Perhaps he had too much to drink. Perhaps someone upset him. Perhaps he was trying to let off steam and never intended for the video to be put out. Perhaps he just realised his irrelevance in the music industry and is pained. This is me trying to come up with an excuse for the foolish display of behaviour by veteran, sorry, past Nigerian rapper, Eedris Abdulkareem.
In a brief interview with HipTV last week, Abdulkareem took a jibe at new generation artistes, and also at Don Jazzy, one of the industry’s biggest names. “We put food on their table because of what we fought for … But if anyone of them tries to disrespect, we put them back where they belong,” he said. And if that wasn’t enough, Abdulkareem took out time to spew more garbage in a follow-up interview with PlanetTV. This time, internationally acclaimed Nigerian singer, Innocent ‘Tuface’ Idibia was his target.
“The other day, Tuface go dey disrespect Daddy Showkey. You for tell Daddy Showkey say you no go come studio. Who you be? You dey mad. You don forget say na Black Face write all your hits. Or who send you make you go put your hand for protest wey you no know anything about?” Abdulkareem said in pidgin, referring to the OneNigeria protest that Tuface backed out of in January. “Nigga wake up mehn. All the good guys wey dey around you, you pursue all of them finish, you con still go dey start the protest. You con think say you go fit do am alone. You don forget say what you do basically is love songs. Dey impregnate people dey go.”
Yup, that is the ‘hate rant’ that Mr. Kareem put out there. First time I saw it, I was too disappointed to care, but once I saw it again, and again, I got too upset to ignore it. Seeing that, the first thing that hits you is, “how utterly ridiculous and foolish?” But then, you start to see hints of jealousy and envy, coupled with a desire for attention. But here’s the sad thing Mr. Kareem, no one really cares about what you have to say anymore. I mean people had forgotten your two minutes of fame last week. And the only thing that will remind them of you this week, is this article. So yeah, you’ve got me to thank for that. You are welcome.
Quite frankly Mr Kareem, each time you open your mouth to speak, you sound like a broken record. Always talking about what you fought for in the music industry like you were some Mandela of Nigerian entertainment. And how if there was no you, there would be no them. Mister, shut your ego and shut your mouth. You don’t demand respect, you earn it. So what if your self-acclaimed toil paved a way for the new generation of artistes? Is that not the cycle of life? Well, at least that is how things ought to be, save you are a Nigerian politician. Everything and everyone has a time, except you are Fela or Michael Jackson. And you are neither, not even close.
It is true that in your time, you were influential, and people liked your music; I did jam to Oko Omoge and Mr. Lecturer, but that was then. You have since ceased being influential and relevant; dissing current big names and “noise makers” as you call them, will not resurrect your dead career. The people you criticise are huge influencers in the music industry, not just in Nigeria, but in Africa and the world. Don Jazzy is a successful singer, songwriter, producer, brand ambassador, and entrepreneur – everything you are not. Oh, wait! I guess you made those happen for him, right?
You and Tuface got a start in the industry only a few years apart, but while he went from Grass 2 Grace, winning awards and getting international acclaim, you went Jaga Jaga, literally. The only thing that got you international attention was your stupid fight with 50 Cent. So the next time you want to ask, “Who you be?” you should be standing in front of a mirror. The world knows Tuface. Yeah, we recognise and respect him in spite of his shortcomings. He did let a few people down by backing out of the protest, the one you seem so mad about not getting included in, but even you turned an apologist for the federal government at some point in time. So you see, Mr. Kareem, You no holy pass. If you have nothing logical to say, kindly do us a favour and remain in the state of irrelevance, where you belong.
Watch Eedris Abdulkareem’s ridiculous rant below:
