By Osagie Alonge
So here we finally have it, after Nigerians watched Black Entertainment Television (BET) introduce Ghana to the highly respected BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher last year, most Nigerians were bitter – envisaging that Nigeria boasts of better and more eloquent rappers, some even claimed Nigeria has the best rappers in the African continent.
So this year, in commemoration of the BET Hip-Hop Awards 2011, the production team found their way to Lagos to pick a team of six male and five female Nigerian rappers to represent the rest of the country on a global platform.
However, the Nigerian cypher wasn’t aired at the awards show in the US that night making it look like a somewhat wasteful effort, but then again, we could only be thankful for the opportunity for some of the rappers to do us proud. Here’s a thorough breakdown of each rappers cypher, rated on a scale of 10.
FYI: A Cypher or Cipher is the act of freestyle rapping through acapella or on instrumental beats. The rap is ‘free of style’, and can be improvised or previously written.
Going in…
MALE CYPHER
X.O Senavoe – X.O has made his rounds in the online circuit but was he worthy of making the list? The rapper throws off charisma with little experience with his flow as he attempts to outshine his peers. Not a bad attempt but the problem is he overdoes it and leaves everyone perplexed with nothing concrete to hang on to. He would probably have championed the Ghanaian cypher.
Rating: 5/10
Ice Prince – Being as basic as possible is probably the best bet when on a cypher (ask Royce da 5’9; ‘Hi Rihanna‘) and that’s what Mr. Zamani probably tried doing but he ironically brings the heat on himself. You can’t kill a cypher with watery lyrics like ‘I’m sitting on their heads, I’m like a basin‘. His vocal confidence is high but content was quite poor. Ice Prince’s rhyme pattern is too elementary and borrowing lyrics from a track on his debut album (check ‘End of story’ ft. Samklef) doesn’t help matters – ‘Life is fair, so I’m thinking of how to bleach‘.
Rating: 4.5
Sauce kid: Oluwasaucekibaba made it clear from the get go that he wasn’t on the cypher for jokes. With a starting line like ‘If you expect the unexpected then it becomes expected/so I expect respect or get disrespected ‘, the rapper who is well known for his freestyles came through with his delivery and wordplay. We basically didn’t expect less. No Over-the-head’ lines though but the former Storm Records rapper proved his worth just at a time when his rap career was nose-diving.
Rating: 6.5
Naeto C: Firstly, whoever picked Naeto C for the cypher must have been biting a finger or two while watching the cypher. The Storm Records rapper clearly couldn’t make a mark leaving his Fulani cap the only memorable thing about his freestyle. The rapper clearly could not hit the nail on the head and any attempt he made sounded ridiculous. ‘By the time I made my first six million, you were riding Jincheng‘, was the kind of ‘P’ Naeto could offer on a cypher. In no way was this a 10/10 performance.
Rating: 2/10
Modenine: If anybody thought Modenine wouldn’t come through, he/she would have to wait another century to see that. Nigel Benn dominated the cypher with intricate, mind-bending, mind-blowing and straight up bully-type of lyrics. It just shows his years of experience as a lyricist and not just a rapper, surpassing his peers. And to think he was almost not included on the list. ‘My wordplay is incredible fam/to get into my rhyme book you’ll need a retinal scan‘
Rating: 8.5/10
M.I: Mister Incredible stuck to his guns and delivered some of the ‘wittiest lines in the cypher. His styling was impeccable. Mutli-syllabic rhyming and straight up bragging is how M.I planned his style. Delivery- check, versatility – check. The short black boy made sure coming last wouldn’t weigh him down. M.I kept it simple enough for a hip-hop newbie to decipher yet matured enough for ‘hip-hop heads’ to nod to. Brilliant.
Rating: 8/10
FEMALE CYPHER
Muna: One word for her – diffidence. Just back from the Def Jam Records auditions in the US, Muna sounded like a nervous young 15-year-old who was sitting for an oral exam. Her lyrics were barely pronounced well and rhyming didn’t hit the average mark. It comes as a surprise judging from her previous works, you would think she would have killed it.
