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The social media has been lit, and not in a fun way for Cameroonian entertainers.
Hidden frustrations have finally been let loose as Cameroonian artists have taken to social media to vent their anger and discontent over the continuous dominance of Nigerian music content in Cameroon.
The artists have argued that this has helped in greatly stagnating the growth of Cameroonian artists as Nigerian stars are somehow always seen as superiors over Cameroonian artists no matter what they seem to do.
Local entertainers such as CY International, Stanley Enow, Magasco and Wams Klassic have particularly shown disgust at the trend, arguing that Cameroonian songs are not being played in Nigeria the same way we have been hypnotized by theirs.
Cy International’s Instagram rant that attracted Nigerians’ attention
Cameroon comedian and actor, Cy International posted a 10 minute rant on Instagram that not only was a wake-up call to Cameroonians but also attracted the attention of the Nigerian media landscape.
In the video, Cy accused Cameroonian DJs of being responsible for making Nigerian music in Cameroon overly popular. According to him, Nigerian musicians who have for long been glorified in Cameroon are not more talented than the local artists. He asserts that Nigerians flourish in their country because they have a culture of ‘Nigeria first’ before any other.
“I’ve lived with Nigerians. I’ve employed some and I have some as my tenants. And let me tell you something, they are born greedy… they always seek for what works for them and for their own neighbors first. They want everything to themselves…,” he stated.
“You will never see Nigerians inviting Cameroonians to come perform at their shows or parties, never! But since we Cameroonians are so naïve, we have become the stepping stone of every upcoming Nigerian musicians. When someone feels like he’s into music, he simply makes a trip to Cameroon and we give them huge bags of money… it has to stop now. Let them equally invite Cameroonians to come take some nairas back here the same way we have been giving them our Franc CFA,” he declared.
The highlights of his video were picked up by Nigerian bloggers who published it on their pages, provoking ridicule and belittlement from them. This was perhaps exacerbated by the fact that some Cameroon social media users joined the Nigerians on their platforms to launch attacks on the entertainers.
Stanley Enow Plea’s to Cameroonian DJ’s
Multiple award-winning artist, Stanley Enow was equally at the receiving end of a some verbal attacks when video footage of him asking DJs to avoid playing Nigerian songs for long hours in parties was posted.
The idea was not to stop DJs from playing them at all, but to make local content overshadow the Nigerian content. Some social media users were highly critical of Stanley’s demands stating that they preferred Nigerian songs because of their innovations, and the quality of production. Some were out rightly straightforward in saying that Nigerian artist are more talented than their Cameroonian counterparts.
On his part, upcoming artist/Journalist, Wams Klassic insinuated that the local entertainment industry from the top is disorganized, and that local DJs have taken advantage of this disorganized system to promote Nigerian content.
By this, Wams says local DJs tax heavy sums on local musicians for their songs to be played.
According to Wams, the chaos in the Cameroonian entertainment industry has given room for Nigerian content to infiltrate the local population whom he says are going through another form of recolonization, through the consumption of foreign songs and movies.
To this effect, he pleaded on the authorities to enact laws that will promote cultural patriotism amongst Cameroonians, and equally pleading with Cameroonians to learn how to tolerate and support the baby steps that are being taken by the local artists as these same steps were taken by their Nigerian counterparts.
Tohnain Anthony aka Magasco equally added his voice to the others with a tweet by insinuating that that Cameroonian artists ought to be respected worldwide for their raw talents.
“Cameroon artists should be respected worldwide. Every time they pick a pen to write, they have English, French, Pidgin and over 200 other languages from various tribes. Way too many options,” he tweeted.
