Falz – ‘This is Nigeria’

One of the most criticized politically conscious videos from Nigeria in recent years has been Falz‘s ‘This is Nigeria‘. Based on Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America‘, Falz creates a musical manifesto depicting the Nigerian political and social status quo. The songs starts with a quote of Femi Falana, Falz’s father and lawyer/ human rights activist:

“Extremely poor. The medical facilities are poor. We operate a predatory, neocolonial capitalist system, which is founded on fraud and exploitation, and therefore, you are bound to have corruption. Many criminal cases are settled in police stations“

And this sets the motion for the artist’s blatant critique of corrupt politicians, abusive pastors, violent police units and brutal terrorists. No major problem is being left out. The video – directed by Iyobosa ‘Geezy’ Rehoboth – visualizes each of these aspects in an outright clarity.

“This is Nigeria
Look how I’m living now
Look how I’m living now
Everybody be criminal
This is Nigeria
Look how we living now
Look what we eating now
Everybody be criminal …

When looter and killers and stealers are still contesting election o
Politicians wey thief some billion and billion e no dey go prison o
Police station dey close by 6
Security reason o“

As a child, Falz got acquainted with Fela Kuti as his father knew the Nigerian music legend personally. As both his parents are well-known human rights activists, it becomes clear where Falz got his inspiration from. If you’re interested to read a more detailed guide to the video, I recommend NPR’s take on it.

Falz  *-*  ‘This is Nigeria‘