Rating: 3/10
Zee: The youngest of them all, Zee didn’t bring it on the cypher. Should we blame it on her inexperience? Maybe. The confidence in her voice was present but articulation was poor, leaving us to grab her lines while she has moved to the next one. However, her lyrics gives her extra points; with lines like ‘I’m triggered with lines like bullets, let’s call the girl a shooting star’.
Rating: 4/10
Sasha: Sasha couldn’t bring the storm on the Cypher. Even as she tried using a Dagrin-memorial theme in her raps, she sounded terrible. She switched from English to Yoruba language which only made matters worse. Her delivery and lyrics were way below the average and worsened when she tried singing. Poor attempt.
Rating: 1.5/10
Eva: The young newbie’s attempt is quite commendable. Known for her high-pitched voice inflection, Eva switched up the flow of the cypher with her rap style. Her laudable delivery was however setback a little by her not-so-memorable lyrics. But hey, a one-eyed man in the land of the blind is a king right? Commendable effort.
Rating 4/10
Blaise: The veteran rapper must have been having a bad day; Blaise, who is known to slaughter her male counterparts on songs with just a verse kept it too simple with her lines. Yet again, leaving her claim as the number one ‘femcee’ questionable. Her rhyme pattern was just about enough to keep us listening as she didn’t drop potent lyrics to awe us like she is known to do. We’ll forgive you just this once.
Rating: 4.5/10
CONCLUSION
The positive thing is that those who weren’t sure about how Hip-hop has grown in Nigeria will be taken back by the Nigerian BET Cypher. Nigeria presented a collage of different rappers who very well represented in the cypher – a mash up of the veteran and the new age.
However, a few flaws are seen in the video – Why is M.I wearing a shirt with the US flag on it? And out of all the other upcoming female rappers in Nigeria, why is R&B singer Retta prancing in the video?
RAPPERS WHO SHOULD HAVE MADE THE CYPHER
Terry Tha Rapman: Mr. Joe Spazm should have been included in the cypher no matter what. Known for his outrageous, over-the-head lyrics, he sure would have added a lot of colour with his style.
Ikechukwu: Known for his spot-on rhyming, Killz would have done a better job than a few of the rappers on the cypher with his braggadocio lyrics and sharp delivery.
Pherowshuz: Phero the great is known for styling too many punchlines and metaphors in a song, this would have been his opportunity to display his brilliant wordplay.
Dark Poet: If there was ever a freshman rapper to be featured, it would have to be Dark Poet, the former MO’BB underground rapper is well known amongst his peers for massacring rappers with words.
Watch the cypher below…
MALE CYPHER
FEMALE CYPHER
52 comments
yea… we all know why they aint air it…. Where dat Naija Yankee Music Representation!!!??
Post Script : That dude Mode 9 Went In.
Nice review,i must say!
One thing i sensed on this cypher was that it was as if our rappers werent ready for it,like it came suddenly. Someone like X.O should have seen this as an opportunity to push himself to the limelight,spit hungrily!
When Modenine was putting in all the work,most of them so called mainstream rappers were virtually mocking him. Dude was dropping an E.P like every quarter! Hardwork!
The BET CYPHER was just a little day of reckoning and your ears already know who the best is!
u see mode nine is a bad rapper as in his lyricas where insane,Kel shuld have mudered instead of muna,for Gos sake she is a beauty queen,she is damn lame
they didnt air it when i watched the award,itz not fair,is it dat poor,naija sef fall hand
Modo definitely Came Korrect on Thz 1, Commercialization of Hip Hop isnt the Way Forward, Thatz Why Many of Them Catz Just Firing Blanks…#That is What Alaba music has Done to Many of them!
Yo! I gotta say I don’t agree too much with this post. Vector should have been put to the mix and Naeto C should be ousted. As for the females, Kel and Bouqui should be there instead of Muna and Zee. This is Hip Hop, not a beauty contest. They should’ve seen the UK Cypher. We’ve got a loong road to go in Hip Hop. On a brighter note, Mode9, SauceKid and Eva repped Naija to the fullest. Deuces.
