Nonny’s “Ire” which means goodness is one that has diversified what is usually the conventional Nigerian Hip-hop otherwise known as “Club beat”. The artist in “Ire” chose the reggae music genre for his lyrical expression. This is good as Nigerian musicians need diversification badly. It is easy to identify Nigerian songs due to their resemblance to each other in terms of beats. “Ire” is a typical reggae song but unlike most reggae songsters like Bob Marley and Lucky Dube who infuse deep seated philosophy and social paradox into their songs, Nonny’s Ire is empty in wit. Ire is too prosaic and pedestrian. It is just like everyday conversation with nothing special about the lyrics, it is something we hear every day. Either Nonny failed or his lyricist is not outstanding.
The song is riddled with unnecessary repetition that is characteristic of most Nigerian songs. “Every single day in my life” seems to be the beginning of the song’s chorus but was unnecessarily repeated, there is this issue that Nigerian songs are poorly written with vague prosaic words. Song is a twin to poetry if not poetry. Nigerian songs are in some cases not more than three to five sentences laden with gibberish sounds that the lyricist’s creates. The wording of Nonny’s Ire is a fair attempt though it is unpoetic and has little creativity in them except for some few end rhymes that came from the repetition of particular words or names like God in two successive lines.
Most Nigerian musicians are very uncreative in their lyrics owing to the population of the kind of audience they have. Except for few songsters like Asa, very few of Nigerian musicians can hardly satisfy any elite critics or listener. Due to the fact that most Nigerian music fans are more of illiterates and unexposed to the rudiments of arts or in other words, Nigerians music audience are not art oriented.
But I love his beats especially the intro. He was very peculiar with his reggae beats. It transported me out of myself maybe because of my bias for reggae music. He wasn’t a copy-cat in his beats. There is a peculiarity and ingenuity in his reggae beats.
In terms of technicality, “Ire” is outstanding as Nigerian musicians are beginning to put in their bests to make their music products high in quality. The beats were clear and all the different sounds gathered to form a harmony. Nonny is talented with a good voice. The beats would have been all in vain if it didn’t flow with the artist voice rendition. It takes the artist to paddle his voice to rock against the different elements of music that sometimes conflicts with the artist’s voice. The ability of the artist to do so, brings him safely paddling to the music shores.
Nonny’s Ire is an apostrophic appeal to the Omnipotent to bless his daily labour and hustling. The theme of the song is one that succinctly captures the economic situation of Nigeria where most Nigerian youths are not gainfully implored and are uncertain of how to survive each day. It is not surprising therefore that Nonny, a Nigerian youth who may have experienced this situation had captured this delicate situation in the song.
The code switching to Yoruba sentences in a dominant English song is a trend that has made an indelible mark in the Nigerian music industry. This has helped to carry Nigerians who have access only to their indigenous language. Again, the lyrical symbols he employed are apt and successful, adding figurative colours to his lyrics. For instance, the symbol of rain which universally means blessing, fertility, fortunes etc. was craved for by Nonny when he said “Baba (God) to send down the rain”.
It will be easy to connect to the song due to the prayer mood of the song especially, in a country that is deeply rooted in religion with the belief that every good thing comes from God. The song may not be successful in terms of creative lyrics but its thematic occupation is such that Nonny’s audience will be occupied with. “ire” is neither a good song nor a bad song.
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