I Go Chop Your Dollar
Two weeks ago, an article on the 419 (or advance fee fraud) scam circulated widely in the blogsphere and among the online media publications. Much of the pick-up was due to the the song, that the author led the readers to believe, brashly affirmed that the Nigerian 419ers were out to grab foreigners’ dollars, and moreover, that the song was one of the most popular songs in Lagos.
Upon reading the article, the takeaway of most viewers could probably be lumped into three groups. The first group didn’t give it much though. The second group questioned if the song was indeed for real… “Are they really singing, ‘Oyinbo, I go chop your dollar?’†And the third group thought… there go those Nigerians (scammers) again… @#$%^ emails!?!? #%^&
Shortly after the release of the article, the full-length music video became available online which sparked a whole new round of discussions, yet somewhat to my surprise, none of them seemed to get it (i.e. none showed any well-founded understanding of the song… and many pointed to erroneous translations of the lyrics.)
Prior to seeing the video, I was confused and didn’t know exactly what to think. I asked myself, “Have the 419ers taken over Lagos? Are they so popular that their praises were being sung on the radio?†Thankfully the video is out and after viewing it, everything became immediately clear to me. I’d like to share a few points:
- The artist on the track is Nigeria’s most popular comedic actor, Nkem Owoh
- Nkem is known throughout West Africa for his comedic wit & flawless delivery in films such as, such as: My In Law, Atinga, Ukwa, Osuofia in London, etc.
- He is often interchangeably referred to as the characters in his films – most commonly Osuofia.
- The song, “Oyinbo, I Go Chop Your Dollar,†is the title track from the comedy, The Master, starring Nkem Owoh as a scheming 419er.
- The song is intended to be a comedic accompaniment and title track to the film, The Master.
- If there was any doubt, lyrics like, “National Airport na me get am / National Stadium na me build am” (I own the National Airport / I built the Nigerian National Stadium (Surulere - Lagos, Nigeria)) clearly communicate this.
Hopefully this clarifies things for some viwers.
Moving along… it’s interesting to see Nkem Owoh crossing over into music. Reportedly, several Nigerian actors are attempting similar crossovers including Nigeria’s Movie starlet, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, who is reported to be releasing an album later this year.
Have a laugh and check out Nkem Owoh in the music video, “I Go Chop Your Dollar†(Director: Uzodinma Okpechi) from the film, The Master (2005)
Eugene
November 9th, 2005 at 5:04 pm
Nigerian blogs this week
November 9th, 2005 at 5:49 pm
My problem with that video is the low sound (and picture) quality.
November 10th, 2005 at 7:11 am
@Seun Osewa: blame it on the person who ripped it and put it online. that’s some piracy sh*t for real. but i guess it had to be done sooner or later cos it sure was needed online by peeps abroad.
anyway me Mums bought the “Osuofia in London video soundtrack”. i sure did enjoy the some of the songs in it…infact the whole CD in general. peep songs like “agege bread”, “osofia don come” and “wetin you dey use dey cook”. very little rhyming but it’s great comedy to last you a life time. i liked the behind teeh scenes of the movie part too.
i give Kingsley Ogoro (the movie producer) 10 gbosas for bringing us “osuofia in london”.
November 10th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
@TRAE, e be lik say ur head no dey correct. wish kin piracy ?? …my friend you no know wetin u dey talk & u dey talk SERIOUS RUBBISH !! Abi na all di music wey you dey listen to online & dis site, na piracy?? a beg !!
If di quality no dey correct, na di fault of di producer of di VCD, u know say naija VCD, di quality en general never reach yankee DVD level. Not to talk of di fact dat hi-quality videos, na major megabytes be dat, my modem na ajepako, e no fit download 50 MB. A beg, naija jams tank you ojare!!
November 11th, 2005 at 10:36 am
All these people wey dey complain about quality the reason for posting the link was just to illustrate the point made in the entry. nJ una don try. I gbadu the clip well.
November 14th, 2005 at 8:10 am
I love Osuofia and I am glad he is taking the mickey out of the 419ers.
The track is cool and appropriate for the film
November 15th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
funny stuff. had a big article in the Guardian about the 419 phenom. greed kill Oyinbo
November 16th, 2005 at 12:30 am
hopefully Motola sounds as good as she acts.
November 20th, 2005 at 5:51 am
just watched the video online (though i had the option to buy it yesterday at the market)…what can i say. artistically it’s a master piece. forget the morals for a little bit, Osuofia tried musically…plus he was rhyming. that’s one thing you don’t see in many non hiphop Naija songs.
another 419 song is Modenine’s “419 state of mind”
November 25th, 2005 at 6:31 am
The song and video was just to funny!
Oh well as obi said, oyinbo man to greedy
November 29th, 2005 at 7:59 pm
do not blame oshoufia
that is naija dey
this is a small part of the reason
fresh out from naija
kosi ata , owo no plenty
for me i must survive
but wahala plenty for land slef
naso police go stop u for u money as u own them
thief go steal your money
na opc no be popo go stop
OPC self be ole
December 23rd, 2005 at 4:40 pm
this is cool my best comdien i ever seen has a new song and its good
December 25th, 2005 at 8:14 pm
Home boy doin his thang mehn..nobody can hate on him..he jus too fly wit it!!
December 27th, 2005 at 7:34 am
osu ur head look like sawa
March 8th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
I agree with this article to an extent. As a British, I know that among our nationals there is a low opinion of Nigeria, and I have experienced this first hand with my parents strong resistance towards me visiting Lagos this summer. I don’t know how big the audience for The Master is in Britain (I personally own the video, I don’t know of anyone else), so I’m not convinced it will have a huge effect here, but all the same, it does encourage negative propaganda about Nigeria.
Have a look at this interesting article about Osuofia in London. I think this reads a bit too much into the movie.
My conclusion is that Nkem Owoh is a comedian, and we can’t take everything we see him in seriously. Are we to believe that all English people are heroes because we’ve watched James Bond? I think not.
The music video is cool. I love the song and the movie.
March 30th, 2006 at 6:30 am
u are d and indeed vry goodgooo
April 30th, 2006 at 10:14 am
We love you here in Ghana
June 28th, 2006 at 6:23 am
http://youtube.com/watch?v=D_YjvC4ndzM if you want to see the video.
Very nice!
July 8th, 2006 at 2:47 am
well, i really enjoyed the video. it’s 1 of those things that remind me of home and d beauty i’ve been missin here abroad. keep up d good work and continue doin more of d likes so that d ‘great african’ heritage is kept alive forever. long live naija, long liv afrique, long live d motherland,
cheers!
July 31st, 2006 at 11:16 am
i think osoufia is really talented…..do leave the guy alone
September 26th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
Yuck, don’t like that at all.
October 4th, 2006 at 11:20 am
he is a great man ,a model to africans.he made me to be more proud and he also made to understand that Afracans are the most sivilized on earth.
October 6th, 2006 at 1:07 am
I saw the music video, very cool actually. Really entertaining. Osuofia is very funny.
June 23rd, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Broda you are very good i really like you videos and i like this your music because am a Yahoo boie so i like everything about the music please try and sing some thing like this again you are wonderful and God bless you more and more Osuofia.