Few months ago a civil lawsuit was filed by an employee against Universal Music Group, in the US, for subjecting her to a drug infested environment where artists smoke weed all the time and cannot conduct business without smoking weed. It appears Universal is not the only label with artists who get high . . .
Few months ago, we saw the abrupt departure of Jesse Jagz from Chocolate City Nigeria (CC). Jagz got on Facebook and announced his departure from the leading Nigerian label with no notice to any of its executives or staff. When the label tried to pretend it knew, Jagz got on national television and set the record straight, informing us no one knew. Now, if you all recall, a so called insider informed TheNetng.com, at the time, that one of the basis for the abrupt departure was the excessive use of marijuana, among other things, by Jagz.
According to 360nobs, Maikori explained that Jagz’ lyrical contents and music videos, made executives believe he was ‘promoting drugs and nicotine in his music videos’ which was completely contrary to company policies.
This excessive use, among other statements made, was getting in the way of relationships in the CC camp and helping to move business relations forward with Jagz. CC denied the allegations. but. Now, we see that there is indeed a growing or existing drug issue within the CC camp.
Indeed Brymo, a CC artist , few months back got on Instagram and shared images of himself smoking a blunt.
He further shared an image of the drug and also confessed to smoking, a “lot” even as he simultaneously posted the image.
This act by Brymo was said to have cost the company some gigs with clients complaining of the artiste’s shameful use of the weed.
Brymo was asked by the label to remove the tweet with the picture but he refused. Rather, he went to same Twitter to announce his exit from Chocolate City.
All I want to know is, is CC a new destination for pot head artists or do they become pot heads after they sign on to the label?
Also, is Chocolate City the only label whose artists smoke weed? Why must their own artists be the ones to perambulate the news and images on social media? Why? What does the label stand for and what do its artists also stand for? There are too many contradictory messages especially with the image the brand claims it is projecting and the one its artists keep releasing.
I am of the firm belief that the Nigerian entertainment community and Nigeria as a whole is simply not equipped to handle the negative and at times deadly repercussions that flow from drug use. We can’t pray this one away or use juju to fix it. Further, marijuana is just the beginning, it usually doesn’t end there but becomes a gradual progression into something else.
We have only just begun to see a growing phenomenon and if it continues, the industry and Nigeria will be worse off both in the crimes and kinds of crimes committed within the community, and the quality of music produced.
Sadly, our youths now view some of these individuals as role models.
No comments:
Post a Comment