Definitely Mode9 is da best rapper from Africa, in 9ja is mode9 & others, listen 2 his albums & mixtapes u will agree to that, aside from Mode9, others 4 d cypher shld’ve been, vector, terry tha rapman, Ikechukwu,Pherowshuz, mi, Ruggedman, Freestyle & show dem camp.
yes when freestyle doe not brot any album but he aint lame,he would have murdered it,eldee, rugged were dey not around and for females,KEL and bouqui esp bouqui she is a bad ass rapper,muna is vey lame
all i can say is this review hit the nail on the head,Fabulous review
late DA GRIN (Yoruba rapper) once said dat no matter wat or how we try to rap in English, we can neva spit lyk Eminem or weezy or ludacris. dat’s y he rap in his mother tongue nd no any rapper 4rm America or where eva can beat him. dis is a good lesson Nigerians should learn.
4 God’s sake let’s wake up! And stop deceiving ourselves. When will this fact sink into us that; you cannot SELL America to Americans! Period! You will rather sound ‘silly and stupid’. Let our artistes give them what they are not familiar with, and that is ‘naija’ flavor. Can an American artist do music in our own dialect without an ‘accent’? Will an average Nigerian ‘feel’ it? Let’s give this a THOUGHT plzzzzzz!!!!!
You are very right my brother but our people just dont understand. Its like Jay z rapping in Yoruba of pidgin!!!
This review is very strange…a UK based Dj rated the Nigerian female Cypher very high. Many even believe that the Nigerian Cypher was better than the UK’s.
Chiddy bang, bouqui shld ave been cld on nd nt this fake rappers Bet pckpd 4 cypher.
Nice review…Although I must say I felt the women did better than their male counterparts overall..
Sorry, who just said Ruggedman should have been on that Cypher? Jokes, right?
I felt the females did a better job, eldee, terry da rap man, oladele would av repped NAIJA beTter, not necessarily drop lines like mode, but the NAIJA flavour for dey there…. but Naeto c, xo, ice smh God dey
hahahah! sasha…mtcheww! ok apart from blaze…i dont know what was happening there o.
then MODE 9 killed it, M.I folllowed and then Saucekid. But the others should have helped out carrying the lights or mics or sumtin!
I AGREE WITH YOU AND I LL RATE SAUCE KID AND MODE9 ON SAME LEVEL…HIS STARTIN LINES WERE ON POINT…I ALSO LIKED HIS MOVEMENT AND CLOSIN…WUD HAVE LUVED TO SEE FREESTYLE AND RUGGED ON THE BEAT THO…
Xo was the bane of our existence with his halfdone lyrics and basic flow….
If anything, you know the cypher brings nothing but street credibility and for some, the exposure they needed in and out of the country.
I haven’t listened to the female version yet but for those interested, you can check out the full lyrics to the male version at http://www.freenaijalyrics.com/bet-nigerian-cypher-x-o-senavoe-iceprince-sauce-kid-naeto-c-modenine-m-i/
like say dagrin dey he for carry am. Saucekid and mi and mode made us pround naeato c was spittin nonsense but pherowshz should have gone up sauce kid
I thought the girls looked better prepared. If that makes sense.
Kel and Vector are on my list of people who should have been on but weren’t
And i thought Mode Nine, M.I, Blaise and Eva gave a good account of themselves.
1stly, big ups to both d male & female rappers! It aint easy! But with dis ratings, we could all agree they didnt perform quite well… Shld we say some of them are nervous? Mayb if international platforms like dis are encourage, they would change! For d male rappers, Vector shld av been on d Cypher… Damn! Hw would dey leave dat talent out! For d female rappers, Mocheddah shld av been given a chance… That babe is good!
Well, better luck next time! Remember u are repping Naija!
LOL. Any1 who says Eva did better dan Blaise belongs under d sea and IMO,d naija female cypher>>>>>>British cypher….and yh Ruggedman on d cypher???dis world is nt my own…
Mocheddah on whaaaaa???? Pls I strongly disagree and ppl saying Ruggedman should have been there pls 4 d love of all dat is holy and pure,stop eet!I liked Sauce Kid’s cypher best tho and Blaise remains winning….d female cypher ws better tho…
Mode 9 has once again proved that he is unarguably Africa’s best MC. Sorry MI, but rap isn’t all about rhymes.
