Afrobeats veteran Gabriel Oche Amanyi, better known by his stage as Terry G, has pleaded with his fellow Nigerians to honour music icons regardless of how much attention they receive. He bemoaned the fact that Nigerians are so ready to write off musical greats as “outdated.”
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He noted that, in contrast to Africa, the Western culture accords legends the respect and homage they deserve for the work they’ve done.
No matter how great Afrobeats gets, the Akpako Master warned that it will eventually become irrelevant if Africans, and Nigerians in particular, do not respect their music icons.
This is what he put on his X handle: “I hear people say, ‘Your time don pass!’—and it sounds like brain damage.”.
“Lords are revered for all time in Western culture. Beyoncé and Jay-Z are not considered old-fashioned. We salute their influence.
But we’re fast to throw out our own here in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. That is why our forefathers were viewed as wicked, in contrast to the godlike ancestors of the West.
We need to escape that mentality now. Your value, regardless of how high it was when you were younger, will eventually diminish unless you continue to improve the lives of people around you. Something needs to change.