This Is Cameroon: On Political Rap and the Moment We Missed
Following the viral success of Childish Gambino's "This Is America" and Falz's Nigerian response, Cameroonian social media called for a local version. The writer argues that the moment demanded not mainstream popularity but artistic integrity—a rapper with a genuine track record of politically charged work, not one riding a wave of global virality.
Except you have been living under a rock, you probably heard about or listened to the song “This is America” by the U.S rapper, Childish Gambino. You may have also heard the alternate version of the song, by Nigerian rapper, Falz. If not, let me catch you up.
Both songs talk about the different societal ills in which both rappers live in. Childish Gambino addresses issues like racism and police brutality all of which are happening in a society rendered comatose by social media and people oblivious to everything happening around them.
Falz, in his video addresses Nigerian issues such as Boko Haram and the Daphsi girls, government corruption, electricity insufficiency, nepotism, drug abuse (awon science students), the great distraction that is Big Brother Naija, nepotism, and a whole lot of issues that you all can see for yourselves in the video.
When Childish Gambino’s video dropped, many people over the internet went berserk. Personally, I didn’t understand the hoopla over the video. For older rap heads like me, it didn’t seem novel. I’ve always known hip-hop to be a political music. But I guess since most mainstream rap now is trap artists singing about cough syrup, it is understandable to see the fuss that was made over the video.
Anyway, that’s not what I am here for. I’m writing this today because, in the wake of Falz’s video on Nigeria, many of our people on Twitter were asking that someone step up and do a “This is Cameroon” video. I mean, if there was a perfect time to do such a video, it would be now. Between the Anglophone problem and the PB HEV scam, there is a cornucopia of subject matters that can be explored.
I really don’t like getting myself caught in arguments with strangers over social media and so I extricated myself from one just a few days ago before it even started. Some young lady on Twitter joined her voice in asking for someone to do a “This is Cameroon” video. She went ahead, like many others and suggested that JOVI be the person to do it. It was on that point that I didn’t quite agree. I had only just mentioned that I didn’t think Jovi was a fitting choice when she, in what I believe was a supercilious tone, told me that she didn’t ask my opinion and that her opinions were hers and that if I didn’t like them, I was free to go argue with my ancestors.
Well, first of all, I don’t know my ancestors like that. Nobody in my family thought to keep genealogical records, and so I wouldn’t be able to tell who my ancestors are. How then, do I argue with them?
Secondly, my grandparents passed on only less than 3 years ago and I’m not sure that if is long enough for them to qualify as ancestors. So her point is moot. But don’t let that distract you from the fact that you probably agree with her that Jovi should be the one to do such a song.
At this point, you are probably asking yourself WHOM I would want to do a “This Is Cameroon” song. Right? Sorry, but I won’t answer that. I have some names but I won’t list them. I want us to focus on the WHY and not the WHO. This is not an anti-Jovi article. It is deeper than that.
OK, now that I got your attention.
My argument against Jovi and frankly almost any other person that would have come up is simply because if I go through their catalog, I can’t find one serious politically-charged music. Simple. Madam ancestors wanted Jovi because he is perhaps, and arguably so, the most popular rapper in Cameroon. And if we have to move from that popularly contest he is the one rapper with a “mboko” image that seems to confer on him the responsibility of such a record. Makes sense huh?
Who better to do such a song than a rapper wey all we know say e backside na terre?
Mais moi je ne le vois pas de cette oeil.
Ever since Valsero somewhat left the music scene I haven’t really seen any rapper who has worn his shoes and produced some real politically-charged album. Valsero is the closest thing our generation has to Lapiro. I dare you to name one rapper who has done one whole political album to the level which Valsero has.
Again, I am not trying to pit one rapper against the other. It is not a dick-measuring contest. My sole reason for denying Jovi and many others is that, personally, I find a “This Is Cameroon” song too much of a cultural turning point to have someone who has not been politically active in his music to jump in with his musical surfboard and ride the wave of popularity that Childish Gambino has engendered. You get my point, right?
If anything, it points to the state of hip-hop in Cameroon and just generally around the world. I have written here before about hip-hop and traced its origins to political and social movements. I’ve spoken about how rap music started as an empowerment tool given to an oppressed minority as a beacon of hope, by engaging them in making their communities better.
We all have seen how that message has declined over the years to us having the Amigos charting number one singles with barely decipherable words. Anyway, that is a whole different topic.
My point here is to show that we have followed the trend and rap artists have fettered themselves in popular and mainstream thematic straightjackets and the true messiahs that could have carried a “This Is Cameroon” song are not there. And the ones that I think (I won’t give their names) should do it, unfortunately, are not in the spotlight enough for us to even consider them.
I’m not here to tell Jovi or Ngoma or Boy Tag or Stanley or whomever what kind of music to do. It’s their hustle, and to paraphrase Jay Z, what they eat don’t make me s***t. Anyone of them can go ahead and do a “This Is Cameroon” song and if it is well done, I’d gladly share and click the like button.
I’m just a purist when it comes to rap music. I believe in political rap. And I believe that when an opportunity such as this comes, those who are the true philosophers of this ideology should take center stage because they truly embody the zeitgeist. There are many of them in Cameroon, but we just don’t want to let them entertain us or maybe aren't ready.
Anyway, it’s just my opinion. Feel free to give yours to me and my ancestors. We are open to critique.
- Wandji Wilfred.
In 2018, "This Is America" sparked global conversation about using hip-hop as social commentary. Falz's Nigerian adaptation immediately prompted Cameroonian audiences on Twitter to demand an equivalent, one that could address the Anglophone crisis and other systemic issues then dominating national discourse. The writer situates this as a symptom of how Cameroon consumes and copies global cultural moments without asking deeper questions.
The piece articulates a tension that persists: the difference between cultural relevance and artistic credibility. At the time, it challenged a reflex toward celebrity and virality over substance. It remains vital for its critique of how protest music gets domesticated—how a moment of real reckoning can be flattened into a trend, and how the artists best equipped to speak often lack the platform. The writer's insistence on principle over popularity reads now as prescient about the shallow integration of political messaging into mainstream media.