Tuesday, April 22, 2014

D'Banj's Song "Fall In Love" & RHOA 's Kenya Moore

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a video of & lyrics for the song "Falling In Love" by the Nigerian vocalist D'Banj. Information about D'Banj and comments about several of the Nigerian pidgin English words & phrases in this song are also included in this post.

In the Addendum to this post, I've included speculation & my comment about the relationship between D'Banj and the Real Housewives Of Atlanta [American television] cast member Kenya Moore.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to D'Banj & other vocalists/musicians for recording this song. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT D'BANJ
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'banj
"Dapo Daniel Oyebanjo (popularly known as D'banj, born June 9, 1980) is a Nigerian singer-songwriter, harmonica player, and businessman. He has won several music awards, including the awards for Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2007,[2] Artist of the Year at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009.[3] and BET Awards of 2011 for Best International Act: Africa. He adopted the stage name D'banj, a combination of his first name Dapo and his surname Oyebanjo.[2] D'banj is currently best known internationally for his 2012 summer hit "Oliver Twist", an uptempo dance fusion of Afrobeat and electronic dance music that topped the African charts 2011 and was a top 10 hit in the UK singles chart in 2012 reaching #2 on the UK R&B chart.”...
-snip-
Genres: Afropop, R&B, pop

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FEATURED VIDEO: D'Banj - Fall In Love Ft. Genevieve (Official Video)



Ronaldini Uploaded on May 4, 2010

Finally D'Banj releases the official video for Fall in Love. This video features Genevieve.

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LYRICS: FALL IN LOVE
(recorded by D'Banj)

[Intro]
Don't get it twisted, love is a beautiful thing
It's Don Jazzy again
I'm D'Banj

When Koko master fall in love
You know say water don pass gari
I'm in love, are you in love?

[Chorus]
Omo, you don make me fall in love
Fall in love o [2x]
We suppose marry because you don make me fall in love
Fall in love o [2x]

[Verse]
My sweet potato
I wanna tell you my mind, wanna tell you my mind o
I no understand o
Cause I dey see well well when they say love is blind o
You see as you dey so
You are the love of my life, you are the love of my life o
I cannot deny o
I wanna make you my wife, wanna make you wife o
See, I never thought that I will find someone like you
That will capture my heart and there's nothing I can do
I used to brag to my friends that I will always be a player
But since I set my eyes on you

[Repeat Chorus]

[Verse]
My sugar banana
As I don get you ebe say I make hammer
Me, I no fit wait o
Make you come follow me make we go see my mama
For better for worse o
We go dey together in any kind of weather
See I no dey joke o
Say na true I I dey talk o, na true I dey talk o
My friends dey ask me say
Oboy, what is the matter?
Me I dey tell them say
You dey make my head scatter
See I used to lie to myself that I'll always be a player
But since I set my eyes on you

[Repeat Chorus]

[Repeat Chorus till fade]

Source: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dbanj/fallinlove.html

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COMMENTS AND SOME EXPLANATIONS ABOUT THE LYRICS
The lyrics for D'Banj's "Fall In Love" consist mostly of Nigerian Pidgin English. Here's a comment about the use of Pidgin English in Nigeria from http://www.ngex.com/personalities/babawilly/dictionary/default.htm "Babawilly's Dictionary of Pidgin English Words and Phrases."
"Pidgin English is spoken widely across Nigeria. It is a language made up of elements of the Queen's English and the local dialects.

With Nigeria having about 250 tribes in all, one finds a lot of variation in the type of Pidgin English spoken by the different ethnic groups.

In this compilation I have limited myself to what I would call 'Lagos Pidgin' as this is what I am familiar with. The three major Nigerian languages namely Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa feature prominently in Pidgin English in general, however with Lagos being historically a Yoruba city 'Lagos Pidgin' consists of a disproportionately high number of Yoruba words.

Many English words are used differently in Pidgin English and more research would be needed to find out why. However direct translations of sentences from the local dialets into English without regards to tenses contributes to a lot of the confusing words in Pidgin English. Many mis-spellings and mis-pronunciations are so popular that they have entered colloquial usage"...
-snip-
Also, visit http://www.nairaland.com/104810/teach-me-naija-slang-please for examples & comments about Nigerian slang (Nigerian Pidgin English)

Here are some explanations/information about several of those words & phrases in D'Banj's song "Fall In Love":

Dey = This word has various meanings depending on its usage.
From http://www.ngex.com/personalities/babawilly/dictionary/pidgind.htm
1. Is e.g. wetin dey happun 2. Location e.g. where you dey 3. Stance in the matter e.g. which one you dey sef. 4. In existence 5. Spectacular e.g. dat car dey well-well.

