Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision- Kanauary 23, 2020
This pancocojams post showcases a sound file of Nigerian musician, singer, composer, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre, and human rights activist Fela Kuti's hit 1972 song "Shakara".
Information about Fela Kuti and information about the song "Shakara" are included in this post. Lyrics to this song are also included in this post along with some explanations about these lyrics that I gleaned from various internet websites and from Google translate.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, linguistic, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Fela Kuti for his musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/10/various-examples-of-nigerian-pidgin.html for a pancoocjams post entitled "Various Examples Of The Nigerian Pidgin English Terms "Shakara" & "Do Shakara" ".
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DISCLAIMER:
I'm an African American who is interested in language usage and other aspects of African cultures and other cultures of the African Diaspora. I'm not a linguist.
I've gleaned information about Nigerian Pidgin English from reading various online articles and YouTube discussion threads. For the most part, I've cited online definitions for these terms and phrases, but in a few cases, I've also shared my guesses about possible meanings (admittedly from the standpoint of someone outside of Nigerian and West African cultures.
Additions and corrections are very welcome.
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INFORMATION ABOUT FELA KUTI
https://www.biography.com/people/fela-kuti-21215355
"Songwriter, Pianist, Civil Rights Activist, Drummer(1938–1997)
...Synopsis
Fela Kuti was born on October 15, 1938, in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Beginning in the 1960s, Kuti pioneered his own unique style of music called "Afrobeat." Rebelling against oppressive regimes through his music came at a heavy cost. Kuti was arrested 200 times and endured numerous beatings, but continued to write political lyrics, producing 50 albums before he died on August 2, 1997, in Lagos, Nigeria.
Early Years
Musician and political activist Fela Kuti was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti on October 15, 1938, in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Kuti was the son of a Protestant minister, Reverend Ransome-Kuti. His mother, Funmilayo, was a political activist.
As a child, Kuti learned piano and drums, and led his school choir. In the 1950s, Kuti told his parents that he was moving to London, England, to study medicine, but wound up attending the Trinity College of Music instead. While at Trinity, Kuti studied classical music and developed an awareness of American jazz.
Activism Through Music
In 1963, Kuti formed a band called Koola Lobitos. He would later change the band's name to Afrika 70, and again to Egypt 80. Beginning in the 1960s, Kuti pioneered and popularized his own unique style of music called "Afrobeat." Afrobeat is a combination of funk, jazz, salsa, Calypso and traditional Nigerian Yoruba music. In addition to their distinctive mixed-genre style, Kuti's songs were considered unique in comparison to more commercially popular songs due to their length—ranging anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour long. Kuti sang in a combination of Pidgin English and Yoruba.
[...]
Rebelling against oppressive regimes through his music came at a heavy cost to Kuti, who was arrested by the Nigerian government 200 times, and was subject to numerous beatings that left him with lifelong scars. Rather than abandon his cause, however, Kuti used these experiences as inspiration to write more lyrics. He produced roughly 50 albums over the course of his musical career, including songs for Les Negresses under the pseudonym Sodi in 1992."...
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INFORMATION ABOUT FELA KUTI'S SONG "SHAKARA"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakara_(album)
"Shakara is an album by Nigerian Afrobeat composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti recorded in Lagos in 1971 and originally released [in 1972] on the Nigerian EMI label.[1]
Reception
The Allmusic review awarded the album 4½ stars, commenting: "Kuti was highly eclectic, and his innovative, visionary music contained elements of funk/soul, jazz, and blues, as well as African music. That eclectic spirit proves to be a major asset on Shakara, which consists of two 13-minute performances by Kuti's
Africa 70 band".[2]
[...]
Track listing
All compositions by Fela Kuti
"Lady" - 13:47
"Shakara (Oloje)" - 13:26
[...}
Genre Afrobeat
Released 1972
Recorded 1972 in Lagos, Nigeria
Studio album by Fela Ransome-Kuti and the Africa '70” "
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From https://www.allmusic.com/album/shakara-mw0000951377
"AllMusic Review by Alex Henderson
Fela Kuti was often described as "the James Brown of Africa," but one could also argue that he was Africa's equivalent of Miles Davis or John Coltrane. Truth be told, either description is valid. Kuti was highly eclectic, and his innovative, visionary music contained elements of funk/soul, jazz, and blues, as well as African music. That eclectic spirit proves to be a major asset on Shakara, which consists of two 13-minute performances by Kuti's Africa 70 band: "Lady" and "Shakara (Oloie)." Performed in English, "Lady" finds Kuti criticizing modern African women in a humorous way for becoming what he sees as overly westernized and embracing a western view of feminism. You might agree or disagree with the song's viewpoint, but the groove and the beat are irresistible. Equally addictive -- and equally sarcastic -- is "Shakara (Oloje)," which is sung in both Yoruba and English and makes fun of the type of pompous, loud-mouthed braggarts who can never make good on their empty boasts."
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SHOWCASE VIDEO Fela Kuti - Shakara
Fela Kuti, Published on Apr 11, 2013
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As of the date and time of this publication in this pancocojams blog [October 13, 2017; 5:43 PM EDT] , this YouTube sound file has a total number of 689,889 views and total number of 250 comments.
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LYRICS- SHAKARA
(written by Fela Kuti)
To ba b'oni sakara pade
Pasan to ma fi na e oje l'o nje
Kini won se npe o
Shakara oloje ni
Shakara oloje ni
Shakara oloje ni o
We get the Shakara man
We get the Shakara woman
Shakara man, him go say
"I go beat you, I go nearly kill you"
Na Shakara, I go beat you
Go beat am and get accident
Na Shakara
You no know me, na Shakara
Wait make I commot my dress
Na Shakara
You see, even if you do nothing
Na Shakara oloje
We get a song for that
We go sing am like this, we go sing
Ah, ah, ah ni, ah ni, ah ni
Ma kan na e, ma kan na e pa
Iwo ke, oti mo mi ni
To ba to ko duro de mi o
Duro de mi ki'nbo so mi
Wa je baba nla iya iro ni o ko le ja
Oje lo nyo, kini won se npe o
Shakara oloje ni
Shakara oloje ni o
The Shakara woman
Tell her I say, "My dear I like you"
She go say, "E like you, who you like?"
Come on jare, look at this man
Why you come from self?
I be near you, no touch me o
Ah, you see, she wan you
Na Shakara
We call am Shakara oloje
We get a song for that
We sing am like this, we go sing
Ah, ah, ah ni, ah ni, ah ni
To ba f'owo kan mi
To ba f'owo kan mi
Jowo fi mi sile, tabi ki lo nse e
O m'egbe ni, nibo loti jawa
Nibo loti jawa
Nibo loti jawa to lokun lorun
Emi pelu re ko
Iro ni o, o fe se o oje lon'yo
Kini won se npe o
Shakara oloje ni
Shakara oloje ni o
Source: https://genius.com/Fela-kuti-shakara-lyrics
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ATTEMPTED EXPLANATIONS FOR THE LYRICS FOR FELA KUTI'S SONG "SHAKARA"
The lyrics for Fela Kuti's song "Shakara" are in Yoruba, English, and Nigerian Pidgin English.
The Google translate feature doesn't have any option for Nigerian Pidgin English. However, here are the results for the words that I believe are Yoruba in that song:
GOOGLE TRANSLATE'S YORUBA TO ENGLISH RESULTS FOR FELA KUTI'S SONG "SHAKARA"
To ba b'oni sakara pade
Pasan to ma fi na e oje l'o nje
Kini won se npe o
Google translation from Yoruba to English
To provide free training
It's a bit worth it
What they called it
**
Ma kan na e, ma kan na e pa
Iwo ke, oti mo mi ni
To ba to ko duro de mi o
Google translation from Yoruba to English
Just one of you, and just hit me
You are, it is for me
So you're not waiting for me
**
To ba f'owo kan mi
To ba f'owo kan mi
Jowo fi mi sile, tabi ki lo nse e
O m'egbe ni, nibo loti jawa
Google translation from Yoruba to English
It does not matter to me
It does not matter to me
Please leave me, or do it
It's my mom, where he's talking
**
Nibo loti jawa
Nibo loti jawa to lokun lorun
Emi pelu re ko
Iro ni o, o fe se o oje lon'yo
Kini won se npe o
Google translation from Yoruba to English
Where is it?
Where is he then tired?
I am not with him
It's fake, you wanna make it juice
What they called it
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NIGERIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH DEFINITIONS FOR LYRICS IN FELA KUTI'S SONG "SHAKARA"
[slightly revised October 14, 2017]
Google translate has no option for Nigerian Pidgin English translation to English (or to any other language). Consequently, its translations for Nigerian Pidgin English words and phrases are likely to be wrong. I know that understanding the verses to Fela Kuti's song "Shakara" won't be accomplished only by looking up online results for Nigerian Pidgin English words and phrases in Google translate or elsewhere. However, as we say in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania "it beats a blank" (i.e. it's better than nothing).
Since I don't know Yoruba or Nigerian Pidgin English I've mostly refrained from guessing about any meanings for these words and these verses*. I hope that people who know these languages will share information about these words and verses. Thanks in advance!
*My comments below after the Google translation definition for "shakara oloje ni" and the online definition for the word "commot" are exceptions to this statement.
Shakara
Here's a comment about the meaning of the word "shakara" that was written in the YouTube discussion thread for the sound file for Fela Kuti's song "Shakara" which is embedded in this pancocojams:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvYxd35xFx8
Oyaator Bhoy, 2016
"Shakara is a Anglophone-West Africa word used for describing when one person is displaying "rhetorical bravado" to scare someone else. In the song, he refers to two examples of Shakara. (1) A man threatening to fight and beat him up in the streets and (2) a woman he is trying to woo telling him off that he is not good enough for her. He labelled it "Shakara Oloje", which in proper English means "It is a Shakara trick". The man, Fela claims cannot fight, he just wants to threaten and hopes he (i.e. Fela) runs. The woman, he claims she wants it but she is just feigning chastity and superiority."
