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Covering Childish Gambino, Rapper Falz Shows 'This is Nigeria'
Falz, a rapper in Nigeria has covered Childish Gambino’s This is America in a bold move to call out societal issues in his home country. In a country where music stars refrain from diving too deeply in political messaging, the popular musician has created a viral video that points out the country’s socio-political ills. Falz’s cover video aptly titled This is Nigeria was recently rocketed into recognition by U.S. artist Diddy, who recently posted the video on his Instagram account.
At first glance, the video looks like a shot-for-shot homage to the original. However, paying attention to the lyrics and message will give you a deeper look into the unrest the musician puts forth at Nigeria’s current state. Drawing from what Gambino had done commenting on unaddressed social violence, it seems Falz has run his country through a similar filter, calling out the complacence of Nigerians in their own culture and walking viewers through what he perceives the problems of the country to be, pinpointing issues of corruption, drugs, violence, and socio-economic disparities in Nigerian culture.
While these negative elements aren’t a holistic representation of Nigeria, the video does bring up the concerns of not only Falz, but many of Nigerian citizens who are unhappy with the country’s current state.
