Nigerian rapper, Odumodublvck, has made a bold claim that Tems and Ayra Starr have significantly impacted the Nigerian music industry more than the legendary Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, as well as Afrobeats giants Wizkid and Burna Boy.
In a recent episode of the ‘Cocktails & Takeaways’ podcast hosted by Madame Joyce, Odumodublvck stated, “When I was coming to London, I was on the same flight with Tems’ manager, Don Awon. I told Tems, ‘Big up, you did it. What you and Ayra Starr have done is bigger than anything Wizkid, Burna Boy and even Fela have done. Quote me anywhere.”
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He emphasized the unique challenges female artists face, saying, “Because as a female artiste, out of every 10 show promoters, 5 want to have sex with you, out of every 10 producers, 5 want to have sex with you, out of every 10 artists that you look up to and need help from them, 5 want to have sex with you. I can’t imagine being in that situation. And after dodging all those things, you still make good music. Remember, the number one hardest job in this world is being a woman.”
He continued, “The second hardest job is being an artiste because there are over 100 million artistes. How are you going to make it out of the thousands of songs that drop every day? Why should they listen to your own? It’s not like you’re doing a job that your payment is guaranteed. As an artiste, there’s no guaranteed payment, you’ve to make it for people to pay you. It took me about six years to get my first good cheque. So imagine being a babe and an artiste and you still make it. That’s impressive.”
Tems and Ayra Starr have both recently released albums, ‘The Year I Turned 21’ and ‘Born In The Wild,’ respectively. ‘The Year I Turned 21’ became the first album by a female Nigerian artist to debut on the U.S Billboard 200, while ‘Born In The Wild’ became the highest-peaking album by a female Nigerian artist, charting at 56.
