Falz – This is Nigeria
When Nigerian musician Falz unveiled his remake of Childish Gambino’s viral video, “This is America”, it sparked a nationwide conversation and quite a handful of people who had seen it concurred with its message and theme.
This is Nigeria tackles the social ills in Nigeria, highlighting aspects such as corruption, crime and exploitation.
Though the song and video widely received critical acclaim and was heavily rotated on Nigerian airwaves after its release, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) moved to ban it claiming the song is “laced with vulgar lyrics” which Falz actually found amusing.
He was also threatened with a lawsuit by a Muslim rights group, The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) describing the video as “thoughtless, insensitive and highly provocative,” as reported by The Cable. He drew criticism from the group as a result of featuring girls in hijabs dancing the “shaku shaku” as well as a Fulani character appearing to behead a man.
Falz responded to the criticism by saying the dancing girls in hijabs represented Chibok girls who had been abducted by Boko Haram.
