THE NUANCES OF CRIMINALITY AND VIOLENCE IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN POPULAR MUSIC: IMPLICATION FOR MUSIC PRODUCTION AND ENGINEERING

This article examines and discusses how criminality, violence, and Nigerian popular music interface and interact to st shape and influence the Nigerian society, politics, language expressions, and its youths since the 21 century. The article relies on oral/written interviews, opinion polls conducted through a social media platform (Facebook), and some of the extant literature on the Nigerian popular music published on mainstream and other media. Also, six Nigerian hip-hop songs and raps by Olamide, Teni, Lil Kesh, Naira Marley, and Chinko Ekun are selected for examination based on their criminality/violence themes. An important finding is the nuanced overt and covert promotion/endorsement of crime, criminality, criminals, and violence in the textual and musical contents of the selected songs. This, in turn, opens up a further inquiry into the socio-political and sociological backgrounds, formations, and influences of some Nigerian artists as well as the implications on their youthful Nigerian audiences as well as music pro duction and engineering. Addressing properly this ugly trend in music industry will improve music production and engineering