**
Here's a definition for the Nigerian Pidgin English word "shakara" that is found on http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Shakara
"Shakara
To show off. Word derived from a popular Fela Kuti song titled "Shakara Olu Oje". Commonly used amongst Nigerian youth.
sucks teeth- Ibeyemi waitin de shakara for now.
trans from pidgin English: Ibeyemi, why are you showing off?
by Naija girl June 17, 2005
-snip-
"trans" = "translation"
Although I believed that most Google translate results for Nigerian Pidgin English words would be incorrect, I decided to search Yoruba to English translations results for the phrase "shakara oloje ni" and "shakara oloje ni o".
The Google translate results that I always got for these words were "It's cool".
However, Google translate from Yoruba to English gives this result for the Yoruba to English translation for these words by themselves:
"shakara" = "shade"
"oloje" = "drunk"
"ni "= yes
Note below that the letter "o" is an intensifier that emphasizes (i.e. strengthens what was said or written before it).
Recall that commenter Oyaator Bhoywho who was previously quoted in this post translated "oloje" as "trick". However, I believe (admittedly as an outsider looking in since I don't know either Yoruba or Nigerian Pidgin English) that Fela Kuti added the word "oloje") in parenthesis in the title of this song because "oloje" means the same thing as "shakara" (at least in the context of this song). My guess is that "oloje" as an alternative title and in the lyrics themselves ("shakara oloje ni) means "[she] is going crazy" or "[she] is going ballistic"* and my guess is that "shakara oloje o" means to [she] is really go crazy (or going "ballistic"). However, instead of "going shakara, it appears from what I've read online that Nigerians say "doing shakara"**
As a result of these speculations, here's my translation for these lyrics from Fela's song "Shakara":
"You see, even if you do nothing
Na Shakara oloje"
-snip-
"You see, even if you do nothing
[She'll] go crazy [or "go ballistic"]."
-snip-
A common way for African Americans to say "go ballistics" is "go off on you". That's what I think "do shakara" or "oloje" means in the context of this song and in some other Nigerian usages that I've found online. However, "do shakara" in the 2016 Nigerian religious song "Victory" by Eben has a different meaning. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/10/nigerian-gospel-singer-eben-victory.html for a pancocojams post on this Nigerian Praise song.
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Here are three other Nigerian Pidgin English words in Fela Kuti's song "Shakara":
Na
http://www.naijalingo.com/words/na
"Definition: (It) is. Used to describe something being something else. Depending on tone, can also be used in an interrogative sort of way. Example: -Dis one na gobe! (This is trouble!) - Na you wey wan come start wahala for my domot yesterday abi? (So, you're the one who wanted to start trouble in my area yesterday right?)
Synonyms: Be, To Be, It Is"
**
Commot
https://theculturetrip.com/africa/nigeria/articles/15-nigerian-pidgin-english-phrases-you-need-to-know/
"Commot/Vamoose
Commot is an ellision of the words come and out, and is used to mean ‘leave’ or ‘get lost’, again depending on context. To strengthen the point (when trying to get rid of someone), you can add an abeg (before) and/or jaré (after) to strengthen the effect and say: abeg commot jaré! Vamoose, the less common variant, is another derivation from Portuguese."
-snip-
While "leave" or "get lost" may be the usual meaning for "commot", I think that word has another meaning in Fela's song "Shakara".
My sense is that the words "You no know me, na Shakara/ Wait make I commot my dress 'Na Shakara" are spoken by the female who is the focus of this song.
My "translation for these words in standard English is:
"You don't know me. [meaning "You don't know who I am." i.e. "You don't know what I'm like."] I'm Shakara. Don't make me come out of my dress. I'm Shakara."
-snip-
Although "Shakara" sounds like it's a female's name, I think that the woman is saying something like "Don't mess with me 'cause I'm a crazy woman". in some urban Black American communities a woman or man might say "Don't mess with me (or "Don't try me") 'cause I'll go crazy on your ass"; or "I'll go off on you.
I don't know whether the woman in the song who was "doing Shakara" was really going to take off her dress [so that she would be less restricted in her movements in a fight]. As an alternative, "taking off her dress" might have been a figure of speech signaling that she was "fixin' to fight (i.e. mentally and emotionally getting ready to fight").
*going ballistic (went ballistic) is an informal English verb phrase that means to suddenly become irrationally angry and behave in destructive ways toward someone else (or others, or something/s) in ways that society considers very inappropriate. The word "ballistic" refers to a ballistic missile.
**
Jare
https://buzznigeria.com/common-nigerian-words-used-in-place-of-some-english-equivalents/
"Jare is an "I don't care word that is used in similar scenarios ass joor. It is a Yoruba word.
-snip-
Here's some information about the word "joor" from that same page:
"This word seems to lack a substitute. It usually portrays some kind of aggression or anger when used and can be used playfully depending on the tone of voice. "Leave me alone, joor". The ambiguous word can also mean please and is derived from the Yoruba word ejor.
The bold font is found in the original dictionary entry.
**
In addition to those word, Kuti's song "Shakara" also includes the Yoruba and Nigerian English custom of placing the letter "o" after a particular word or at the end of a sentence.
The "o" is an intensifier that emphasizes the word that was written before it or that entire sentence. A statement about that custom is found in this definition of the Nigerian Pidgin English phrase "Nawa oh!" (which I've also found online as "nawao", na wa o", "na wa", "wao", "waooo", and other similar forms).
https://buzznigeria.com/common-nigerian-words-used-in-place-of-some-english-equivalents/
"Nawa o
This is an expression of surprise, similar to ‘wow’. The ‘oh’ ending is a kind of conversational tick that gets added to lots of words and phrases to add emphasis."
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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visiting comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label Nigerian AfroBeat music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nigerian AfroBeat music. Show all posts
Friday, October 13, 2017
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Examples Of The Vernacular Sayings "Killing It", "Killed It", "She Killed Me" In YouTube Discussion Threads For A Nigerian Dance Challenge Video And/Or A Nigerian Afrobeat Video
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post documents selected examples of forms of the African American originated idioms "killing it", "killed it " and a form of the expression "I'm Dead" in discussion threads for a Nigerian based YouTube dance challenge video and/or a Nigerian Afrobeat music video.
The content of this post is presented for linguistic, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these showcase videos. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publisher of these videos on YouTube.
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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on linguistics. Pancocojams' linguistics posts document and consider aspects of language use among African people and/or people of African descent, including traditional African languages, African American Vernacular English, Caribbean Patois, African Pidgin English, and other Pidgin languages.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/06/what-killing-it-means-how-it-got-those.html for a related 2013 pancocojams post entitled "African American Vernacular English: What "Killing It" Means & How It Got Those Slang Meanings".
Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/africans-use-of-african-american.html for the March 22, 2017 pancocojams post "Africans Use Of African American Vernacular English Terms In The Discussion Thread Of Skales' "Shake Body" Official YouTube Video (Part I: A-K). Skales is also a Nigerian recording artist. The linked post documents examples of comments from that video's discussion thread that contain "killing it" and other African American originated vernacular sayings.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #1: Who Killed Makolongulu? 1,2,3 or 4?
BM Official Published on Aug 21, 2016
Comment below on who killed this dance!
-snip-
"Makolongulu" is a Nigerian dance. I think it is the same as or very similar to Ndombolo.
BM, a Nigerian Afrobeat recording artist, has several other "Who Killed ___?" compilation videos. These videos are short clips of (usually) women dancing a particular type of Nigerian dance. Viewers are then asked to indicate which dance they believe danced the best (i.e. "killed it".) The background music for each video is a song that BM recorded.
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SELECTED EXAMPLES OF "KILLED IT" AND "__ KILLED ME" FROM A DISCUSSION THREAD FOR A NIGERIAN DANCE CHALLENGE VIDEO
Vernacular terms often have more than one meaning. The vernacular meaning of "killed it" that is pertinent for this post is "did something very very well".
Several comments in this section document the use of "[she] killed me". That vernacular form of "killed" appears to denote that the commenter has a very strong amount of attraction for the woman (who kills him) because of her physical beauty and sensuality.
Or
In the context of these examples in which viewers were supposed to indicate which dancer "killed it" (danced the best), the term "[__] killed me" may mean that person filled them with strong positive emotions because of the quality of the person's dancing or some other reason/s besides the dancer[s]' physical beauty and sensuality.
I don't believe that this vernacular form [i.e. "she or he killed me"] with either of those positive meanings is found among African Americans or other Americans.
file:///C:/Users/azizi/Downloads/USA-Idioms%20(3).pdf "US Slang, Idioms, or Other Frequently Heard Expressions" gives this meaning for the similar American idiom "You kill me": "You are very funny OR you are making things difficult for me"
-snip-
Like all of these "killing" sayings, "You kill me" is a figurative saying (since they don't really mean that anyone will be or has been physically murdered). An explanation for the second meaning of "You kill me" (as given above) in the United States is that a person caused trouble or the potential for trouble because of his or her foolish words or actions.
Here are selected comments from this showcase video's discussion thread.
These examples are given in chronological order with the oldest comment given first based on its publishing month/year. Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only
1. BAMUJOBS, 2016
"1 killed Makolongulu, but 4 killed me. She's fyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyn."
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2. Luke Diego, 2016
"number 1 oooo, she killed both makolongulu and me"
-snip-
Regarding the "oooo"s in this comment, if I understand it correctly, in Yoruba language, one or more "o's at the end of a sentence or a statement emphasizes that sentence or statement.
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3. Marsha Anis, 2017
"1she killed. she flow like liquid.."
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4. Montoute jonathan, 2017
"i think exactly the same lool #4 killed me alsoo she's so beautiful"
-snip-
I think "lool" is the text/internet term "lol" ("laughing out loud")
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5. Amisa Kumwene, 2017
"2&4 killed me"person f
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6. Madam Africa, 2017
"If you a fool if you did not pick #1 honestly she murder it like come on now give credit where it is due"
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7. Anime god, 2017
"1 killed that all the way"
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8. Zaafirah013
"1 was the best. My favorite. She killed it. A natural."
