Skepta is probably Nigeria's biggest ambassabor at the moment and he's building bridges as he goes.
Skepta has been a busy man these past few weeks, and most of that has featured him showing love to his new favourite country, Nigeria.
The UK Grime legend brought Naomi Campbell and the best of the UK’s afro-swing scene to Lagos for his series of BBK Africa events which hit the crescendo with the homecoming concert hosted at Federal Palace Hotel on April 2, 2018.
Another Nigerian who was in attendance at the event was the British-Nigerian actor, John Boyega.
The Homecoming Concert attracted the finest of both sides of the divide; UK-based talent like J Hus and Not3s shared the stage with Nigeria’s pop princes, Wizkid and Davido. One commentator described it as an exchange of cultures.
Barely days after regaling Nigerians with a phenomenal show, the grime act was coronated “Aare Amuludun of Oke-Ado”, his father’s hometown in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
Boyega who rose to fame with stellar performances as a new addition to the Star Wars franchise was in town on a second visit to Lagos in four months. The actor has frequently referenced his Nigerian roots and parenthood in interviews and on social media.
Recently though, he’s put his money and frequent flyer miles where his stories are. While in Lagos, Boyega has gone out to see the city’s most notable cultural and social spots while making time to have conversations on local radio and platforms.
ALSO READ: Skepta conferred with a Chieftaincy title in Ogun State
It’s easy to see these as instances of exotic home-hunting. The conversations around race and the rapid rate of globalisation have changed what it means to be a person of African origin.
Black and Proud
More black persons in the western world are asking questions of their origin and in a world that is still as racial as ever, Africa’s cultural diversity and mystery are attracting more people than ever.
Nowadays it's cool to be African. Everyone who can afford a plane ticket, an iPhone and a few souvenirs wants to be seen as being “in touch with their routes”.
It’s easy to see the recent infraction of UK nationals of Nigerian origin, especially Skepta and John Boyega, in this vein.
But what makes it different is that there is context to this; Skepta didn’t just fly to Ijebu-Ode and pay them money for a Chieftancy title.
Skepta’s relationship with the country of his parents’ origin has become quite prominent over the last few years. The UK Grime legend has visited his father’s home in Ogun State on more than one occasion in the last few years, working on the property and learning about the town and its traditions, it seems.
In June of 2015, he joined his dad to build a playground in the latter’s hometown, an event which was heavily covered by western media.
North London by way of Ojuelegba
That year, he also sent a track by a certain Nigerian musician to Drake, the Canadian rapper, for a guest verse. The latter laid his input, sent it back to Skeppy and so, Wizkid’s “Ojuelegba” remix was born. That song was instrumental in introducing Wizkid to a global audience and launching a new phase of his career.
On his critically-acclaimed album, 2016’s “Konnichiwa”, Skepta went on to shout Wizkid on the titular track, saying “Then we took it back to Africa/Ask Wizkid, I can’t explain”.
At the end of the year, he headlined Native Mag’s “NativeLand” concert, after spending some time on his father’s property in Ijebu-Ode.
If anything erased our doubts about Skeppy’s love for the country of his origin, it was at the end of 2017. After making a surprise appearance at Nativeland 2017, Skepta hosted a BBK Africa event at the African Artists Foundation in Lagos. Then he refused to go back to London.
The London-born act spent nearly two months in Lagos, taking the city in and spending time with friends like Wizkid and Burna Boy.
ALSO READ: Wizkid narrates how "Ojuelegba" Remix happened
Sure enough, Twitter Nigeria noticed. Some even joked that Junior Adenuga had come to serve his compulsory National Youth Service in Lagos.
"Then we took it back to Africa"
On the surface, visits like this and the attendant attention can seem like they’re worth little more than the conversations that surround them. But in a world where the line between cultures is becoming blurred and Nigerian creatives are promising to pull the country out of a slump, visits like Skepta and John Boyega are very important.
For one, they are a very important cosign for the country. For years, Nigeria, particularly the South-South was a “no-go” area for foreign nationals and even wealthy Nigerians who had escaped the country’s insecurity.
Most of them were aware of the real risk of getting robbed or worse still, kidnapped for a heavy ransom.
Ask a few promoters and they’d tell you that the cost of bringing a foreign musician and covering security concerns for a period was obscene.
And that was assuming the artiste wanted to come over.
Skepta’s presence in the country for such a long spell and the recent stays of Naomi Campbell sends a message that Nigeria (or Lagos, depending on how you want to look at it) is safe enough to spend a week or two.
ALSO READ: Naomi Campbell, Skepta pose together for British GQ
Skepta's larger than life personality and success as a musician has endeared him to millions of followers in the Uk and without.
The same could be said of John Boyega, whose star turns in Star Wars and Pacific Rim: Uprising has put him on a number of "One to Watch" lists.
Their relationship with Nigeria, as evidenced in their constant visits and references on social media posts, draws attention to another more enigmatic side of their realities; the side that eats peppery jollof and drinks skoochies at the shrine.
It is a free expose of the Nigerian experience that tells a story different from what western and local media is often so eager to tell. Of course this goes both ways.
Skepta's influence with foreign brands like Nike and Virgil Abloh's "Off-White" has also introduced them to a new market; one with over 60 million young people who want the best of everything.
Acknowledging local talent
Perhaps more importantly though, it is a sort of acknowledgement for a growing subculture of young Nigerians who are drawing inspiration from Nigerians in the diaspora, among many other influences.
A generation of young musicians heralded as the future of Nigerian music has become known for creating sounds that merge foreign styles with Nigerian and universal subject matter.
Even in fashion, the tracksuit subculture of cities like London has filtered into Nigerian streetwear.
It may not have meant anything if Skepta had simply come through and done a vanishing act. However, in staying in Lagos, the former Meridian member rocked and designed clothing with local urban brands, setthe stage for a collaboration between VIVENDII, a local urban wear brand and Virgil Abloh's iconic "Off-White", and put some of the frontrunners of this new wave of music on the stage at his concert.
ALSO READ: Skepta unveils Off-White T-Shirt exclusively for Nigeria
Junior Adenuga is not the only one who has acknowledged the talents at home.
Naomi Campbell visited local Nigerian designers, rocked their wears and shared tips with them.
John Boyega went out to see one of Nigerian theatre’s best offerings, “Fela and the Kalakuta Queens” and afterwards, shared warm, insightful conversations with local talent.
For a bundle of local practitioners, these visits and the consequent feedback are endorsements of their potential and hard work from icons of the culture that have inspired them and who embody what they are trying to represent and create: Nigeria with the influence of the world around it.
In many ways, Skepta and John Boyega represent this appeal.
After years of being maligned for being backwards and restricted, Nigerians are pushing the envelope by creating and living a culture that is Nigerian at its core yet influenced by the most emotive and authentic elements from the world over.
If the visit of these personalities could be quantified in one word; it would be “endorsement”.
Sure, there’s much to be said for the fact that approval from the outside still carries the weight that it does for Nigerians, as evidenced by the fact that most Nigerians would fall over themselves at the mere sight of a white woman wearing Ankara prints.
But in a country with young people looking to build beyond the limitations that home has placed on them, the new found love for Nigeria by its sons and daughters in the diaspora is a sort of outstretched hand, a bridge between their bases and millions of teeming followers and the Nigerian scene, brimming with the creatives they have supported and approved in their time here.
On the larger scale, it is a message that what we are and have is something to be proud of, regardless of where we are.
Skepta may be leaving with a Chieftaincy title whenever he decides to go back, but his visit may one day be looked at as the start of something beautiful.
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