Nigeria's remake of 'This is America' music video goes viral, endorsed by P. Diddy
Nigerian pop star Folarin ‘Falz’ Falana has been praised for his latest music video titled ‘This is Nigeria’, that highlights several issues affecting the Nigerian people.
The video, is executed in a style to that of American artist Childish Gambino’s viral video ‘This is America’.
In ‘This is America’, Gambino highlighted issues of discrimination against African Americans and gun violence.
In ‘This is Nigeria, Falz highlights issues of Boko Haram’s kidnapping of girls and government’s slow response, drug addiction among the youth, corruption, conmen masquerading as pastors and the society’s preoccupation with reality TV shows among others.
Both videos had the desired viral effect with ‘This is Nigeria’ which was released on Friday raking up over one million views on YouTube in less than 72 hours.
P.Diddy praises Nigeria’s music industry
American hip-hop superstar, Sean Combs, alias P Diddy, hailed the igerian rapper’s efforts, telling his fans on Instagram he was ‘sending love to Nigeria’.
236.4k Likes, 12.5k Comments - Diddy (@diddy) on Instagram: "Sending love to Nigeria. So many great, beautiful artist changing the game!!!! 🇳🇬🇳🇬 ✊🏿..."
The cinematographer of ‘This is Nigeria’, Tayo Aina confirmed the inspiration taken from ‘This is America’.
‘‘The whole video was done in 3 one-take scenes. It’s very similar to Childish Gambino’s “This is America” but this time reengineered to cover the issues we face in Nigeria as a people, From drug addiction to lack of stable electricity and a lot more,’‘ Aina said while releasing a behind the scenes video of the project.
‘This is America’ is a 4 minute one take music video.
Falz, who is the son of popular Nigerian lawyer and human right activist Femi Falana, is no stranger to doing conscious music. He has previously called out the glorification of internet fraud in Nigerian music.
This is Nigeria Vs This is America
Both Falz and Gambino go shirtless in the music videos.
Both open with an execution of a blindfolded man; gun used in This is America, machete used in This is Nigeria.
Gambino and Falz both dance with school going kids; in This is Nigeria, they are veiled Muslim girls
Both have scenes from the church; Gambino shoots the choir, while Falz calls out the futility and dishonesty of Nigerian preachers
Both feature police forces; This is Nigeria features the notoriously corrupt police force.
Both videos tell their stories walking though a warehouse as different scenarios or issues play out.
This is America calls out the social media addiction and lavish lifestyles while ‘This is Nigeria’ calls out Nigeria’s preference of reality television show like Big Brother Nigeria in the face of serious issues like the abduction of girls in the Dapchi village.
