GOD SAVE THE CAPITAL!

We have a problem in Abuja…

No shade. I won’t call out names and I definitely won’t target anyone, but recently one of my guys got his laptop stolen. The whole thing seems out of the blue, but I can boil it down to one of a few reasons: drugs, debt or poverty. Safe to say the culprit is probably well known, but that’s beside the point.

The point is Abuja is one of the few good landing ports for diverse music. With how crowded Lagos is, both in population and an oversaturation of the same genre, Abuja feels like the one place you can actually stand out and reach people who genuinely appreciate your music and your fashion.

So, what’s the problem?

The problem is the lifestyle surrounding these pioneers of new music.

I’ll start with the false notion that marijuana somehow gives you elevated musical genius.

False!

I blame the musicians who sell that fantasy just as much as the people who buy into it. It’s called a recreational drug for a reason. It doesn’t heighten your ability to think. If anything, it numbs your judgement. You think you’ve made something astronomically divine, but it sounds terrible, and nobody tells you the truth because everyone else is under the influence too.

Then there’s survival.

Some turn to fraud. Some sell sex. Others simply imitate whatever looks like it’s paying the bills. Social media doesn’t care where the money came from. If it gets engagement, it gets promoted. Yahoo boys get celebrated. OnlyFans models get celebrated. Lavish lifestyles get celebrated. Abuja watches. Abuja copies. Because from the outside, that’s what success looks like.

What really gets to me is that Abuja presents itself online like an Ouroboros.

We consume ourselves.

We’re quick to attack each other and air out dirty laundry on X (formerly Twitter), creating enemies that spill into real life. My best example—and I hope they forgive me for this—is DEADALIVEGANG. Whatever happened between them, I’ll never know, but there was promise. Limes had a vision of building the biggest fleet in the Abuja music scene. Personally, I think that’s where the cracks started showing. Too many artists. Too many side quests. Too many people carrying different ambitions, different baggage and different egos. Add the university rivalries—Bingham, Veritas, UNIABJ—and suddenly everybody’s fighting everybody.

"Unpopular opinion... Lagos people understand collaboration. Abuja people understand competition. No matter how talented you are, if people no dey intentionally push each other, growth go slow. Sometimes e dey make person reason relocating frl Abuja, we need to do better, please"

@young__boss_official_, via Instagram

What’s my take?

There is none.

I’m not going to paint myself as a superhero. People make choices, and choices come with rewards, responsibilities and consequences.

I just think most of what we’re seeing in Abuja can be traced back to the same trifold ministry:

• Escapism
• Survival
• Power

That’s the crab bucket.

Until those three things are addressed honestly by people with real influence, we’ll keep dying inside the creative cocoon, never emerging into our full potential.

God save the Capital.