Nigerian Singer Olamide - Motigbana (Video, Partial Lyrics, & Comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on Nigerian singer Olamide and his 2018 hit song "Motigbana".

Part I showcases the official YouTube video of the song "Motigbana" by Nigerian singer Olamide and presents examples of comments from that video's discussion thread that explain what the song means.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-global-reach-of-nigerian-singer.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. Part II showcases the official video of Olamide's song "Motigbana" and presents examples of comments from that discussion thread which document the global reach of that song.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Olamide for his musical legacy and thanks to all those who are associated with this music and this video. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO - OLAMIDE Motigbana (Official Video)

Olamide Baddosneh, August 15, 2018 

-snip-
Statistics as of  at 9:53 AM EDT
Total # of views -24,108,861
Total # of likes-103K
Total # of dislikes-4.2K

Total # of comments-4,040

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PARTIAL LYRICS- MOTIGBANA
(Olamide)

[...]

"[Chorus]
Motigbana o, moti elevate, ori mi ko ke hibernate
Awon bad belle won to suffocate, we dey gbadun, we dey Jollificate
Ola tobi, e ma pariwo ye, owo tobi e ma pariwo ye
Motor tobi e ma pariwo ye, pariwo ye, pariwo ye
Motigbana, ye!, Motigbana o, ye!
Moti gba, moti gbana, ye!
Moti, moti, moti gbana o, ye!
Na o, na o, na o, babe, na o, na o, na o, na o babe ye!
Motigbana o, moti elevate

[Verse 1]
Am the man, am they one they call the bigger man
Baby oya rotate bi ti ceiling fan, owo po gan ninu bullion van
Abebe ni e o, if you not a fan
I see your Gucci shoes, ko ni si issue
Wo ni koba e, dem no go winsh you
Bi eja osan, I want to fish you, ko de ni da bi ti bus make I miss you
Bi ti Enimoney mo fe DJ, mo fe freeeki-freeki wah, mo fe replay
I love the way you shake that ikebe, your bum bum bigger than Bombay
Put it on me, omo ma lo sun, to ba ba lo je, dalemosu
I just wanna cuddle and hold you, o den lo’n wo bi eni ti wan fun ni owo osu"...


Click https://genius.com/Olamide-motigbana-lyrics for the complete lyrics to this song which are in Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin English, and standard English. 

Two English translations of this entire song by commenter lemmy njaria and by commenter sammy riches iare found in this video's discussion thread, but aren't included here because of the length of those lyrics. There are only a few differences in these translations.


PARTIAL ENGLISH TRANSLATION
posted by lemmy njaria

[...]

Chorus
I have received fire (a figure of speech) and i am elevated. my head can not be hibernated people who don't want my progress have suffocated we are enjoying Wealth is big go shout ye Money is big go shout ye cars are big go shout ye go shout ye (9 times) I have received fire I have received fire elevate

Verse 1

I’m the man, am the one they call ‘The Biggie Man’ (ye)

Baby now, rotate like a Ceiling Fan (ye)

There is plenty money in the bullion van (Ye))

(You are a hand fan, if you’ not a fan

I see your Gucci Shoes, there won’t be an issue (ye))

They won’t implicate you, would not bewitch you (ye))

Like a Knife fish, I want to fish you (ye))

It won’t be good, like a bus, that I should miss you (ye))

like Enimoney, I want to DJ (ye))

I want to freaky-freaky-wear or enter it, I want to replay (ye))

I like the way that you shake that waist (ye))

Your bumbum bigger than Bombay (ye)

Put it on me, baby don’t dare dull)

so your fate won’t be like of ‘married but
returned to live with parents’ lady)

I just wanna cuddle and hold you (ye)

but you’re looking happy like one who they gave salary"...

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only. All of these comments are from 2018.

[These comments are in response to the lyrics with English translations that were posted in that discussion thread by sammy riches]

1. Khan Givas
"Any translations for Ugandans Kampala Cos we love this Olamide though we can't understand the slang"

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REPLY

2. blazinghot99

"Motigbana means I'm on fire.  It's a party song so he's mostly talking about his success, haters, and women."

