Meaning construction in Nigerian multilingual hip hop: a study in sociology of music

Abstract

The wide acceptability of Nigerian hip hop music, home and abroad, indicates increasing value of the inclusion of local popular languages in the composition and performance of the music. In the text of many of the award winning singles and albums are mixtures of different languages ranging from English, Pidgin English, Yoruba, Igbo and other local dialects. Drawing on Ferdinand de Saussure’s theory of structuralism, this study examines meaning construction in hip hop music in Nigeria. By focusing on the Nigerian hip hop artists, who adopt different slangs embedded with codes considered absurd within the mainstream cultural milieu, the study closely investigates constructed meanings in the lyrics of four Nigerian award winning hip hop artists. All the artists adopted multilingual codes-switching from one language to another in presentation of their messages. The codes in the songs generally symbolise and present messages or meaning that appears out of the mainstream cultural meanings. Listeners and artistes meet at the level of interpretations. The article argues that Nigerian artists creatively present a sub-culture where they and their fans can relate through codes and words embedded with symbolic meanings shared by both artists and fans.