Dear brothers and sisters in christ, i am writting to
you as a young christian who also has a burning
passion for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus christ.
I want to start by commending you for living the life
that God has called us to live despite the challenges
and distractions of this present world. I also want
to use this medium to address a vital issue that has
been a burden to me.
For awhile now i have observed and noticed that
the young folks in the gospel music scene here in
Nigeria have not really been getting the kind of
exposure they deserve. Why is this a concern to
me? You will agree with me that the highest
percentage of music lovers in this country are the
young people. Now if the gospel scene in the
country does not have young people at the top then
we are missing it! In my community the young
gospel musicians are the ones working hard and
trying to put the music out there but they are the
ones not getting any form of attention or support. I
know you must be asking yourself ” what has this
got to do with me?” Well in a moment you will know
its got alot to do with you.
By now i believe everyone knows lecrea and how
successful he has become in the music scene lately!
Well if you don’t? Please wait behind after the
service one of our pastors will bring you up to
speed(joking). Everybody has been celebrating
lecrea’s success but only few people know how he
actually got there so i am going to try my best to
explain it briefly. When lecrea started he was faced
with a major challenge, the church and top
christian platforms won’t play his hiphop songs
because they believed it was too hardcore or getto
(till now some still don’t) and secondly the secular
platforms won’t give him an audience because of
the christian content in his songs and oboy! lecrea
was very raw when he started (listen to Rebel
Album). Lecrea was stuck between two worlds,his
own won’t accept him and the secular world will not
for obvious reasons but something happened that
surprised the two worlds. Lecrea started gaining
popularity and his album sales began to rise to top
positions on charts. How was this possible when
they refused to give him platforms? Its simple his
music began to spread among young christians and
youth groups! The unamashed and 116 movement
began to spread like wildfire and his fan base kept
growing even down till here in Africa. These young
christians shared his songs with their friends,they
invited him to youth meetings,they bought tickets to
his tour concerts and the network kept expanding
and so was his album sales until the world started
giving him attention. I want to tell you that young
christians like you and me were able to make our
voice heard by putting our weights behind lecrea
and pushed him there.
This brings me to my major focus, back here in
Nigeria there is a vacuum in the gospel music
industry! We don’t have new generation young
musicians representing the gospel at the top. In the
US they had the likes of Don moen,micheal smith
and so many others that were recognised gospel
musicians but they did not have an artiste that
represented the young generation. Am talking
about someone who could combine the culture,the
message,the sound and someone that really had
influence over this generation for christ and that
was were Lecrea came in. Now here in Nigeria we
have great gospel musicians who are big but can
they influence this generation?? Sorry I don’t believe
they can confront the pop culture.But we have so
many guys that can hold it down any given day or
time! A few of them have tried to make it happen
but they have not been able to break out of their
small communities. If you go to their concerts its
usually a family and friends affair, they drop good
songs but it still spreads around this same
community why? Well the answer is simple we have
forgoten how we took lecrea there! You don’t
change the winning formular guys! We have to start
supporting these exceptional guys out there.
We the young christians have to take it upon
ourselves to make sure this guys get the needed
exposure. We cannot wait for the older generation
to make this move afterall we control the social
media platforms. I want to appeal to everyone of
you to conciously push this agenda and lets make
our own stars and not stop until the whole world
knows! On your social media platforms make sure
your posts are centred around this. start hashtags
and make it trend, In your campuses organise
shows and invite these youngq gospel musicians
some of them are even students too , invite them to
your youth events and church concerts, buy tickets
to their shows and tours, buy thier albums and
share with your friends. Also when you have a
birthday party and wedding reception play these
songs guys! You cannot be dancing to shakitibobo
and expect the gospel songs to spread! when was
the last time you heard a secular DJ playing gospel
songs in the club?? You are the only one that has
left your father’s farm to go and farm on another
person’s farm! Engage your friends in discusions
relating to this kind of topics not arguing about who
is the best between Davido and Wizkid. This does
not apply to gospel music alone it includes websites
and blogs,magazines,Tv shows, articles,Radio
stations(shout out to praiseworld radio).
The last time i watched an interview by Uk based
Rapper Faithchild,he said in the UK Gospel scene
the christian hiphop and young Gospel musicians
are the ones at the top of the Gospel music scene
over there. And this can also be the case here in
Nigeria too if we wake up from our slumber and
begin to push this agenda. We might be celebrating
the stars overseas but we also need our own
Lecrea’s over here too. There is an adage that says
“to prove that you are really mad,burn down your
father’s hut first! not other people’s houses”.
Ps: i am just a concerned young christian. I hope
this article can spark up a revolution.