Vectooooor!
best review ever, so on point..
X.O Senavoe deserved much better, obviously his audio wasn’t good, that aside he was one of the best. Easily 8.5/10!!!
Hmm..allow me take a deep breath.somebody pls tell me,what was x.o speaking(arabic or swahili)?s.m.h,ice prince pls stop making gramatical errors just to make up nursery rhymes,ok?. Then who else o..ehen the ibo man dat is crazy with the malam cap or watever yal know who i mean,the dude was pathetic i mean lame he should go to the emirate and ask 4 ‘wheel chair’ wilshere..lmao.then whose next o..sauce kid well the dude try sha after his first dope linez he started shaking as if he drank alomo bitters,then m.i s.m.h we know say u go skul thanks 4 the grammar 101 u try sha. then mode 9 aargh! You already know wat it iz..well alround una try sha it aint that easy but na una work. Femces make una go beging search 4 husband bunch of lame fellas mtchww!.
U guys shuld go eazy on this so called emcees. They tried their best. But it was’nt just good enough. I hope they could read all y’all comment and see how much they suck. But anyways to be on the cypher aint easy tho
The Nigerian Cypher was just poor, really nothing to write home about and I believe it didn’t represent the rap or hip hop culture in Nigeria. Any1 that has seen our rappers on jimmy jatts would see that rappers like Ikechukwu, Godwon, Iceberg slim, Rico white, Terry tha Rapman, Vector and Pherowshuz would have done a far better job than XO, Naeto and Iceprince both on improv or written freestyle. Naeto C is good and I believe his strongest lyrics where on his track ‘share my blessings’ ft Asa, but he isn’t on to put on a cypher. Godwon would have done just as well as Mode9 and Saucekid who killed it for me. Rap in any language u want but delivery will get u some points even though I agree that it helps if the worldwide audience can understand what ur rappin about. Hope we do better next time.
come cut this guys some slack your ratings is rated 0.5 stop been all judgmental and stuff. we know those guys and we ve listen to them and we know they are gud and undoubtedly the best in africa and some other continents.
The idea of the review is good,, Mode 9 was on point,,as usual,,cut X.O some slack,,his lyrics were deep,,the crown was roaming(roman)so I ceased her(ceaser),,indepth lyrics all through,,delivery was the issue,,the dude needs to be audible. ,how can u do a cypher without the alpha,,Vector..smh,,eva is cool,,sasha,,poor,
modey dah boss…..neato sucks,,,,,sauce made sense m.i cool but 2 much suffix tion lolz…senavoe tite bt nxt tym mk it audible,,,iceprince jst start singin liv rap alone…u were tite bt dt wz way bck..
First of all, if u tink XO was wack ur crazy . The guy was the only real treat to Mode . I taught he was wack too until i read his lyrics, he was brilliant . Naeto was straight up garbage, wat did he tink he was doing ?. Ratings :
Mode 9
XO senvoe
Sauce kid
M.I
These we the only people on the CYPER .
well if u have to read someones lyrics to feel his flow then its still wack #poor delivery, modo killed it as expected, and sauce kid was next #mad intro, MI was just nice at most, nursery rhymes…nice reviews but i think d girls did good on d whole….
nigeria’s female rapper e-legal should have made the list i listened to her mixtape and she took my breath away listen to her following this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGZAh683qFU
I watched the male version,i believe Nigeria has arrived internationaly.Mode 9 can be confirmed as the King of AfricaN HipHop.can’t wait to see him along side Jay Z soon.
No..i only hav problems wiv x.o n naeto 4 d guys….
They av tried cos it not so easy but I thin dey shld av included eldee,freestyle,ikechuku and terry cos these pple are music heads who knws all what all dat is all abt.they shld av excluded neoto,iceprince,xo n it would av been beta.anyways ,I still think d ladeis av done beta overall.
