In the early hours of April 22, 2010, a large crowd was forming-up around the perimeters of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in Idi-Araba, Lagos state, hoping to get real-time updates on the health of popular rapper, DaGrin. The 26-year-old musician\u2013whose playful amalgam of fiery bars and ice-cool hooks delivered in a smooth blend of Yoruba, pidgin, and English had taken Nigerian music by storm over the previous 18 months\u2013had been involved in a ghastly car accident a little over one week earlier and was hanging on to his life by the faintest of threads according to reports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When news broke later that morning that DaGrin had passed on, sparking an outpouring of grief across Lagos state, it was regarded as an unexpected end to the career of a brilliant MC who was viewed as one of the foremost avatars for indigenous rap, a rising force in Nigerian music. Thematically marked by verses delivered in native tongues like Yoruba, Igbo, Efik, and Hausa, indigenous rap emerged in Nigeria in the mid-to-late 2000s as a response to the puritan hip-hop culture that had taken root in Nigeria after the golden age of hip-hop in the 1990s increased its appeal among young Nigerians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response to Nigerian music gatekeepers who prioritized hip-hop made with American accents and cadences, rappers like 2Phat<\/a>, Lord of Ajasa<\/a>, and Seriki<\/a> started to popularise a distinctive interpretation of hip-hop delivered in the Yoruba language with stories inspired by their realities living in inner-city Lagos. As this style gained momentum, others like DaGrin came onto the scene, launching into mainstream consciousness with the anthemic \u201cPon Pon Pon\u201d as well as a well-received album, Chief Executive Omo-Ita<\/em>, released mere months before his death. Any fear that the momentum of indigenous rap was going to be stymied by DaGrin\u2019s passing was assuaged by the rise to prominence of a young 21-year-old firebrand named Olamide<\/a> who assumed the mantle of leadership and led indigenous rap decisively into the Nigerian music mainstream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n