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9. Yacouba Bogre
"3 killed makologulu"
**
10. Dougie DoinIt
"they all killed it nobody in native USA can do it"
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SHOWCASE #2: Falz - Marry Me (Official Video) ft. Yemi Alade, Poe
Falz, VEVO Published on Dec 5, 2014
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/09/falz-featuring-yemi-alade-poe-marry-me.html for Part I of a two part pancocojams series about this song. Part I includes this video and lyrics for this song. The link for Part II is included in that post. Part II includes selected comments from this video's discussion thread and from two other Nigerian based online discussion threads about features of Yoruba (Nigeria) language.
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SELECTED EXAMPLES OF "KILLED IT", "KILLING IT" AND "I'M DEAD" FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THIS VIDEO
Vernacular terms often have more than one meaning. The vernacular meaning of "killed it"/"killing it" that is pertinent for this post is "did something or doing something very very well".
The only example in this discussion thread that has a form similar to "[___] killed me" is given as #16 which includes the statement "Her Smiles kills me." I think this sentence means that the commenter really loves the female singer's smile, but this form is different from any African American vernacular forms of "kills"/murder etc".
Then again, there is the Roberta Flack hit song "Killing Me Softly With His Song" which I think means that the person making the comment felt such strong emotions while hearing that song that she figuratively felt she was dying.
The African American originated saying "I'm dead" (which is sometimes shortened to "Dead") means that someone said or did something that was or is hilarious. "I'm dead" is a shortened form of the figurative expression "I died laughing" (meaning I laughed so hard [so much] that my stomach or ribs hurt and I felt like I was dying."
Here are selected comments from this showcase video's discussion thread:
These examples are given in chronological order with the oldest comment given first based on its publishing month/year. Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.
1. Nalouchaa, 2015
"Loool OMG im dead !!! The end of the video killed me!!! Awesome work guys! Love the song !! Love the video !! Damn there were some handsome men at this reception lol"
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2. Yama S, 2015
"The ending killed me. I can't stop laughing. I'm surprised I manged to type this"
**
3. Ohunene S., 2015
"+ukia Stardoll laff wan kill me.
**
4. EverydaypeoplebyLydia, 2015
"I die oooo .... This guy has killed me .. LOL"
**
5. Adnan Bashorun, 2015
"ma boi falz killed it"
**
6. GushGossipBlog, 2015
"I'm in LOVE with this song & video - hilarious! Falz, POE & Yemi killed it - so refreshing for the Nigerian
music scene <3"
**
7. sight read, 2015
"Haahahahaha #falz no go kill person ooooooh, dis video is so hilarious I really enjoyed it, big up #yemi-alade pon dis one. ..."
**
8. YaylowTV, 2015
"Nice work Falz. +Yemi Alade, you killed the hook."
-snip-
"You killed the hook" = You sang the hook (chorus) really really well. An equivalent African American Vernacular English term that I haven't found in Nigerian or other African based YouTube videos' discussion threads is "sang" (in its African American vernacular present tense form, which means "to sing very well, especially to sing soulfully very well.)
**
9. dpencilpusher, 2015
"Falz, Yemi & Poe killed it. Video goes too well with the song. Watched it 3 times already; cracked me up each time. Also, big kudos to the actresses who synced with the lyrics, they nailed it."
**
10. timithankgod, 2015
Hahahahahahahahahahahahah i don die o... funny video
-snip-
I think that the equivalent African American vernacular saying for " i don die o" is I’m dead” which also later evolved to "Dead".
**
11. Ifeanyi Ilogbaka, 2015
"Yemi alade killed it on this one.she is the reason I like d song"
**
12. garba baba, 2015
"Love this song, they kill it all"
**
13. Child Of The Rift, 2016
"LMAO You just mudered me!"
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14. Tobi Daada, 2016
"Falz. Killing it on a steady."
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15. Adesewa, 2016
"oh my gosh this video killed me"
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16. Victor PANCHO, 2016
"OK, i give up... i cant stay quiet, i dont know which i like here on this video, is it Falz, Yemi Alade, Poe or Poe's Bride?? I'm so thrilled by that bride, Her Smiles kills me... That make up on her, Golden!! Wetin!? How una jst deh make my heart pound andytime i watch this video!!???"
**
17. Elizabeth Onyekwere, 2017
"OMG.....Laugh wan kill me die...hahahahaaa..why did she faint lol?"
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Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This pancocojams post documents selected examples of forms of the African American originated idioms "killing it", "killed it " and a form of the expression "I'm Dead" in discussion threads for a Nigerian based YouTube dance challenge video and/or a Nigerian Afrobeat music video.
The content of this post is presented for linguistic, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these showcase videos. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publisher of these videos on YouTube.
****
This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on linguistics. Pancocojams' linguistics posts document and consider aspects of language use among African people and/or people of African descent, including traditional African languages, African American Vernacular English, Caribbean Patois, African Pidgin English, and other Pidgin languages.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/06/what-killing-it-means-how-it-got-those.html for a related 2013 pancocojams post entitled "African American Vernacular English: What "Killing It" Means & How It Got Those Slang Meanings".
Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/africans-use-of-african-american.html for the March 22, 2017 pancocojams post "Africans Use Of African American Vernacular English Terms In The Discussion Thread Of Skales' "Shake Body" Official YouTube Video (Part I: A-K). Skales is also a Nigerian recording artist. The linked post documents examples of comments from that video's discussion thread that contain "killing it" and other African American originated vernacular sayings.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #1: Who Killed Makolongulu? 1,2,3 or 4?
BM Official Published on Aug 21, 2016
Comment below on who killed this dance!
-snip-
"Makolongulu" is a Nigerian dance. I think it is the same as or very similar to Ndombolo.
BM, a Nigerian Afrobeat recording artist, has several other "Who Killed ___?" compilation videos. These videos are short clips of (usually) women dancing a particular type of Nigerian dance. Viewers are then asked to indicate which dance they believe danced the best (i.e. "killed it".) The background music for each video is a song that BM recorded.
****
SELECTED EXAMPLES OF "KILLED IT" AND "__ KILLED ME" FROM A DISCUSSION THREAD FOR A NIGERIAN DANCE CHALLENGE VIDEO
Vernacular terms often have more than one meaning. The vernacular meaning of "killed it" that is pertinent for this post is "did something very very well".
Several comments in this section document the use of "[she] killed me". That vernacular form of "killed" appears to denote that the commenter has a very strong amount of attraction for the woman (who kills him) because of her physical beauty and sensuality.
Or
In the context of these examples in which viewers were supposed to indicate which dancer "killed it" (danced the best), the term "[__] killed me" may mean that person filled them with strong positive emotions because of the quality of the person's dancing or some other reason/s besides the dancer[s]' physical beauty and sensuality.
I don't believe that this vernacular form [i.e. "she or he killed me"] with either of those positive meanings is found among African Americans or other Americans.
file:///C:/Users/azizi/Downloads/USA-Idioms%20(3).pdf "US Slang, Idioms, or Other Frequently Heard Expressions" gives this meaning for the similar American idiom "You kill me": "You are very funny OR you are making things difficult for me"
-snip-
Like all of these "killing" sayings, "You kill me" is a figurative saying (since they don't really mean that anyone will be or has been physically murdered). An explanation for the second meaning of "You kill me" (as given above) in the United States is that a person caused trouble or the potential for trouble because of his or her foolish words or actions.
Here are selected comments from this showcase video's discussion thread.
These examples are given in chronological order with the oldest comment given first based on its publishing month/year. Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only
1. BAMUJOBS, 2016
"1 killed Makolongulu, but 4 killed me. She's fyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyn."
**
2. Luke Diego, 2016
"number 1 oooo, she killed both makolongulu and me"
-snip-
Regarding the "oooo"s in this comment, if I understand it correctly, in Yoruba language, one or more "o's at the end of a sentence or a statement emphasizes that sentence or statement.
**
3. Marsha Anis, 2017
"1she killed. she flow like liquid.."
**
4. Montoute jonathan, 2017
"i think exactly the same lool #4 killed me alsoo she's so beautiful"
-snip-
I think "lool" is the text/internet term "lol" ("laughing out loud")
**
5. Amisa Kumwene, 2017
"2&4 killed me"person f
**
6. Madam Africa, 2017
"If you a fool if you did not pick #1 honestly she murder it like come on now give credit where it is due"
**
7. Anime god, 2017
"1 killed that all the way"
**
8. Zaafirah013
"1 was the best. My favorite. She killed it. A natural."
**
9. Yacouba Bogre
"3 killed makologulu"
**
10. Dougie DoinIt
"they all killed it nobody in native USA can do it"
****
SHOWCASE #2: Falz - Marry Me (Official Video) ft. Yemi Alade, Poe
Falz, VEVO Published on Dec 5, 2014
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/09/falz-featuring-yemi-alade-poe-marry-me.html for Part I of a two part pancocojams series about this song. Part I includes this video and lyrics for this song. The link for Part II is included in that post. Part II includes selected comments from this video's discussion thread and from two other Nigerian based online discussion threads about features of Yoruba (Nigeria) language.
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SELECTED EXAMPLES OF "KILLED IT", "KILLING IT" AND "I'M DEAD" FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THIS VIDEO
Vernacular terms often have more than one meaning. The vernacular meaning of "killed it"/"killing it" that is pertinent for this post is "did something or doing something very very well".
The only example in this discussion thread that has a form similar to "[___] killed me" is given as #16 which includes the statement "Her Smiles kills me." I think this sentence means that the commenter really loves the female singer's smile, but this form is different from any African American vernacular forms of "kills"/murder etc".
Then again, there is the Roberta Flack hit song "Killing Me Softly With His Song" which I think means that the person making the comment felt such strong emotions while hearing that song that she figuratively felt she was dying.
