I still hold the belief that women have much more power than men and they have to assume it instead of wasting time complaining that they are being marginalised. My assertion is continually proven as the days go by. Meanwhile most rappers in Cameroon are sneakingly turning into afropop singers, Askia and OTANG seem to be one of the few working to keep the head of Hip Hop above the waters.
It was hard to ignore Young Holiday’s reply to a instagram post by Askia challenging rappers to impress her with bars on a Mobb Deep instrumental. We have written here more than once about Holiday’s lyrical prowess so ‘QUIT NOTICE’ did not fall short of what I expected in terms of lyricism and delivery. When I first heard the track, I thought Askia had dropped some shots aimed at Holiday but I found out she did not even say anything or do a song that remotely targeted Holiday.
Just hours after Holiday’s track hit the internet, another rapper Mc Neillex decided to take his own shots at Askia who was already lying lifeless from injuries sustained from Holiday’s diss track. I mean there have been more rap beefs which warranted the input of sympathising rappers but no rapper seemed to want to take sides until now. I am talking about circumstances like the Nivo T x Deecy beef; there was much opportunity there for other rappers to chime in but no one did. I am rather taken aback by the fact that another rapper felt the need to double down on what Holiday already did.
Mc Neillex and Young Holiday are both good rappers that I hoped would (including the likes of Pascal and Wan Shey) be the ones to give life back to the good old hip hop but certainly not in this way. I expected their bars to be directed at the so called A-list rappers who are leaving the game for the likes of Askia to rescue. Its seems the other female rapper, Oriela, who served another reply to Askia is rather one one who understood the challenge. Her reply was far from a personal attack on Askia, at should have been. She rather took up Askia’s challenge to demonstrate her own rap prowess; she did not do bad at all. To me the demand was for someone to outrap Askia on a Mobb Deep beat, and not a call to diss her.
Askia has sure earned her stripes in the rap game in this country. I actually find her very talented even though the timbre of her voice could use the help of better sound engineer. She also happens to be dealing with a lot of personal issues in her life that have gotten in the way of her and her work. Her personal issues have also made her an easy punching bag for whoever and we see that here as two heavy weight rappers leave many more rappers that should be dissed and try to bury her (It is always easier kicking someone who is already down.) To the best of my knowledge, Askia has never claimed to be the King and Queen of rap. She has always claimed the female throne so for male rappers to attack her, one would think they are gunning for the throne of best female rapper. Or maybe we have finally attained gender equality in one thing; in which case this should be a case study.
It is obvious that Askia’s response to Holiday’s track showed she was clearly confused. All she could do was try her best to explain the context of her challenge by saying it is the B and C list artists taking up her challenge while the A-list artists take a pass on the mic.
Should she reply?
First I thought no but then again, that won’t make for good sport especially since I think the conversation is not over. Her reply needs to be addressing the fact that she is giving male rappers a platform to get noticed or to express themselves. She needs to address their lack of reading comprehension. She needs to address their coming for the throne of female rap artists of the year. She needs to address why they did not beef Deecy. If she tries to hit them back with disses on their person and not their reaction to her post, she will be opening herself up for more Ls where she can easily take a win.
Any-Ha!
OTANG is another female rapper to watch out for. I am a little wary of her management team and I still believe they are the only ones that can get between her and the heights her talent can take her. You get the feeling someone is trying to live through her. When I saw the parental advisory notice on the cover of her EP, I was wondering what explicit things could a minor be saying on her records. I am yet to listen to the entire album but from the work I have heard from her, I am yet to hear any explicit content. I think her branding should be handled with a little bit more caution. I think the writing of her songs needs to be done more carefully. There is no point in having her sound smarter than her age.
OTANG won her first award in this year’s Cameroon Career Women Awards in the UK. I am typically skeptical of award shows and their criteria for nomination but if the CCCWA’s mission is to “Recognize, Encourage, Appreciate Hardworking Cameroonian Women,” I can therefore say OTANG’s award is well deserved in that she is a talent we need to encourage.
I want to see OTANG stay the course and stick to rap. I still think her message needs to be refined but so far so good. Her debut song was near perfect but it seems like she is becoming more aggressive with subsequent releases which too me I think is not the best move. At this age, her focus need to be on her talent and her ability to influence pop culture. She needs to stay away from any sort of competition or comparison as those are the things that plague our industry today.
- Tino Foy