**
Koko master- a self-referent
"D'banj's debut album, No Long Thing, was released in 2005, yielding several singles, with Tongolo as the lead single. This proved to be his breakthrough single and a hit. It also provided his Koko Master persona, with the term, koko, taking on a variety of meanings. D'banj's debut success led to collaborations with other artists, this includes Dare Art-Alade's album track, Escalade Part 2 and Ikechukwu's album. D'Banj's single koko was used by the PDP (ruling political party in Nigeria) as its campaign theme for the 2007 general elections"... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'banj
-snip-
Also, read these urbandictionary.com entries:
"kokomaster = a nigerian word describing the ultimate male, who has had his fair share of females and conquered them all.Derived from the word koko.

"I am the original kokomaster"

"The kokomaster has numerous kokolettes"
"
by Tuade September 17, 2007; http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kokomaster
-snip-
"koko: Nigerian slang.
In a range of concurrent sexual partners, the Koko is the girl/boy who gives the best sexual experience. Made popular by the "Kokomaster" singer D'banj in his song "my koko"

Make i tell them de koko o ah! make i tell them de koko D'banj tell them the koko! abi
by OBJ May 31, 2007

**
Gari = "Garri (also known as gari, garry, or tapioca) is a popular West African food made from cassava tubers. The spelling 'garri' is mainly used in Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Benin, Togo and 'gari' in Ghana.[1]

...As a snack or light meal, garri can be soaked in cold water (in which case it settles to the bottom), mixed with sugar and sometimes roasted peanut, with evaporated milk sometimes added. The amount of water needed for soaked garri is 3:1. Garri can also be eaten dry without water, but with sugar and roasted peanut added." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garri
-snip-
The lyrics to that song also include some familiar American sayings such as “We go together/in any kind of weather) and some African American slang such as “don’t get it twisted” (meaning "don’t be confused”) and being a “player” (meaning a male who has a lot of girlfriends and isn’t serious about any of them; a “Don Juan”. Note: A female can be a player too but usually that term appears to be reserved for males.)
-snip-
I'm curious about the meaning of "As I don get you ebe say I make hammer". If you know the meaning of that line and/or have other comments about this song's lyrics, please add them to the comment section below.

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ADDENDUM
As of April 22, 2014 7:30 AM DST), the Wikipedia page for D'Banj doesn't include information about any relationship that Nigerian singer may have with Real Housewives Of Atlanta [American television] cast member Kenya Moore. However, that probably will change after the RHOA Reunion episode in which Kenya is reportedly going to introduce D'Banj as the African prince that she has been talking about during season six of that show.

http://www.mstarz.com/articles/29346/20140418/rhoa-porsha-stewart-williams-kenya-moore-african-prince-fake-proof-fight-brawl.htm
"...In a preview of Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion special, Andy Cohen asked Kenya Moore about her "African Prince" that she claimed to have been dating throughout the sixth season. RHOA castmate Porsha "Stewart" Williams chimed in and claims that the relationship was a total made up lie.

"You know you stated everything about the guy except for showing him, and it's just very clear that there is no African Prince for you," she added, "there never was."...

Although, Moore's cast members don't believe she's dating an "African Prince" she was rumored to reveal who her new man was on the RHOA reunion show.”...

The [Mediatakeout.com],site claims that her alleged boyfriend she plans to bring on the show is "contracted" Nigerian singer D'Banj. Reportedly, the pair were photographed together before but are not in a relationship."...
-snip-
If Kenya Moore fabricated a relationship with D'Banj and he went along with that fabrication -at least in part- for American publicity- then at the very least I have to give Kenya credit for choosing such a fine, talented Black man as her African prince and in so doing introducing many Americans to that vocalist.

As an aside, I come from a generation who was told (sometimes directly and sometimes by omission) that the only kings in Africa were Egyptian pharaohs. One probably unintended result of the Kenya Moore/D'Banji publicity [stunt?} is that it can be used to increase Americans' and other people's awareness that Egypt isn't the only African nation that had African royalty and there are still African royalty in various African nations today, including in Nigeria.

Here's a link to information about Nigerian royalty:
http://www.royalty.nu/Africa/Nigeria.html

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