The African American originated saying "I'm dead" (which is sometimes shortened to "Dead") means that someone said or did something that was or is hilarious. "I'm dead" is a shortened form of the figurative expression "I died laughing" (meaning I laughed so hard [so much] that my stomach or ribs hurt and I felt like I was dying."
Here are selected comments from this showcase video's discussion thread:
These examples are given in chronological order with the oldest comment given first based on its publishing month/year. Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.
1. Nalouchaa, 2015
"Loool OMG im dead !!! The end of the video killed me!!! Awesome work guys! Love the song !! Love the video !! Damn there were some handsome men at this reception lol"
**
2. Yama S, 2015
"The ending killed me. I can't stop laughing. I'm surprised I manged to type this"
**
3. Ohunene S., 2015
"+ukia Stardoll laff wan kill me.
**
4. EverydaypeoplebyLydia, 2015
"I die oooo .... This guy has killed me .. LOL"
**
5. Adnan Bashorun, 2015
"ma boi falz killed it"
**
6. GushGossipBlog, 2015
"I'm in LOVE with this song & video - hilarious! Falz, POE & Yemi killed it - so refreshing for the Nigerian
music scene <3"
**
7. sight read, 2015
"Haahahahaha #falz no go kill person ooooooh, dis video is so hilarious I really enjoyed it, big up #yemi-alade pon dis one. ..."
**
8. YaylowTV, 2015
"Nice work Falz. +Yemi Alade, you killed the hook."
-snip-
"You killed the hook" = You sang the hook (chorus) really really well. An equivalent African American Vernacular English term that I haven't found in Nigerian or other African based YouTube videos' discussion threads is "sang" (in its African American vernacular present tense form, which means "to sing very well, especially to sing soulfully very well.)
**
9. dpencilpusher, 2015
"Falz, Yemi & Poe killed it. Video goes too well with the song. Watched it 3 times already; cracked me up each time. Also, big kudos to the actresses who synced with the lyrics, they nailed it."
**
10. timithankgod, 2015
Hahahahahahahahahahahahah i don die o... funny video
-snip-
I think that the equivalent African American vernacular saying for " i don die o" is I’m dead” which also later evolved to "Dead".
**
11. Ifeanyi Ilogbaka, 2015
"Yemi alade killed it on this one.she is the reason I like d song"
**
12. garba baba, 2015
"Love this song, they kill it all"
**
13. Child Of The Rift, 2016
"LMAO You just mudered me!"
**
14. Tobi Daada, 2016
"Falz. Killing it on a steady."
**
15. Adesewa, 2016
"oh my gosh this video killed me"
**
16. Victor PANCHO, 2016
"OK, i give up... i cant stay quiet, i dont know which i like here on this video, is it Falz, Yemi Alade, Poe or Poe's Bride?? I'm so thrilled by that bride, Her Smiles kills me... That make up on her, Golden!! Wetin!? How una jst deh make my heart pound andytime i watch this video!!???"
**
17. Elizabeth Onyekwere, 2017
"OMG.....Laugh wan kill me die...hahahahaaa..why did she faint lol?"
****
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Comments About Yoruba "H Factor" & Other Yoruba "Lingo" In Falz's "Marry Me" Song (Nigeria, West Africa)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series that features the 2014 Nigerian Afrobeat/Rap song "Marry Me" by Falz featuring Yemi Alade, and Poe.
Part II features selected online comments about what is commonly referred to as the "H factor" among Yoruba people (Nigeria, West Africa). These comments are culled from the YouTube discussion thread for the official video of Falz's "Marry Me" song and from three other Nigerian based online discussion threads.
Part II also includes selected comments from the YouTube discussion thread of Falz's "Marry Me" video about other aspects of language use by Falz and by other "Marry Me" performers.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/09/falz-featuring-yemi-alade-poe-marry-me.html for Part I of this series. Part I showcases a video of "Marry Me" and provides the lyrics to that song from an online page. This post also includes [possible] meanings for Yoruba or Nigerian Pidgin English words/phrases using Google Translate and various online Nigerian Pidgin English pages. Additions and corrections are very welcome.
Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/09/examples-of-vernacular-sayings-killing.html for other selected comments from the discussion thread of the official video of Falz's song "Marry Me".
****
This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on linguistics. Pancocojams' linguistics posts document and consider aspects of language use among African people and/or people of African descent, including traditional African languages, African American Vernacular English, Caribbean Patois, African Pidgin English, and other Pidgin languages.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not a linguist and the only language that I understand is English (including some forms of African American Vernacular English).
I had never heard of "H Factor" until I read comments in the discussion thread for Falz's "Marry Me" song,.
****
The content of this post is presented for linguistic, cultural, and folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
Click Part I of this series for the official video of Falz (featuring Yemi Alade and Poe)'s song "Marry Me". Part I also includes lyrics for that song (in English, Nigerian Pidgin English, and Yoruba) as well as some explanations for the Yoruba and Nigerian Pidgin English words & phrases in those lyrics.
****
SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT "FACTOR H" FROM TWO NAIRALAND.COM DISCUSSION THREADS
The comments in each Excerpt are given in chronological order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
EXCERPT #1:
From http://secretlilies.blogspot.com/2011/11/h-factor.html
Saturday, November 26, 2011
"The "H" factor
..."When I talk about the "H" factor, I mean the fact that when people talk they can't pronounce words that start with the letter "H". For instance instead of saying "house" they pronounce it " ouse", leaving the "h", where I do not know.
[...]
The reason why they do this is cos for instance in the Yoruba language if I am not mistaken there isn't a letter "H". Its like it just vanished into thin air..LOL. So it is quiet difficult to transit from the rules in Yoruba language to the rules in the English language.
[...]
In the french language the letter "H" is silent for instance the word " Haricot", which means beans (don't forget that every word has to be spelt with an article), is pronounced "aricot". Now when the french converse in English they find it difficult pronouncing the letter "H", which isn't silent or hidden but present in the English language.
The truth:
Yoruba language is very similar to the french language but when the Yorubas pronounce English words without the "H" etc we see this as being razz, local, bush, uneducated etc.. but when the french make the same mistake it goes this way: " oh you know English isn't their first language, its allowed."..
-snip-
Selected Comments:
1. CheNovember 27, 2011 at 1:33 PM
"LOL @ the H factor. I laugh whenever i hear it. The igbo's also have their own too. Some mix the "l" and "r". E.g., instead of saying *I want to cross the road*, it comes out as *I want to cross the load*. lol (I'm igbo so i'm not hating :-)). Thanks for stopping by my blog. Following you right back.
naijabankgirl.blogspot.com
**
2. Amaka's NotepadNovember 29, 2011 at 3:09 AM
"lol. Yeah, ibos have the 'R' and 'L' issue, the Hausas - 'P' and 'F' (Progrss promounced 'frogress'), Yourubas - Loss of 'H'('ouse) and 'SH' (which comes out as just 'S' for ibadan people. making Shoe sound like 'sue') Then we have the Akwa-Ibom people who have a 'J' to 'Y' issue (where Junction becomes 'yunction' and John become 'yohn') That is what makes Naija so unique, Diverse yet one country.
UP NAIJA!!!!"
****
EXCERPT #2
From http://www.nairaland.com/229011/whats-h-factor
1. Whats With The H - Factor ? by Nobody: 4:18pm On Feb 04, 2009
"dis is really getting serious, everyday when i walk on the road i hear people saying a lot of scary words, like instead of egg, i hear hegg, or hold man instead of old man. then i also hear eaven instead of heaven or appy instead of happy.
pls i am not trying to discriminate but is they no way we can help the situation"
Comments pls,"
**
2. Re: Whats With The H - Factor ? by spikedcylinder: 4:23pm On Feb 04, 2009
"I think its because there's no "H" in the Yoruba language so people try to compensate on way or the other. cheesy"
**
3. Re: Whats With The H - Factor ? by folkzy(f): 10:31am On Feb 05, 2009
"As a matter of fact, it has something to do with where your from. For Yoruba people, there is no H in their language, hence why some people find the hard to pronounce the 'H' sound or use the H sound wrongly. I used to be a typical example, i was taught the right way whilst working in a primary school as some children used to correct me which was embarrasing."
**
4. Re: Whats With The H - Factor ? by youngies(m): 11:10am On Feb 05, 2009
"Be it Yoruba 'H' factor, Hausa 'F' factor or Igbo 'R' factor, I don't have any problem with it, but I always feel scandalized when I hear it on TV or Radio from News casters. It shouldn't be excused from them."
**
5. Re: Whats With The H - Factor ? by youngies(m): 12:41pm On Feb 05, 2009
"It bothers me when I hear it on air, it is happauling you know! Grin"
****
EXCERPT #3
From http://www.nairaland.com/3138313/test-h-factor
1. Test If You Have H-factor by dadee007(m): 4:58pm On May 31, 2016
"H-Factor is when someone has trouble pronouncing words that have the letter H in them or pronouncing words that do not have the letter H in them as having the H sound. You can test yourself and check your H-factor-compliance by reciting aloud, the sentence below in 5 seconds. If you have difficulty reading it out aloud correctly, you have the dreaded H-factor. But not to worry, at least you now know and you can retrain yourself to lose the H factor. Cheers.
It is advisable to have someone with you to monitor your compliance. Have Fun! courtesy laffhub.com.
''Our hot air hostess handed us hot oats, as she had in her hand our air fare.''"
**
2. Re: Test If You Have H-factor by Ultimus: 5:52pm On May 31, 2016
"If you have any difficulty reading aloud the statement it might be because the statement reads like a tongue twister and not really due to having h factor. I suppose a proper oral English test should be an accurate determinant."
**
3. Re:Test If You Have H-factor by Phonefanatic: 5:53pm On May 31, 2016
"Who H factor help in this harsh economy?
