Nigerian jollof is all about sex and/or wealth. Women offering or withholding sex, men describing sexual acts or talking about ‘ikebe’ and ‘backa’ and ‘Ukwu’ and ‘ogede’. But while we’re all about the sex and wealth, we seem to be vehemently against the idea that the sex can be consensually exchanged for the wealth or vice versa. Our musicians got to great lengths to condemn transactional sex (even though we’ve spoken at length on the sexuality blog about how the majority of sexual interactions in Nigeria are in fact transactional) and the video vixens whose overt displays of sexuality is how many musicians lure audiences into watching their videos and buying their music. Everyone but Davido.

Since 2015’s Aye, Davido seems to have embraced the idea that a woman can love and be with him for the financial perks he is able to provide her and instead of trying to ‘test’ her to see if she will love him without his wealth (a common trope in Nigerian jollof music) Davido does the opposite, he embraces this materialistic consumerism and builds his whole musical repertoire around it. No where better than 2017’s If which became his biggest hit of the year especially among women because of its celebration of extravagant gifting as a love language. Perhaps there is a discussion there to  be had around money and love, and it is interesting that Davido (whose private life has been plagued with Baby mamas, some legit, others not, allegedly having children for him as a way to access his wealth) is the one inadvertently spearheading the conversation.

Editor