9ice, Flavour and the illusion of location

9ice and Flavour, who is the bigger artist?

This was the seemingly harmless question that threw Nigerian social media into all out mayhem.

Both artists, Abolore Akande, also known as 9ice, and Chinedu Okoli, also known as Flavour are veteran Nigerian musicians with a legacy to match. Making the answer to that question more complex that it may seem.

Here’s a little background on both artistes.

9ice got into the music industry in the late 90s but didn’t release his first official single till the year 2000 with Little Money.

However, in 2008, he dropped Gongo Aso and everything changed. Gongo Aso was a massive hit across the world, 9ice even performed the song at the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Tribute concert in London in June 2008.

He went on to win the Best Hip Hop Artist of the Year at the 2008 MTV Africa Music Awards. Gongo Aso also won him the Album of the Year, Artiste of the Year, Song of the Year and the Best Rap in Pop Album awards at the 2009 edition of the Hip Hop World Awards.

In 2005, Flavour released his debut album titled N’abania. The album was a huge success in Eastern Nigeria and grew his fanbase in the eastern states. In 2010, he released his second album, Uplifted . The album was a hit, this time not just in the Eastern parts of the country. Lolhiphop Records, an South African record label released the album after popular demand from fans within South Africa. Flavour was now a continental superstar.

At the MTV African Music Awards in 2014, Flavour won the award for Best Live Act. He also has multiple Headies awards and a Channel O Music Video award to his name.

So who is the bigger artist? I really do not like that question. Both are great artistes. While one’s peak was ‘to the moon’, the other’s longevity has been exemplary.

ALSO READ: 10 Evergreen African Songs You should Know

When Gongo Aso dropped, you couldn’t avoid the song. It was the biggest song in the country and possibly the continent for about a year. However, Flavour has maintained superstar status for over a decade.

Now here’s my contribution to the argument, people always fall victim to what i would like to call the illusion of location (I really hope that’s a real thing lol).

Back to what I was saying, watching through the various arguments on social media I noticed one thing. People who grew up in the Eastern part of the country were flabbergasted that others thought it was even an argument.

However, for the rest of us (myself included) that have spent most of our lives in the southwest, 9ice to us, is a legend. His songs were the soundtrack to a big part of our formative years.

That’s where the illusion comes in. We’re in Lagos, we never get to hear Eastern artistes as much until they break into the Lagos markets. That doesn’t mean they aren’t already huge. Back in 2016, I met a young man that moved to Lagos from Port Harcourt. In the two years I knew this guy, you could never convince him that there was any artiste bigger than Duncan Mighty. At the time, we couldn’t believe it but he was ready to argue to the death. Duncan Mighty was his greatest of all time. You also can’t convince someone that’s currently from Warri that there’s a better rapper in the country than Erigga.

Where we live and grow up affects the kind of music we get to listen to. I grew up in Lagos, for the majority of my life I’ve been in Lagos. I know how Lagos was when Gongo Aso dropped. I know how the streets were when Photocopy, Pamurogo, and even Street Credibility came on. So my opinion on the argument is largely bias. I only heard Flavour in bits, but 9ice was everywhere I turned.

For someone who grew up in the southeast, they probably woke up to Flavour’s music. It would’ve played at all the parties, events and ceremonies they had to be at. How can you convince that person that 9ice is greater? His music was largely done in Yoruba, it probably wasn’t played as much as Flavour’s in the East.

It really is just a matter of exposure. So some people might pick 9ice because at his peak, he was a top 5 artiste in the country why Flavour has never been that. However, Flavour has been a mainstay in the industry for a decade and counting. According to a Pulse writer, “9ice was 9ice after a short time at the top, but Flavour has had to grow into Flavour; the one you can’t not notice and the one you can’t not respect.”