You guys shouldn't get me angry this evening oo"
**
4. Re: Test If You Have H-factor by Nobody: 5:54pm On May 31, 2016
"It's more common among the Yorubas; just as the Igbos find themselves in between Scylla and Charybdis when they have to pronounce words that begin with the letter 'R' or 'L'."
****
SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT THE "H FACTOR" AND OTHER SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT PRONUNCIATION
From the YouTube discussion thread of the official video for Falz's "Marry Me" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UzlN0AbPgQ
These comments are presented in chronological order based on their publishing date with the oldest comments by year given first, except for replies. Numbers have been assigned for referencing purposes only.
Read the lyrics and the Nigerian Pidgin English definitions that are given in Part I of this pancocojams series for explanations about some of the comments that are found below.
1. Muyi Ibidun, 2015
"It interesting to see that a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon of tribal bashing based on the way this act has chosen to sing in very strong Yoruba accent. FYI, IT IS DELIBERATE. If you dont know Falz, then you need to do your home work. He is a UK trained and certified Lawyer, he speaks correct and normal English off camera. Speaking in strong Yoruba accent is his selling point. You need to check him out on Instagram where he has a lot of comedy skits and fans.
And by the way, I really dont see the big deal in singing in unadulterated Nigerian accent. Americans dont sing to pacify nobody. If you dont understand what he is saying, better you enjoy the sound or move on to some other videos. Expressing disappointment that an African artist sing in too strong African Accent is very lame.
**
Reply
2. Mansa Koabi, 2015
"+Muyi Ibidun Tell them nwanne preach."
**
Reply
3. Ajojocraig, 2015
"Tell them oo. The ones that know how to speak correct English. Mcheww
**
Reply
4. Alexander Odofin, 2015
"I'm only mildly amused. The music isn't for everyone. Complaining about his accent is pure ignorance, coupled with a finite dose of inferiority complex."
**
Reply
5. Afrimedia, 2016
"+Muyi Ibidun Muyi don't worry yourself.....it is you making it an issue....we don't need any explanation, on whether he can speak Queens English or not , Falz is really HOT right now, he is great. This Jam is smoking , Vid is hilarious ! Its all good."
**
Reply
6. Antoria Lee, 2017
"Maaaaaaaaan I'm a super southern American (accent and upbringing) but this speaks to my soul. Imma learn Yoruba and neva look back.
Btw I understand all of it, if you don't, oh wells this song is 💣"
****
7. ACCRA [dot] ALT Radio, 2015
"Hey from Accra! We love Falz in Ghana particularly because of this "accent" that folks don't seem to be happy with.Why? because it's such a beautiful representation of a manner of expression that is prevalent throughout the continent. Africans have a unique way of speaking and we embrace it. We don't have to sound any other way but like ourselves.This fascination with the english language as a measure of intelligence and social acceptance is most unfortunate."
**
8. Lanre Koby Shonowo, 2015
"Love how he brought the Naija lingo in the song i.e you know my (h)age, I'm twenty (h)eight...attention to detail lol...
**
Reply
9. Natalie C, 2016
"He is doing it on purpose...listen to him speak in real life and you'll understand"
**
10. Akinola Ogunseitan, 2015
"This video is so funny, the obvious H factor was on purpose.
Love the story line."
**
11. omaricha, 2015
"yoruba people and H syndrome! What the hell is "follow me OME" and Twenty Hate??? Lol Razz people. Hincedent! Hingredient! Lmao!"
-snip-
Note: "Omaricha" is an Igbo name.
**
Reply
12. omaricha, 2015
"+Obeth Lalas Lmao! I touched a nerve....hahaha U must have H factor"
**
Reply
13. Samuel kings, 2015
"+omaricha You two should be ashamed of yourselves, as a Nigerian who has been living in the USA for more than a decade, it's a shame that i come on you-tube to enjoy good African music, and here i see two people from same country insulting themselves over minor issue. What a shame"
**
Reply
14. akoms1, 2015
"Pls forgive us. I apologise on behalf of all Yorubas. But you sure know that the igbos are more enlightened and better than everybody. Once again, forgive the Yorubas for not pronouncing an English word properly."
-snip-
My guess is that this comment was written sarcastically.
**
Reply
15. omaricha, 2015
"+akoms1
We Igbos are taking this Hapology Hinto consideration! Hand you will be duly notified!"
**
Reply
16. tosan, 2015
"+Obeth Lalas take it easy o.... it was just a joke. Omaricha mean no harm."
**
Reply
17. Olu OJ, 2015
"Tosan, that wasn't no joke. Her words are derogatory. It's typical of people from her tribe. Always trying hard to discredit Yoruba's effort."
**
Reply
18. latichina5, 2015
"Lmao!!! Omaricha you will feel the wrath of every yorouba people on the Internet."
**
Reply
19. Uzoamaka Joe-Nkamuke, 2015
"+Olu OJ Wow!!! so u used the comment of 1 person to describe a tribe of over 30million pple. you r no different from her then."
**
20. JustForYou♥, 2015
"Lol the H factor is real...but I love the video"
**
21. Tee Jay, 2015
"Lmao.....hilarious video...good job guys! BTW that "H" factor kills me, i cant stop laughing .... twenty "Hate".....see me see trouble ooooo!"
**
22. mimisnando, 2015
"It's pidgin English and not Patois or what some people think it is"
**
23. Sunny N, 2015
"Hahaha love the ending, by the way what is twenty hate"
**
Reply
24. odinese nwad, 2015
"28...pretending as if u don't know"
**
25. Adewanle Adeyekun, 2015
"Poe is a hella of a rapper. Wow, no formed American accent, just pure originality. "
**
Reply
26. MrEdwin10pa, 2016
"Poe's spittin in a nigerian accent is so dope... more like him needed"
-snip-
"spittin" = rapping
****
This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series that features the 2014 Nigerian Afrobeat/Rap song "Marry Me" by Falz featuring Yemi Alade, and Poe.
Part II features selected online comments about what is commonly referred to as the "H factor" among Yoruba people (Nigeria, West Africa). These comments are culled from the YouTube discussion thread for the official video of Falz's "Marry Me" song and from three other Nigerian based online discussion threads.
Part II also includes selected comments from the YouTube discussion thread of Falz's "Marry Me" video about other aspects of language use by Falz and by other "Marry Me" performers.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/09/falz-featuring-yemi-alade-poe-marry-me.html for Part I of this series. Part I showcases a video of "Marry Me" and provides the lyrics to that song from an online page. This post also includes [possible] meanings for Yoruba or Nigerian Pidgin English words/phrases using Google Translate and various online Nigerian Pidgin English pages. Additions and corrections are very welcome.
Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/09/examples-of-vernacular-sayings-killing.html for other selected comments from the discussion thread of the official video of Falz's song "Marry Me".
****
This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on linguistics. Pancocojams' linguistics posts document and consider aspects of language use among African people and/or people of African descent, including traditional African languages, African American Vernacular English, Caribbean Patois, African Pidgin English, and other Pidgin languages.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not a linguist and the only language that I understand is English (including some forms of African American Vernacular English).
I had never heard of "H Factor" until I read comments in the discussion thread for Falz's "Marry Me" song,.
****
The content of this post is presented for linguistic, cultural, and folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
Click Part I of this series for the official video of Falz (featuring Yemi Alade and Poe)'s song "Marry Me". Part I also includes lyrics for that song (in English, Nigerian Pidgin English, and Yoruba) as well as some explanations for the Yoruba and Nigerian Pidgin English words & phrases in those lyrics.
****
SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT "FACTOR H" FROM TWO NAIRALAND.COM DISCUSSION THREADS
The comments in each Excerpt are given in chronological order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
EXCERPT #1:
From http://secretlilies.blogspot.com/2011/11/h-factor.html
Saturday, November 26, 2011
"The "H" factor
..."When I talk about the "H" factor, I mean the fact that when people talk they can't pronounce words that start with the letter "H". For instance instead of saying "house" they pronounce it " ouse", leaving the "h", where I do not know.
[...]
The reason why they do this is cos for instance in the Yoruba language if I am not mistaken there isn't a letter "H". Its like it just vanished into thin air..LOL. So it is quiet difficult to transit from the rules in Yoruba language to the rules in the English language.
[...]
In the french language the letter "H" is silent for instance the word " Haricot", which means beans (don't forget that every word has to be spelt with an article), is pronounced "aricot". Now when the french converse in English they find it difficult pronouncing the letter "H", which isn't silent or hidden but present in the English language.
The truth:
Yoruba language is very similar to the french language but when the Yorubas pronounce English words without the "H" etc we see this as being razz, local, bush, uneducated etc.. but when the french make the same mistake it goes this way: " oh you know English isn't their first language, its allowed."..
-snip-
Selected Comments:
1. CheNovember 27, 2011 at 1:33 PM
"LOL @ the H factor. I laugh whenever i hear it. The igbo's also have their own too. Some mix the "l" and "r". E.g., instead of saying *I want to cross the road*, it comes out as *I want to cross the load*. lol (I'm igbo so i'm not hating :-)). Thanks for stopping by my blog. Following you right back.
naijabankgirl.blogspot.com
**
2. Amaka's NotepadNovember 29, 2011 at 3:09 AM
"lol. Yeah, ibos have the 'R' and 'L' issue, the Hausas - 'P' and 'F' (Progrss promounced 'frogress'), Yourubas - Loss of 'H'('ouse) and 'SH' (which comes out as just 'S' for ibadan people. making Shoe sound like 'sue') Then we have the Akwa-Ibom people who have a 'J' to 'Y' issue (where Junction becomes 'yunction' and John become 'yohn') That is what makes Naija so unique, Diverse yet one country.
UP NAIJA!!!!"