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3. Bizz

"Motigbana, moti elevate...I'm on fire, I've been elevated.  The wicked have been suffocated and shouting 'Yeee'.😀😀😀"
-snip-
One way of saying "I'm on fire, I've been elevated" in  African American Vernacular English  is "I’m hot. I blew up".-meaning "I've become successful, seemingly all of a sudden".  Although African Americans don't use this term that often anymore,  person who "blows up"  gets bigger* and is (or was) described as being "the bomb".

The word "elevate" that is used in Olamide's song "Motigbana" probably has the same meaning of a very similar meaning as the African American Vernacular English phrase "level up" (move up to a higher level).

*Notice the line in the English translation of first verse of Olamide's song "Motigbana" that
"I’m the man, am the one they call ‘The Biggie Man".  That referent is very similar to the stage names of  the African American rapper "The Notorious B.I.G." who was also known as " Biggie Smalls", or simply "Biggie",  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Notorious_B.I.G.

**
4. Vumile Sibande

"question...does Motigbana mean fire...which word means fire? TIA"

**

REPLY

5. Ayandola Ayanleke

"@Vumile Sibande Ina is fire in Yoruba. So because its a long sentence, instead of saying mo ti gba ina, You can easily say mo ti gbana.

-snip-
Google translate from Yoruba to English
mo ti gba ina = I have received a fire

**

6. blazinghot99

"@sammy riches "Ikebe" means ass, not waist.  Smh"

**
REPLY

7. sammy riches

"@blazinghot99 I think Ikebe means ass and waist together."

**
REPLY

8. blazinghot99

"@sammy riches No, ikebe is a word in Edo language.  My dad is partially Edo because my grandmother is an Edo woman.  Ikebe means ass.  Ukwu which is an Igbo word means ass and waist together."

**
REPLY

9. sammy riches

"@blazinghot99 Okay. Thanks for that. We learn everyday. I thought Ikebe was a Yoruba word."

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REPLY

10. David Tuyee

"@blazinghot99 no need to shake your head, the mans trying"

**
REPLY

11. jackiedelvalle

"@David Tuyee And done a very thorough job at that! I am very grateful @sammy riches :)

**

REPLY

12. toxyable

"@sammy riches" I've exploded" rather than "I have received fire". Thanks for helping the non-native speakers out"

**
REPLY
13. Ade Adedapo

"@toxyable u can quibble about how exactly to translate, I thought it was "I done caught fire"since it's a street type song. as long as the general idea is conveyed (I'm blowing up/ I'm so hot). Translating is very hard n often times the most "accurate" translations are the worse cuz they're too literal so they don't make sense"

**
REPLY
14. Ade Adedapo

"@sammy riches I'm not an expert by any means n I appreciate the effort, but this definitely seems Google assisted. And that's ok but in certain spots it gets robotic. Like I think it's: won feeling my gbedu (they're all feeling my music/song). Oyinbo ta ni tapioca (white ppl bouncing like tapioca), the next line should correspond "akata breakdance to the conga (black ppl breakdance to the conga). Little bits n peices get mixed up online even with English songs cuz ppl mishear. Again I'm not at all an expert and I actually learned alot from this lyrics."

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REPLY

15. golderp

"sammy riches : The Yoruba word for ass is idi. The reason why you thought ikebe is Yoruba is because there was a Nigerian magazine called Ikebe, published by a Yoruba man, which was very popular in the 70s. It was a raunchy magazine in which the main and recurring theme was the big behind (buttocks) of the African woman. The magazine’s popularity led to Yorubas to start substituting the word ‘ikebe’ for ‘idi’."

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16. Muskaan Walia

"YO BUMBUM BIGGER THAN BOMBAY😂"

**
REPLY

17. Naijaweds

"Muskaan Walia Search for the song Wizkid ft Phyno - Bombay   .. then you will understand the reference"

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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.

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