IS BRYMO THE MOST UNDERRATED ARTISTE IN NIGERIA?

IS BRYMO THE MOST UNDERRATED ARTISTE IN NIGERIA?

Olawale Oloforo (born Olowale Ashimi; 9 May 1986), better known as Brymo is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, composer and author. He started recording music in 1999 while in secondary school. He signed a record deal with chocolate city in 2010 but breached his contract with the label in 2013. He is a versatile artiste that does almost of kind of music from Yoruba music, alt-rock, r&b, folk, soul, pop to afrobeat. Now for someone who has been in the music scene this far you will wonder why he has not been making waves or been stylishly underrated.

To be underrated means to underestimate; to make too low a rate or estimate. A price of something less than it’s value, and clearly Brymo's music is been priced low in this category, and there are reasons to this.

The first reason that might sound odd to us but definitely a fact in the Nigerian music environment is that Nigerians don’t like/love/appreciate/listen to slow/soft/cool or put it modernly as soul uplifting songs. Nigerians are party-starters, they love anything that bangs to their ear while they dance hard to it, this is clearly the reason why artistes like Olamide, Davido, Wizkid and the rest are making waves around the shores of the country and Africa at beyond. This single element is so strong that musicians who fall under this genre are totally neglected in the musical arena, as the likes of John Drille, the Marvin act, are yet to be in the limelight although they are their. An upcoming act like King Perry, will definitely sell more with a single hit of “Man on duty”, than a “Brymolike” will do. The neglect is so hard that old artistes like Waje have come to the open to complain their tiredness about there career in music; it’s simple, neglect is what they are suffering from. The party-folk artistes of likes like Timaya have taken over the board and owned it.

If care is not taken, the next generational “Brymolike” artistes will all be shaded to a permanent corner, where they will remain voiceless over their. Thank goodness for the presence of fan base and to some who still and will hold them as favorites, they would have totally disappear like the dinosaurs. Yes, you know Darey, famous for his recent “Pray for me” single, they don’t  always remain constant at the A-list, they keep wavering like the wind.

“African society has too many powerful people who do what they want, and always get what they want”, said Brymo. Hence, our second reason for the Brymolike underrating; Music is business in Nigeria, and not necessarily music as itself. As complicated as this might sound, the entertainment industry in Nigeria is existing for the sole purposes of maximizing cash, and this is the “milking” artistes suffer from the big gigs behind the music scene. At such, artiste are propelled to give what the politician or the “big gig” wants and not necessarily what he would have love to give. Any artiste who violates this, is definitely setting his own doom for himself, as they will not only make him voiceless but his name would be totally removed from the music diary. This is the more reason as to why there are many breaches and pull outs among label mates and label brands, because the artiste doesn’t full have rights to his own contents, but takes orders from someone who cares more less about the artiste but holds his head high to his image and prestige. Did you something click in your mind now? Maybe you’re wandering why Brymo breached his contract with his former label, or some artiste ran into your thoughts, and yes, you’re right! Label protégé are few of the sets of most underrated people in the music environment. That’s why, the little opportunity they get, they break out to forming their own record labels and be free off the whips of the big acts.

If record labels can project profits then artists can make more money. Managers will make more money. You know that over 80% of managers don’t have cars of their own? I can take my fame and make powerful friends and milk it and do things for myself. How about the manager, the producer, the dancer? How about everybody else that makes my music work? That is why the music business is not successful. Because those other people are not so famous and they can’t milk their fame.


Brymo is also tired of an industry dependent on handouts. "Nigerian music must move past that phase where politicians and the rich are taking care of musicians like King Sunny Ade.
To enlarge this economy, Brymo called on musicians to avoid voting for any politician without a plan for the music industry. Someone responded with a derisive comment saying the government needed to focus on other things, after all, fraudsters are already sponsoring the industry.

This which is the biggest reason why so many artiste have been underrated and clearly retiring back from music is; the rate at which their talents are been sold, from songs to marketing albums. This he explain as the reason why an artiste would produce a hit song and definitely still go back been broke, because of bad marketing strategies. “Then someone will come and say look at him, he made so much money from that record but he squandered it. Then the artiste will then pretend he really made so much and admit to squandering it”, adds Brymo. How much do you think an artiste will make from selling an album 200 per copy? Brymo ask. He further tells that Fuji great Siriki Ayinde Barrister sold the master of his album in 1996 or 1997 for 1 500 naira, so how come the scores are different now?

To him Nigerians have also place more value on stardom than the music itself, so an artist can perform badly at a show and still be paid millions, but his song will not amount to anything more than the use of stardom, even radio stations will request money after three weeks for the song to be replayed.

Brymo went on to narrate;

By the way, I have never shot a video outside of Nigeria before and it’s always been deliberate.” I go through his videos in my head. He's right. “I think we are not patriotic enough. Nigerians don’t know what it means.”
shooting videos abroad is equal to unpatriotism, he tells about growing up not watching MTV and living in a one-room apartment in Okokomaiko, Lagos. He watched TV with 15 other boys at the house of a neighbour. Each time a music video shot overseas came on, the boys would complain: why are these musicians shooting their videos abroad? The boys would then boycott the work of that artist.
“When I started, 80% of artists were doing this and I knew that Nigerians did not like these people. I have seen it five, 12, 20 times. Why are they shooting abroad? Why all these white girls? So it is interesting that the same Nigerians who want to leave and seek greener pastures feel betrayed when you don’t represent the country. Nigerians love Nollywood, they love Nigeria. Everything they are telling you in the media is a big fat lie. The real problem is that we are not organised. When you become an adult and start working, things don’t just work out because there is no system in place to help you."


Been unpatriotic is one slight reason an artiste might quickly go off the hook, and return back to been an underdog, except one has been able to break the records like Davido and Wizkid, which is often hard.

On breaking off from the shores of been underrated Brymo tells, “I am going to make freaking amazing music and I’m going to become the best performer in the country so that the gigs can fuel my work. And as long as I can gig I can make money enough for me to be able to start distribution and chase royalties from zero. Of course, I’d have to leave the radios alone for now.”

The only way this mess can be fixed is that rich people need to come out with their money and build infrastructure, and the artists have to shut their mouths and think and reflect and observe, notes Brymo.

Brymo is famous for the singles “Ara”, “Good morning”, “Down”, ”Eko”, “Happy memories”, “One pound”, and other hits do his name. Do you also know that he is the main contributor to the success of the “Oleku” song by Ice Prince? So do you still think that Brymo is the most underrated artiste in Nigeria?

Let’s hear your take.