****
EXCERPT #2
From http://www.nairaland.com/229011/whats-h-factor
1. Whats With The H - Factor ? by Nobody: 4:18pm On Feb 04, 2009
"dis is really getting serious, everyday when i walk on the road i hear people saying a lot of scary words, like instead of egg, i hear hegg, or hold man instead of old man. then i also hear eaven instead of heaven or appy instead of happy.
pls i am not trying to discriminate but is they no way we can help the situation"
Comments pls,"
**
2. Re: Whats With The H - Factor ? by spikedcylinder: 4:23pm On Feb 04, 2009
"I think its because there's no "H" in the Yoruba language so people try to compensate on way or the other. cheesy"
**
3. Re: Whats With The H - Factor ? by folkzy(f): 10:31am On Feb 05, 2009
"As a matter of fact, it has something to do with where your from. For Yoruba people, there is no H in their language, hence why some people find the hard to pronounce the 'H' sound or use the H sound wrongly. I used to be a typical example, i was taught the right way whilst working in a primary school as some children used to correct me which was embarrasing."
**
4. Re: Whats With The H - Factor ? by youngies(m): 11:10am On Feb 05, 2009
"Be it Yoruba 'H' factor, Hausa 'F' factor or Igbo 'R' factor, I don't have any problem with it, but I always feel scandalized when I hear it on TV or Radio from News casters. It shouldn't be excused from them."
**
5. Re: Whats With The H - Factor ? by youngies(m): 12:41pm On Feb 05, 2009
"It bothers me when I hear it on air, it is happauling you know! Grin"
****
EXCERPT #3
From http://www.nairaland.com/3138313/test-h-factor
1. Test If You Have H-factor by dadee007(m): 4:58pm On May 31, 2016
"H-Factor is when someone has trouble pronouncing words that have the letter H in them or pronouncing words that do not have the letter H in them as having the H sound. You can test yourself and check your H-factor-compliance by reciting aloud, the sentence below in 5 seconds. If you have difficulty reading it out aloud correctly, you have the dreaded H-factor. But not to worry, at least you now know and you can retrain yourself to lose the H factor. Cheers.
It is advisable to have someone with you to monitor your compliance. Have Fun! courtesy laffhub.com.
''Our hot air hostess handed us hot oats, as she had in her hand our air fare.''"
**
2. Re: Test If You Have H-factor by Ultimus: 5:52pm On May 31, 2016
"If you have any difficulty reading aloud the statement it might be because the statement reads like a tongue twister and not really due to having h factor. I suppose a proper oral English test should be an accurate determinant."
**
3. Re:Test If You Have H-factor by Phonefanatic: 5:53pm On May 31, 2016
"Who H factor help in this harsh economy?
You guys shouldn't get me angry this evening oo"
**
4. Re: Test If You Have H-factor by Nobody: 5:54pm On May 31, 2016
"It's more common among the Yorubas; just as the Igbos find themselves in between Scylla and Charybdis when they have to pronounce words that begin with the letter 'R' or 'L'."
****
SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT THE "H FACTOR" AND OTHER SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT PRONUNCIATION
From the YouTube discussion thread of the official video for Falz's "Marry Me" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UzlN0AbPgQ
These comments are presented in chronological order based on their publishing date with the oldest comments by year given first, except for replies. Numbers have been assigned for referencing purposes only.
Read the lyrics and the Nigerian Pidgin English definitions that are given in Part I of this pancocojams series for explanations about some of the comments that are found below.
1. Muyi Ibidun, 2015
"It interesting to see that a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon of tribal bashing based on the way this act has chosen to sing in very strong Yoruba accent. FYI, IT IS DELIBERATE. If you dont know Falz, then you need to do your home work. He is a UK trained and certified Lawyer, he speaks correct and normal English off camera. Speaking in strong Yoruba accent is his selling point. You need to check him out on Instagram where he has a lot of comedy skits and fans.
And by the way, I really dont see the big deal in singing in unadulterated Nigerian accent. Americans dont sing to pacify nobody. If you dont understand what he is saying, better you enjoy the sound or move on to some other videos. Expressing disappointment that an African artist sing in too strong African Accent is very lame.
**
Reply
2. Mansa Koabi, 2015
"+Muyi Ibidun Tell them nwanne preach."
**
Reply
3. Ajojocraig, 2015
"Tell them oo. The ones that know how to speak correct English. Mcheww
**
Reply
4. Alexander Odofin, 2015
"I'm only mildly amused. The music isn't for everyone. Complaining about his accent is pure ignorance, coupled with a finite dose of inferiority complex."
**
Reply
5. Afrimedia, 2016
"+Muyi Ibidun Muyi don't worry yourself.....it is you making it an issue....we don't need any explanation, on whether he can speak Queens English or not , Falz is really HOT right now, he is great. This Jam is smoking , Vid is hilarious ! Its all good."
**
Reply
6. Antoria Lee, 2017
"Maaaaaaaaan I'm a super southern American (accent and upbringing) but this speaks to my soul. Imma learn Yoruba and neva look back.
Btw I understand all of it, if you don't, oh wells this song is 💣"
****
7. ACCRA [dot] ALT Radio, 2015
"Hey from Accra! We love Falz in Ghana particularly because of this "accent" that folks don't seem to be happy with.Why? because it's such a beautiful representation of a manner of expression that is prevalent throughout the continent. Africans have a unique way of speaking and we embrace it. We don't have to sound any other way but like ourselves.This fascination with the english language as a measure of intelligence and social acceptance is most unfortunate."
**
8. Lanre Koby Shonowo, 2015
"Love how he brought the Naija lingo in the song i.e you know my (h)age, I'm twenty (h)eight...attention to detail lol...
**
Reply
9. Natalie C, 2016
"He is doing it on purpose...listen to him speak in real life and you'll understand"
**
10. Akinola Ogunseitan, 2015
"This video is so funny, the obvious H factor was on purpose.
Love the story line."
**
11. omaricha, 2015
"yoruba people and H syndrome! What the hell is "follow me OME" and Twenty Hate??? Lol Razz people. Hincedent! Hingredient! Lmao!"
-snip-
Note: "Omaricha" is an Igbo name.
**
Reply
12. omaricha, 2015
"+Obeth Lalas Lmao! I touched a nerve....hahaha U must have H factor"
**
Reply
13. Samuel kings, 2015
"+omaricha You two should be ashamed of yourselves, as a Nigerian who has been living in the USA for more than a decade, it's a shame that i come on you-tube to enjoy good African music, and here i see two people from same country insulting themselves over minor issue. What a shame"
**
Reply
14. akoms1, 2015
"Pls forgive us. I apologise on behalf of all Yorubas. But you sure know that the igbos are more enlightened and better than everybody. Once again, forgive the Yorubas for not pronouncing an English word properly."
-snip-
My guess is that this comment was written sarcastically.
**
Reply
15. omaricha, 2015
"+akoms1
We Igbos are taking this Hapology Hinto consideration! Hand you will be duly notified!"
**
Reply
16. tosan, 2015
"+Obeth Lalas take it easy o.... it was just a joke. Omaricha mean no harm."
**
Reply
17. Olu OJ, 2015
"Tosan, that wasn't no joke. Her words are derogatory. It's typical of people from her tribe. Always trying hard to discredit Yoruba's effort."
**
Reply
18. latichina5, 2015
"Lmao!!! Omaricha you will feel the wrath of every yorouba people on the Internet."
**
Reply
19. Uzoamaka Joe-Nkamuke, 2015
"+Olu OJ Wow!!! so u used the comment of 1 person to describe a tribe of over 30million pple. you r no different from her then."
**
20. JustForYou♥, 2015
"Lol the H factor is real...but I love the video"
**
21. Tee Jay, 2015
"Lmao.....hilarious video...good job guys! BTW that "H" factor kills me, i cant stop laughing .... twenty "Hate".....see me see trouble ooooo!"
**
22. mimisnando, 2015
"It's pidgin English and not Patois or what some people think it is"
**
23. Sunny N, 2015
"Hahaha love the ending, by the way what is twenty hate"
**
Reply
24. odinese nwad, 2015
"28...pretending as if u don't know"
**
25. Adewanle Adeyekun, 2015
"Poe is a hella of a rapper. Wow, no formed American accent, just pure originality. "
**
Reply
26. MrEdwin10pa, 2016
"Poe's spittin in a nigerian accent is so dope... more like him needed"
-snip-
"spittin" = rapping
****
This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Saturday, July 15, 2017
"Lakadu" Jokes In Davido's Afrobeat Song "Aye" 's Official YouTube Video Discussion Thread
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post documents several of the "Lakadu" play on words jokes that are found in the YouTube discussion thread for Nigerian Afrobeat star Davido's official video of his 2014 hit song "Aye".
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Davido for his musical legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
Click the Davido Aye video tag that is found below for more information and comments about this Afrobeat song and about other subjects that relate to this song and video.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Aye - Davido (Official Music Video)
DMW HQ, Published on Feb 7, 2014
...HKN Music presents the official music video of Aye, Davido's fourth single off his forthcoming sophomore album. Directed by Clarence Peters, the video is shot in a rural setting and tells a tale of love between different classes.
Davido plays a poor farmer who falls in love with the prince's love interest. Aye shows Davido at his best, showing raw talent in a different direction, cultural, and entirely refreshing.....
-snip-
Statistics [as of 7/14/ 2017 5:40 PM]
total views: 40,573,802
likes: 97,054; dislikes: 5,768
total # of comments: 5,437
****
PARTIAL LYRICS FOR DAVIDO'S SONG "AYE"
[Verse 1:]
She fine pass Darego
She dey do like Ronaldo
My sweetie poraro (potato)
Ha! Eminado
She like e my song
She like e my song
Her favorite artiste na Davido
Davido
And I like what I see
I like what I see
Baby girl just come come balance for me [alternate transcription: "come dobale for me")
Come balance for me [alternate transcription: "come dobale for me"]
Aaa
Cause nobody can love you like I do
Nobody can touch e you like I do
Nobody can love you like I do
Nobody can touch you like I do
-snip-
Here's some explanations of these lyrics:
fine = African American Vernacular English word meaning "very good looking"
**
Darego = reference to Nigerian model and beauty queen
From Lolade Adewuyi, June 2017 [in the official "Aye" discussion thread]
(written in response to a comment by Muusa Maxamed) - "Muusa Maxamed "She look like Darego" (Agbani Darego was Miss World 2001)"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agbani_Darego
"Agbani Darego, MFR (born Agbani Asenite Darego, 22 December 1982) is a Nigerian model and beauty queen, best known as the first native African to win Miss World."
