Taron X and Zamarley’s song “Fowl” has been a staple for a few weeks now amongst the Anglophone community. It is one of those songs that will remain in that community and won’t cross over. Because; pidgin.
I’m not complaining. I’m actually enjoying it. Ei fine make one-one time them, make na only we di enjoy wa thingz. Nobi every song get to blow across Moungo.
I first heard the song months ago. Someone shared it in a WhatsApp group and everyone there enjoyed it and cracked jokes about the song for the following forty-five or so minutes that ensued. It was mostly jokes about us growing up with stories that closely resembled the one in Taron X’s song. The song is very relatable and the lyrics are so well put together that you can easily visualise the narrative of the story.
What you, perhaps, are not aware of is that the song basically puts in full display what is one of the pillars of rap music; STORYTELLING
Along with other elements like rhythm, rhyme, lyricism, cadence, and style,* storytelling is an important part of rap music itself. Most rappers incorporate storytelling into their music either by briefly describing a scene inside four or five bars. Other rappers go all the way out and tell a story in 3 verses in a narrative style. Some rappers make at entire part of their personal style as a rapper. The perfect example is a rapper called Slick Rick.
Storytelling go back to the origin of rap. The very first rappers like Grandmaster Caz and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, and even Run-DMC started their craft at local parties. When they took the mic, they had to introduce themselves. So they will say stuff about who they are, where they come from, what school they went to… etc
That laid the foundation of storytelling in rap music.
Think of Will Smith in the “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”: Now this is the story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down. I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell you how I became the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
He tells you what happens after. How he got into trouble playing basketball and how his mom decided to send him to go stay with his aunt and uncle in Bel-Air.
That’s storytelling
A more recent example of a rapper that has made storytelling an essential part of who he is as a rapper is Lil Dicky. Songs like Freaky Friday, Too High, Professional Rapper, Lemme Freak, and just about the average Lil Dicky song is told in a storytelling manner.
Taron X’s story works so well because it is both relatable and funny. I’m not sure it would have worked the same if he did the song in a language other than Pidgin. And also, nothing says that he should continue in that line of comedy storytelling. Storytelling in rap, just like in literature, can take many different formats and tonality.
I had erstwhile written an article here about how gifted Pascal is when it comes to telling stories in his raps. I find it interesting to see other rappers incorporate this element fully in their records. I think the formula will work even better with us than it does with a western audience for the simple reason that we are a people with rich oral traditions.
A lot of the stories we grew up hearing like “John and Mary and the Lily flower” were stories that were passed down to us orally. Storytelling in rap, in our context, is just a perpetuation of that tradition, and it works really well. Our rappers should embrace it more.
. - Wandji Wilfred