If you think XO Senavoe was wack then i think you’re insane and you’re not a HipHop head, that dude was deep, Mode9 just shrugged him off with experience im sorry Most of you dont know Hiphop, you think the opposite, you just feel like commenting just cause you’ve seen the Naija Cypher. And the ladies were on point too, Blaise killed it for me.
I actually thought XO was wack until I read his lyrics. Apart from Mode9, his verse was the best. Yes, even better than MI’s. It’s a pity his delivery was so poor. Ice and Naeto C were wack. Mode9 killed the cipher, followed by MI and Sauce.
Those of u who only label out the bad things or mistakes which these brilliant rappers have committed without commending their efforts are considered jobless and wise claiming. I’m sure most of u saying this can not even be able to write rap talk more of freestyling wit CYPHER. U should be able to praise dem for a job well done and still tell dem there mistakes in a polite way not the other way round just as some1 regarded muna as lame(don’t show ur frustration on a celeb wit such manner). They rhymed it well which really should’nt be so (due to the nature of freestyling) but was due to their personal skills and prowess which i tink was worth being a rapper. Mode9 n Sauce Kid represented Nigeria but the Mr Incredible represented Africa, he was too brilliant and his raps got me playing his lines again and again. Among the female Eva is a rap queen . Blaise was good. Wishing u guys goodluck in ur endeavours.
Thot nate is a graduate 4rm a skul abroad? Hw cud he let modo n mi murder d cypher? S.m.h
4 me…generally,it wasnt a poor performance bt i bliv dey cud hv done more,especially ICE PRINCE nd NEATO,dey suckd more dan a new born baby…comon!!!..we wer reppin nigeria nd africa,dis 2 wud hv done beta…MODE9 brought in d experience nd showd em dat he was d best,SAUCE added sauce 2 it,M.I jst shwd us dat he was widely read,XO jst kept up…..brilliant anyway.
Yemzy M.i iceprince is d best
No Doubt Modo spits!
Buh’
X.O probably outshone the rest..great lyrics bro!
These lines made it for me;
am spittin in a-sick-way and am the TRUTH..
The rap crow was roaming so i ceased-her
u SEE i SAWED this beat its naw an EYE SORE in the I.C.U …dang! Dat was classic.
Plus the B.E.T,B.B.C.D’s and E.V.E alphabet play were ‘out-standing’,they need some ‘shelters’..
The guy line was jus jus damn DOPE..
And i’ll neva Forget ma hommie M.I surely he delievery is always accurate dan dat of a luminary mid-wif..
IcePrince..over confidence wit spitting kill him mahne,his lines suck here,buh’ he probably gon murder shit next time..
SauceBABA..NA DIE BE DAT.
Naeto C…..lmao!
His line was lame..
Hope to see PHENOM and VECTOR on dis year’s cypher..dis guys get are damn hot.
Delievery: 0.K
lyrics: virasae
shout out to E.V. U khnawsayn!
Fucking clock!
Aw time will cum mahne.
No Doubt Modo spits!
Buh’
X.O probably outshone the rest..great lyrics bro!
These lines made it for me;
am spittin in a-sick-way and am the TRUTH..
The rap crow was roaming so i ceased-her
u SEE i SAWED this beat its naw an EYE SORE in the I.C.U …dang! Dat was classic.
Plus the B.E.T,B.B.C.D’s and E.V.E alphabet play were ‘out-standing’,they need some ‘shelters’..
The guy line was jus jus damn DOPE..
And i’ll neva Forget ma hommie M.I surely he delievery is always accurate dan dat of a luminary mid-wif..
IcePrince..over confidence wit spitting kill him mahne,his lines suck here,buh’ he probably gon murder shit next time..
SauceBABA..NA DIE BE DAT.
Naeto C…..lmao!
His line was lame..
Hope to see PHENOM and VECTOR on dis year’s cypher..dis guys get are damn hot.
Delievery: 0.K
lyrics: virasae
shout out to E.V. U khnawsayn!
Watch!
Aw time will cum mahne.