**
"Ronaldo" refers to the famous footballer (soccer) player "Ronaldo" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristiano_Ronaldo The line "She dey do like Ronaldo" may mean something like "To me she would be a big star like Ronaldo or "She is exciting like Ronaldo".
**
http://www.nairaland.com/1361399/whats-meaning-emi-nado-which What's The Meaning Of ''Emi Nado'' & From Which Language?
Summarized:
"Emi Nado" is the title of a 2013 Nigerian "R&B" song by Tiwa savage ft Don Jazzy.
"Emi Nado" also has two Yoruba meanings, one of which has a sexually explicit reference.
"Eminado" [Emi nado] in igbo is a good luck charm made of cowries that wrestlers traditionally wear tied to their waist.
**
Instead of "come balance for me", Rachel Bello, 2014, a commenter in this video's discussion thread wrote that Davido sang "come dobale" for me."
"Dobale (my pronunciation guess: doh-bah-lay)
From http://www.nairaland.com/261964/nairaland-official-igbo-hausa-yoruba/4
biina: Dec 28, 2009"dobale in yoruba means to prostrate, which is an act of respect when a male is greeting one who much older than him (or a king). Females are expected to kneel down."
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/10/davido-aye-nigerian-afro-beat-video.html for information about Davido, for song lyrics and more explanations about Nigerian language and Nigerian Pidgin English words in this song.
****
SELECTED "LAKADU" COMMENTS IN THE YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR DAVIDO'S "AYE" OFFICIAL "AYE" VIDEO
For referencing purposes only these selected comments are assigned numbers in each sub-thread
First Sub-Thread
1. Ayo E, 2015
"Knock knock
Who's there
Lakadu
Lakadu who
Nobody can love like Lakadu
Nobody can touch Lakadu"
**
Reply
2. odinese nwad, 2015
"Mad person"
**
Reply
3. Lewa Uzo, 2015
"lmaooo"
**
Reply
4. dammy hotness, 2015
"😅😅😂😂"
**
Reply
5. Yothame Mensan, 2015
"+aj kriss Lool i got the joke xD"
**
Reply
6. beth wanja, 2015
"Hahaha thats funny"
**
Reply
7. chuckyoo, 2015
"+aj kriss Hilarious! I get the joke and do not know why some are so uptight. Live a little and take a joke. LOL!"
**
Reply
8. MajorrBison, 2015
"+aj kriss ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, I NO FIT SHOUTZZZZ!"
**
Reply
9. Conrad Mbaziira, 2015
"+aj kriss hahahahahaha. This funnyyy man"
**
Reply
10. odinese nwad, 2015
"Go read one of his comment on tekno-dance."
**
Reply
20. BDD EDDE, 2015
"+aj kriss lmaoooo :') i can never listen to this song the same way again"
**
Reply
21. Kbaf4, 2015
"+aj kriss AAAAAAAHHHHHJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA!!!!!"
****
Second Sub-Thread
1. Abel First-Quao, 2016
"'Nobody can love you, Lakadu!
Nobody can touch you, Lakadu!'
And so, Lakadu was forever alone. Aye!"
**
Reply
2. Armelle Tulunda, 2016
"Omg i laughed so hard"
**
Reply
3. Bashiru Mumuni, 2016
"lol"
**
Reply
4. SimplyAnne, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao Clever lol!"
**
Reply
5. AmaraFyne Du, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao lmboooooooooooooooooo real tears !!"
**
Reply
6. kansascityrocky, 2016
"Hey guys, I believe that the lyrics are nobody can "toju" you like I do! In yoruba language toju means to take care of you! It sound like he's saying touch you but he's not!!"
**
Reply
7. Abel First-Quao, 2016
"+kansascityrocky Really?
That's very interesting."
**
Reply
8. MyGrande Videos, 2016
"Darlings it's like I do"
**
Reply
9. Abel First-Quao
"+Pump White Oh come on, it's just a bit of fun. Join the party haha"
-snip-
This comment directly follows the comment given as #8 in this post. "Pump White" may have been the former screen name for MyGrande Videos.
**
Reply
10. Mary Jane, 2016
"I'm dying Hahaha"
**
Reply
11. TeeCeeZA, 2016
"😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂"
**
Reply
12. shivan justine G, 2016
"+Mary Jane same to me here hahaaaah
**
Reply
13. gazelle20111
"Nobody can love you like I do* that's what he is saying but with a strong accent"
**
Reply
14. MetropoliBoy, 2016
"+gazelle20111 everyone has an accent, it depends on who is talking and who is listening. If you are an American visiting Africa, when you talk, an African say that you have an accent and vice versa. So, in essence, you have an accent if you don't talk like the local people of a place. In America, you might not have an accent but when you come down to Africa, you have an accent because your pronunciation will be different from the local people."
**
Reply
15. Ellis Walraven, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao #dead, also...smh"
**
Reply
16. lola lee, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao Now that's all I hear. smh"
**
Reply
17. RRSYS.info - Roulette Prediction, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao what does lakadu mean exactly, excuse me, im from liverpool merseyside in britain"
**
Reply
18. Ellis Walraven, 2016
"+RRSYS.info - Roulette Prediction Its a joke, a play on the words "Like I Do", except the comment by Abel personified the phrase and created "Lakadu" - genius!"
**
Reply
19. Mohammed Shiine, 2016
"you sir, own this songs comment section. how do feel about this achievement."
**
Reply
20. How to be a youtuber For Life, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao rofl"
**
Reply
21. Sam Ambe, 2017
"Nonstop niaja"
**
Reply
22. Grenadaspice1, 2017
"I had to read the comment a few times but I get it now...lol...I love the Nigerian accent"
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This pancocojams post documents several of the "Lakadu" play on words jokes that are found in the YouTube discussion thread for Nigerian Afrobeat star Davido's official video of his 2014 hit song "Aye".
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Davido for his musical legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
Click the Davido Aye video tag that is found below for more information and comments about this Afrobeat song and about other subjects that relate to this song and video.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Aye - Davido (Official Music Video)
DMW HQ, Published on Feb 7, 2014
...HKN Music presents the official music video of Aye, Davido's fourth single off his forthcoming sophomore album. Directed by Clarence Peters, the video is shot in a rural setting and tells a tale of love between different classes.
Davido plays a poor farmer who falls in love with the prince's love interest. Aye shows Davido at his best, showing raw talent in a different direction, cultural, and entirely refreshing.....
-snip-
Statistics [as of 7/14/ 2017 5:40 PM]
total views: 40,573,802
likes: 97,054; dislikes: 5,768
total # of comments: 5,437
****
PARTIAL LYRICS FOR DAVIDO'S SONG "AYE"
[Verse 1:]
She fine pass Darego
She dey do like Ronaldo
My sweetie poraro (potato)
Ha! Eminado
She like e my song
She like e my song
Her favorite artiste na Davido
Davido
And I like what I see
I like what I see
Baby girl just come come balance for me [alternate transcription: "come dobale for me")
Come balance for me [alternate transcription: "come dobale for me"]
Aaa
Cause nobody can love you like I do
Nobody can touch e you like I do
Nobody can love you like I do
Nobody can touch you like I do
-snip-
Here's some explanations of these lyrics:
fine = African American Vernacular English word meaning "very good looking"
**
Darego = reference to Nigerian model and beauty queen
From Lolade Adewuyi, June 2017 [in the official "Aye" discussion thread]
(written in response to a comment by Muusa Maxamed) - "Muusa Maxamed "She look like Darego" (Agbani Darego was Miss World 2001)"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agbani_Darego
"Agbani Darego, MFR (born Agbani Asenite Darego, 22 December 1982) is a Nigerian model and beauty queen, best known as the first native African to win Miss World."
**
"Ronaldo" refers to the famous footballer (soccer) player "Ronaldo" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristiano_Ronaldo The line "She dey do like Ronaldo" may mean something like "To me she would be a big star like Ronaldo or "She is exciting like Ronaldo".
**
http://www.nairaland.com/1361399/whats-meaning-emi-nado-which What's The Meaning Of ''Emi Nado'' & From Which Language?
Summarized:
"Emi Nado" is the title of a 2013 Nigerian "R&B" song by Tiwa savage ft Don Jazzy.
"Emi Nado" also has two Yoruba meanings, one of which has a sexually explicit reference.
"Eminado" [Emi nado] in igbo is a good luck charm made of cowries that wrestlers traditionally wear tied to their waist.
**
Instead of "come balance for me", Rachel Bello, 2014, a commenter in this video's discussion thread wrote that Davido sang "come dobale" for me."
"Dobale (my pronunciation guess: doh-bah-lay)
From http://www.nairaland.com/261964/nairaland-official-igbo-hausa-yoruba/4
biina: Dec 28, 2009"dobale in yoruba means to prostrate, which is an act of respect when a male is greeting one who much older than him (or a king). Females are expected to kneel down."
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/10/davido-aye-nigerian-afro-beat-video.html for information about Davido, for song lyrics and more explanations about Nigerian language and Nigerian Pidgin English words in this song.
