8 Words Made Popular By Afrobeat Legend Fela

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8 Words Made Popular By Afrobeat Legeng Fela

The controversial songwriter, composer, comedian and performer ruled the Nigerian entertainment scene for several years, hitherto became a constant

feature in the country’s polity and state. To suit his biddings and appeal to his numerous fans while taking on the government – mostly the military rulers - Fela coined, rejigged, and rephrased words that have today became more popular as a result of the singer’s constant usage. Listed are words commonly used by the citizenry but which we owe to the King of Afrobeat!

ZOMBIE

Zombie is the name given to any individual who obeys before complain or follows orders from above blindly. The word was made popular on Nigerian streets by fela after he used it in a track entitled Zombie to describe Nigerian soldiers mentality and brutality to fellow human beings like them

GO SLOW

This is a word coined from what the english dictionary refers to as TRAFFFIC JAM. Go slow became popular on the streets in nigeria after the fela's 1972 song Go slow, which satrise the infrastructural chaos of modern Nogeria

FOLLOW FOLLOW

This simply refers to individuals with no mind of his or her own but prefer to follow the crowd. Follow Follow is a track released in 1976 by fela to lampoon the lack of imagination of the Nigerian middle class.

OYINBO

The word oyinbo has been a regular parlance in the Nigerian western and south eastern states to describe a white man or any person with light pigmentation

SHAKARA

Shakara oloje, as used by fela is an act of feigning an offensive look.

YELLOW FEVER

The term yellow fever is actually a word for an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. But in 1976, the phrase which was commonly used by people in mushin to describe traffic wardens, was re-christened and made more popular by fela who decided to refer it to skin bleaching people.

AREA BOY

Area boy was borne out of the need to distinguish between residents of fela's kalakuta republic and rascals living around the area where the kalakuta was situated .

CHOP AND CLEAN MOUTH

Another title of one of fela's unreleased songs "Chop and Clean Mouth" became popular among the citizenry when describing an act of getting away with corrupt practices or illegality

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