is really imperative as it would help prepare you for the challenges ahead.

There are numerous other sub courses which is embodied in the course itself and students are expected to register all of the courses during their registration, the subsequent paragraphs would consist of a tangible review all the courses;

Citizenship Education is a general course which all students in the institution are expected to do throughout their stay in the institution, it is basically an orientation course that bolsters students erudition on their conduct on campus, social life and as well societal values, it carries a two unit credit hour mark. Course code;  GNS 111, it is sub divided into two which include; Citizenship Education, Contemporary Social Problems.

In the wake of the drastic change from manual to machine technology, every student is expected to have little or vast computer knowledge, hence Introduction to Computer MAC 113 is needed, it actually carries a three credit unit mark and here students will learn the theoretical aspect of the computer system before going through the practical aspect in the second semester.

Most of the students are either passive or not interested in politics, but as journalist cum reporter to be, political experience is very imperative, the History Of Nigeria Politics MAC 117 is actually to cater for the political yearnings of students and it is quite an interesting course, but there is more or less similarity between it and GNS 111.

Use of English just like Citizenship Education is another borrowed course which is also compulsory, there is nothing much on it, it is the continuation and elaboration of the Secondary School English Language topics like; Language, parts of speech and sentence construction would be done.

This Article was written by; Bello Muhammed Nauteeq
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