The history of modern pop music in Nigeria can easily be said to have started around the time The Remedies came on the scene. It is safe to say the history of Nigerian music wouldn’t be complete without The Remedies closing and opening a chapter.
If you do not know who The Remedies, Plantation Boys, Maintain and StylePlus are, then you missed out on a revolutionary chapter in the Nigerian music scene. Want to sell out a hundred thousand seater stadium in less than 24 hours? Have this guys headline a concert and I am a hundred percent certain you’ll sell it out before you can say “Whistle Blower Policy”.
Tony Tetuila, Eddy Montana, Eedris Abdulkareem were the guys you turned to if the Plantation Boys music was too “calm” for you. They funkified Afro Music and led the way for the new school Afro-Pop that has spread round the world. They combined all sorts of genres of music into their tunes, ensuring no matter your taste in music, there was something for you. They even had a fuji song combined with rap music, you just couldn’t help vibing with it.
It is probably not a wise idea to spring up an argument on if Tony was the best Singer at his peak or if Eddy was the best adlibber, or if Eedris was the best rapper back then, but fact is that if not for The Remedies, Nigerian music will not be as it is right now.
They encouraged every other artist to begin sampling sounds, mashing up genres, experimenting with different elements in music. Their stage craft was just something else. And if you want to talk about “ibile rap”, Eedris got Igbo and Yoruba people rapping in Hausa Language withouth breaking a sweat. Every big concert at the time was incomplete until The Remedies had graced the stage.
Fast forward over a decade later, The Remedies graced the stage of Afropolitan Vibe Concert and everyone went CRAZY!!!
Do you doubt me? Check out The Remedies live performance here…
IJOSWIL
