By Triumph Kehinde
The only thing Nigerians love more than parties is hyping at parties. Everyone loves to be at the center of attention (well, maybe not everyone) but you get the gist. DJs used to be the servers of Nigeria’s ever-expanding sound domination, but recently, party-loving Nigerians are gradually being immersed in a hype man-led exploration of sound where some of the biggest tunes in recent times in the country, were crafted extemporaneously, think of … shedibalabla, Dorime, Full option (wife material) to mention a few.
On a heated up dancefloor, mic in hand, lamba in check and artfully curated song mixed by the DJ on standby, as a fluid hypeman spurs on the party-goers in his care to let go of all inhibitions and indulge themselves to the fullest. Hype men (and women) have taken over and there’s nothing we can do about it.
But the questions are; When did hyping start? Have they always been this popular?
In the early days of our contemporary pop culture, commoditised as Afrobeats, we took a few things from Hip Hop. One of them is the hype man.
Flavor Flav was one of the earliest popular hype men. The American rapper backed hip-hop group Public Enemy. Several popular hype men in the U.S hip-hop industry include P. Diddy who used to hype for the late Notorious B.I.G, Fatman Scoop (who hyped for various artists including Missy Elliot) and Swizz Beatz (who hyped for Ruff Ryders and T.I). Even Jay Z started his career as a hype man.
When you talk about hype in Afrobeats, Special Ed comes to mind. He was probably one of the first hype men to come out with the development of Nigerian contemporary pop and afrobeat music. Before the split of Mo’Hits records, the hype man also known as King Special was affiliated with the now defunct crew.
Furthermore, Radio presenter Do2tun started his hype career playing hype man in popular clubs in Lagos following this he played hype man at massive concerts like the Star Music Trek series. He also acts as a party starter for YBNL Nation rapper Olamide.
Another name worthy of mention is Jimmie, former hype man for D’banj and Industry night host. And many more were instrumental in the propagation and acceptance of hype culture in Nigeria, adapting the pre-show gyrations of hip hop greats like Flavor Flav, P. Diddy, Swizz Beatz etc to a Nigerian audience, delivered in Nigerian English/pidgin and taking our culture and unique sensibilities into account.
However, while hype men in Hip Hop are more or less side pieces who are rappers essentially, hype men in Afrobeats stand independently as artists.
Having been immersed in the soulful spirit of Afrobeats, night after banging night soundtracked by Nigerian pop music, the last few years have seen them attempt to get even closer to the Nigerian music culture, and a few have taken to the studio to record songs of their own.
The music they produce is a direct extension of their already established role in the nightclub ecosystem, now they no longer have to shout these lamba over playing music, the music can come “pre-hyped”. Take a hype man like Toby Shang, who has the largest footprint in music and was one of the first to make a proper cross-industry switch from hype to music. His music is primarily composed of heavy sounds into which he inserts his trademarked lamba, lines like “na we dey run this town” and “shutdown is a shutdown” which are created especially for the club, and he makes no attempt at passing a message, content only with being able to get feet moving on the dance floor and money wads flowing from pockets. Or, the newly minted Headies winner Goya Menor who went viral with the ‘Ameno Amapiano’ remix, which made him the first hypeman to win the prestigious Headies award. These guys don’t rap over beats. They hype. What is said on these beats is humorous social commentary and witty observational comedy on what goes on in nightclubs.
The hype industry is not an overflow of testosterone. Melody Ifeanyi Adigo,(M.I.A) is also a hype woman and a pretty darn good one.
It’s very difficult to ignore Melody Ifeanyi Adigo’s unwavering energy on stage. The renowned on-air personality, event host and party hype woman, is one of the people redefining the showbiz experience in Nigeria with her cheerful smile and adrenaline-packed performances.
M.I.A is one of the resident hype acts of the Mainland BlockParty, Nigeria’s biggest youth event. If you attend the monthly event, you will see Melody ride the adrenalin monster as she and her cohorts ginger the crowd.
She believes the explosion of the hype industry in the last few years is one of the greatest things to ever happen in the industry. With the growth comes more opportunities, which Melody believes will lead to better pay for hype acts in the country.
The hype industry, once a primary consumer of Afrobeats, has now stepped up to production. As the young acts behind this merger stretch their artistry to accommodate and create new sounds, it is exciting to imagine what could be when hype and lamba are fully installed into Afrobeats to create, from scratch, an entirely new genre.
