Nigerian reggae and dancehall musician Chinagorom Onuoha, often known as African China, has stated that he is among the artists who ‘pushed’ the music business to where it is now.
The ‘Mr President’ singer believes that he and other artists who dominated in the early 2000s deserve credit for laying the groundwork for Nigeria’s current generation of performers.
In an interview with Saturday Beats, African China expressed frustration with the young artists’ lack of understanding and gratitude for their work.
He stated that their opponents at the time included American superstars such as 2pac Shakur, P Diddy, and Busta Rhymes. He noted that Nigerian artistes were not competing with one another, but rather working together to advance the business.
China said; “Collaboration is something we cannot rule out in the industry. But, things have changed, and I understand. However, I don’t like the fact that when younger artistes see the people that laid the foundation (of the industry), they don’t respect them.
“They don’t know what we went through. These days, it is easier to stream one’s songs on digital music platforms. Before, those sites were not accessible to Nigerians. Back then, we would go to cyber cafes to do things like that.
“Then, people were not paying attention. We were just trying to make them love Nigerian music. In those days, we were competing with mega American artistes such as 2pac Shakur, P Diddy, Jenifer Lopez, R Kelly, and Busta Rhymes.
We were not even competing with fellow Nigerian artistes, because we were all united in trying to push the industry to where it is today. We are not asking the young artistes to give us money, but to respect us, if not for our age, but at least for the sacrifices we made for the industry.”
