The energetic classic man Jidenna, the swank rapper has finally booked a day in September to perform at Hard Rock Café in Lagos, Nigeria before the excited and devoted home crowd fans. It is not a secret that U.S. born Jidenna is proud of his Igbo-Nigerian heritage and he is about to kick-off his African tour that will take him to Nigeria and South Africa.
Although he was in born in America, he returned back to Nigeria with his scientist father at a tender age and was raised in Enugu before he journeyed back to United States. Yes, Jidenna is quintessential Nigerian (Omo Naija) and Igbo son of the soil. He is proud of his heritage and never leaves home without his red cap on his head, signifying that he is a titled Igbo chief.
While in Nigeria Jidenna will travel to his ancestral home town in Enugu, where he will likely to be conferred with a high chieftaincy title by the Igbo traditional rulers and kingmakers in Enugu.
Jidenna’s African sense and sensibility is reflected on his music, fashion and existential philosophy.
In Jidenna songs, the meeting of Africa and America is upheld, and he is never afraid to mix it up. In his song, ‘little bit more’ there was a conspicuous and conscious Nigeria’s influence especially in the lyrics where he used the Nigerian popular slangs like ‘wahala, nah, dey and plenti’ – which are regular day-to-day popular urban words in Nigerian language lexicon.
Just a little bit more
Wahala she no dey give me
Wahala she no dey give me
I don want you plenti plenti
I don want you plenti plenti
Oh me, oh my, plenti, plenti
Oh nah, plenti, plenti
Oh me, oh my, plenti, plenti
Oh nah, plenti, plenti (Excerpts from little bit more)
Jidenna’s dancing style is even influenced by the Nigerian style of dancing and getting down. In his swanky GQ clothing, which is mostly suits, he used ankara cloth to embellish his stylish dressings. He is at epicenter of the two major cultures; uniting and forming alchemy with Naija and US vibes with a resultant explosive music . As a chief, Jidenna never leave home without his red cap.
Welcome home, Chief!
Emeka Chiakwelu, Principal Policy Strategist at AFRIPOL. His works have appeared in Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Forbes and many other important journals around the world. His writings have also been cited in many economic books, publications and many institutions of higher learning including tagteam Harvard Education. Africa Political & Economic Strategic Center (AFRIPOL) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. info@afripol.org www.afripol.org