Skidi Boy, a popular Cameroonian rapper gets a little more attraction on Facebook just a few days after he released a new music video titled Pablo, where he glorifies the act of scamming and actively confirming how good he works to make a “jk” or “mugu” pay him.
I have watched the song once and the first thing that caught my attention was, singing about something illegal and going the extra length of placing yourself as the main character – an action that could send you to the cold church of bars to spend some quality time with the detained sinners.
I once watched an interview on youtube wherein an American journalist asked rapper 50 Cent why he talks about killing people and glorifying guns in his music and 50 Cent did not want to answer. Rapper T.I was seated by 50 and kept begging 50 to give him the chance to answer that question. T.I then bounced in and said it is what the black man goes through. It is the life they grew up witnessing and no one should dare question any rapper when they talk about it.
Now my question goes: “Will you sing a song titled Kumba Massacre“ and your lyrics go, “Na me I hold that cutlass butcher that njaka dem. Na me be tell dat student fo naked ye skin fo that class etc.” Then when interviewed, you say the Kumba incident is something you grew up witnessing? Shouldn’t the right thing be lyrics that rather denounce that act and call for justice? e.g “man wey e butcher that njaka dem must face law? You d naked small nga fo class fo wety?” Isn’t this the right way to talk about what you grew up in but trying to fix it?
The former lyric simply pulls eyes and investigations plus hate upon you and your music.
Let’s not forget T.I was once arrested for arms trafficking whilst being a superstar and not when he was young and hustling.
Back to Skidi Boy. Anyone joining a #freeskidiboy bandwagon without seeing an official letter from his team or label is just one of the social media troubles we have. A video clearly has someone whispering “they dong catch skidiboy ohhh”, then she uses her phone to show him being accompanied by two “police” uniform men, and boom! What we get the next day is “music is an art and should be allowed to be expressed “, “it is not a crime to be a musician”, “scamming is the reality of Cameroon” “free Skidi Boy now, etc.”
Watch the Video Below
I asked a team member of his to give me details or prove it and till now he can not. All he says is, it is because of music.
This looks like a stunt move to pull listeners or viewers to his new video. Why do I say so? Nothing legal about this has come forth. No one is answering where he is being kept or no one simply gives any details. Skidi Boy needs to understand that if alleged stunts like these backfire, he will lose more than he will gain. I know the frustrations of the Cameroonian music scene and how hard it takes for people to go and watch your product to make it go higher but taking these lengths may pull more attraction to you negatively as in, the actual law may come in after watching the video and start investigating you. It is no news that a lot of young musicians in Cameroon scam to survive since the music is not paying big enough yet. Some Nigerian artists do the same. Some American musicians sell cocaine to fuel music bills. But try not to pull a wrong stunt move.
I can not say free Skidi Boy yet. What if he is arrested for a very good reason. What if he actually scammed someone? What if that was just him creating a fake scene to have people rush to watch his new video? Until details surface, we have to stop drawing emotional conclusions.
By Mr, You Don’t Know Me.