In case the other 3% of you don’t know, I am of Nigerian descent (another odd tidbit? I’m actually considered “royalty” out there, thanks to my mother’s grandfather being a high-ranking chief of his village). I actually did not discover rap until my elementary/junior high years, when my oldest sister dubbed a copy of Ready To Die by The Notorious B.I.G. and The Score by The Fugees. Prior to that, I was largely exposed to the sounds of Afrobeat and Nigerian folk music via my family (and extended family), and traditional top-40 pop songs courtesy of my sisters.
The best part about growing up listening to songs from Fela? Discovering that, years later, those same songs would provide the backdrops for some of my favorite rap cuts ever.
