The Afrobeat Spotlight: D'Banj

   D'Banj is a Nigerian musician whose full name is Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo. His song, "Oliver Twist", made him internationally known in summer 2012. "Oliver Twist" is a fusion between Afrobeat and electronic dance music and is named based off the famous British story, "Oliver Twist", because he asked 'for more' in the story; in the song, "Oliver Twist" is the fictional character who asks for 'more' (girls).
   The song is definitely appealing to the audiences of this generation because of the lyrics; it is about how Oliver (portrayed by D'Banj) craves women and how he knows so many different attractive women, which is what almost all "hip" songs are about nowadays. However, as inappropriate the lyrics may be, there is no denying that Africanisms can be heard in the song. D'Banj inserts phrases and words in his native tongue, such as 'rebete', 'labata', 'gbedu', and etc. Polyrhythm can most definitely be heard, which is what makes the song sound complicated, and D'Banj improvises, kind of poorly, during complicated beats with sounds that just simply go with the rhythm or sounds effects that describe how a girl shakes her 'yansh'.
   No music genre is safe from being influenced by the trend of the modern age with lewd lyrics, but because music is so easily influenced, this also means that it can be changed again (hopefully, for the best). Fela Kuti first founded the genre 'Afrobeats' and used his music to get his social and political agendas across. D'Banj and Fuze ODG use their ancestor's complicated fast rhythms to talk about how girls shake their behind, but then there are also singers like Nico & Vinz who, so far, have used their African musical elements to portray the many faces of Africa and to show the rich history of the continent - that is how you should be singing and portraying Afrobeat to the world.
   Enjoy the music video below!