****
SELECTED "LAKADU" COMMENTS IN THE YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR DAVIDO'S "AYE" OFFICIAL "AYE" VIDEO
For referencing purposes only these selected comments are assigned numbers in each sub-thread
First Sub-Thread
1. Ayo E, 2015
"Knock knock
Who's there
Lakadu
Lakadu who
Nobody can love like Lakadu
Nobody can touch Lakadu"
**
Reply
2. odinese nwad, 2015
"Mad person"
**
Reply
3. Lewa Uzo, 2015
"lmaooo"
**
Reply
4. dammy hotness, 2015
"😅😅😂😂"
**
Reply
5. Yothame Mensan, 2015
"+aj kriss Lool i got the joke xD"
**
Reply
6. beth wanja, 2015
"Hahaha thats funny"
**
Reply
7. chuckyoo, 2015
"+aj kriss Hilarious! I get the joke and do not know why some are so uptight. Live a little and take a joke. LOL!"
**
Reply
8. MajorrBison, 2015
"+aj kriss ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, I NO FIT SHOUTZZZZ!"
**
Reply
9. Conrad Mbaziira, 2015
"+aj kriss hahahahahaha. This funnyyy man"
**
Reply
10. odinese nwad, 2015
"Go read one of his comment on tekno-dance."
**
Reply
20. BDD EDDE, 2015
"+aj kriss lmaoooo :') i can never listen to this song the same way again"
**
Reply
21. Kbaf4, 2015
"+aj kriss AAAAAAAHHHHHJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA!!!!!"
****
Second Sub-Thread
1. Abel First-Quao, 2016
"'Nobody can love you, Lakadu!
Nobody can touch you, Lakadu!'
And so, Lakadu was forever alone. Aye!"
**
Reply
2. Armelle Tulunda, 2016
"Omg i laughed so hard"
**
Reply
3. Bashiru Mumuni, 2016
"lol"
**
Reply
4. SimplyAnne, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao Clever lol!"
**
Reply
5. AmaraFyne Du, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao lmboooooooooooooooooo real tears !!"
**
Reply
6. kansascityrocky, 2016
"Hey guys, I believe that the lyrics are nobody can "toju" you like I do! In yoruba language toju means to take care of you! It sound like he's saying touch you but he's not!!"
**
Reply
7. Abel First-Quao, 2016
"+kansascityrocky Really?
That's very interesting."
**
Reply
8. MyGrande Videos, 2016
"Darlings it's like I do"
**
Reply
9. Abel First-Quao
"+Pump White Oh come on, it's just a bit of fun. Join the party haha"
-snip-
This comment directly follows the comment given as #8 in this post. "Pump White" may have been the former screen name for MyGrande Videos.
**
Reply
10. Mary Jane, 2016
"I'm dying Hahaha"
**
Reply
11. TeeCeeZA, 2016
"😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂"
**
Reply
12. shivan justine G, 2016
"+Mary Jane same to me here hahaaaah
**
Reply
13. gazelle20111
"Nobody can love you like I do* that's what he is saying but with a strong accent"
**
Reply
14. MetropoliBoy, 2016
"+gazelle20111 everyone has an accent, it depends on who is talking and who is listening. If you are an American visiting Africa, when you talk, an African say that you have an accent and vice versa. So, in essence, you have an accent if you don't talk like the local people of a place. In America, you might not have an accent but when you come down to Africa, you have an accent because your pronunciation will be different from the local people."
**
Reply
15. Ellis Walraven, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao #dead, also...smh"
**
Reply
16. lola lee, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao Now that's all I hear. smh"
**
Reply
17. RRSYS.info - Roulette Prediction, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao what does lakadu mean exactly, excuse me, im from liverpool merseyside in britain"
**
Reply
18. Ellis Walraven, 2016
"+RRSYS.info - Roulette Prediction Its a joke, a play on the words "Like I Do", except the comment by Abel personified the phrase and created "Lakadu" - genius!"
**
Reply
19. Mohammed Shiine, 2016
"you sir, own this songs comment section. how do feel about this achievement."
**
Reply
20. How to be a youtuber For Life, 2016
"+Abel First-Quao rofl"
**
Reply
21. Sam Ambe, 2017
"Nonstop niaja"
**
Reply
22. Grenadaspice1, 2017
"I had to read the comment a few times but I get it now...lol...I love the Nigerian accent"
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Friday, July 14, 2017
The Pan-African & Global Reach Of YouTube Videos Of Contemporary African Music - Commenters Identify Their Nation & Ethnicity In The Discussion Thread For Davido's "Aye" Video
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post documents the pan-African and global reach of YouTube contemporary African music videos as demonstrated by commenters indicating their nation and/or ethnicity in the YouTube discussion thread for Nigerian Afrobeat star Davido's official video for his 2014 Afrobeat hit song "Aye".
The content of this post is presented for cultural and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Davido for his musical legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/10/davido-aye-nigerian-afro-beat-video.html for information about Davido and for song lyrics for "Aye" as well as some explanations about those lyrics.
Also, click the Davido Aye video tag that is found below for more information and comments about this Afrobeat song and about other subjects that relate to this song and video.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Aye - Davido (Official Music Video)
DMW HQ, Published on Feb 7, 2014
...HKN Music presents the official music video of Aye, Davido's fourth single off his forthcoming sophomore album. Directed by Clarence Peters, the video is shot in a rural setting and tells a tale of love between different classes.
Davido plays a poor farmer who falls in love with the prince's love interest. Aye shows Davido at his best, showing raw talent in a different direction, cultural, and entirely refreshing.....
-snip-
Statistics [as of 7/14/ 2017 5:40 PM]
total views: 40,573,802
likes: 97,054; dislikes: 5,768
total # of comments: 5,437
****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
Almost every discussion thread of YouTube Afrobeats music videos includes viewer commenters giving their nation of origin and/other affiliations such as their ethnic group.
This pancocojams post features a sub-thread and other selected comments from the official YouTube video of Nigerian Afrobeat star Davido's 2014 hit song "Aye" demonstrates how fans of Nigerian Afrobeat star Davido include people from numerous African nations and from many other nations throughout the world.
Among other points, these comments from this YouTube discussion thread documents that a number of people of recent African ancestry (apart from the African Diaspora) live in nations outside of Africa.
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
This is a complete sub-thread* from the discussion thread of Davido's official YouTube video of the song "Aye".
The post indicates that there were a total of 118 responses to the initial comment. However, only 109 of those comments can be read in that sub-thread (as of July 14, 2017 5:40 PM). I've quoted all of those comments in this pancocojams post except for three cases of accidental [?] repeat posting of the same comment
I've added brief editorial comments after a few of these comments.
Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.
2016
1. thScopps94
"Which Countries are you all from ?"
**
Reply
2. JASMIN OMER
"I'm ethiopia. proud to be African."
**
Reply
3. Sibel Filiz
"Turkey"
**
Reply
4. Persona Non Grata
"+Sibel Filiz cameroon"
**
Reply
5. bulut yağmur
"+Scopps94 Turkey:)"
**
Reply
6. Martha Dung
"Canada"
**
Reply
7. TIJWAN HD
"nigeria/English"
**
Reply
8. Scopps94
"ethnically*"
**
Reply
9. Martha Dung
"*ethnically Nigerian."
**
Reply
10. Abel First-Quao
"+Scopps94 Both Ethiopian and Ghanaian."
**
Reply
11. Ruby M
"Tanzania"
**
Reply
12. Hannan Omar
"Kenya/Tanzania"
**
Reply
13. Rahma A
"Somalia"
**
Reply
14. Scopps94
"+Abel First-Quao awesome mix 😊"
**
Reply
15. Abel First-Quao
"+Scopps94 Why thank you! Much appreciated haha"
**
Reply
16. Hamza yazz
"+Scopps94 morroco ♥♥"
**
Reply
17. Carbon Queen
"Nigerian - English."
**
Reply
18. Carbon Queen
"+Tijani Gaming
I'm black British, too! 😄"
**
Reply
19. Rackk City
"Turkey :D"
**
Reply
20. Chylsie Dominique
"Guyana"
**
Reply
21. Youss Hassan
"Djibouti ;)"
**
Reply
22. ukia Stardoll
"Irish"
**
Reply
23. chris maloney
"Naija flowing everywhere....."
**
Reply
24. Scopps94
"I'm loving the diversity in listeners, it's soo inspiring for us naijas , more"
**
Reply
25. Stanley Dougé
"Haïti Quisqueya bohio land of high mountains pearl of the Antilles 💪"
**
Reply
26. Yacine
"algerian french 😉😉"
**
Reply
27. Cynthia Gyimah
"Ghana 🇬🇭"
**
Reply
28. KILL'N'STEAL [MINECRAFT]
"+Scopps94 Ukraine=)"
**
Reply
29. Naomi Oke
"+Scopps94 Nigeria"
**
Reply
30. Gunjee
"English born Cameroonian"
**
Reply
31. RachedTV
"+Scopps94 I'm Tunisian but i leave in France"
**
Reply
33. James Earnest
"I'm a Nigerian 😁 but in D.C. people think I'm from Ethiopian. so I was always dating Ethiopian girl 😁"
**
Reply
34. Jitta Kombey
"Born in England Sierra Leonean"
**
Reply
35. Shadira Obi Adeleke
"Nigeria🇳🇬❤️"
**
Reply
36. Empress Shae Tadesse
"Ithiopia living in Jamaica"
**
Reply
37. mandy marume
"+Scopps94 Zimbabwe"
**
Reply
38. solo ell dineroo.
"holland"
**
Reply
39. Matheus Ugoagwu
"Brazil"
**
Reply
40. Tempestt Brown
"United States"
**
Reply
41. ahmed noor
"I born in Brazil 🇧🇷🇧🇷 but my parents from Somalia"
**
Reply
42. Diana Betton
"United States, but my family is from Jamaica, and South Africa. My boyfriend is Yoruba."
**
Reply
43. Jubin Pun
"Singapore"
**
Reply
44. An0th3rSumm3r
"Angola"
**
Reply
45. TheMimaps
"Benin, anyone? :("
**
Reply
46. forever young
"Nigerian living in England"
**
Reply
47. forever young
"+Naomi Oke same here Yoruba"
**
Reply
48. Joshua Muwanguzi
"Denmark :)"
**
Reply
49. Joshua Muwanguzi
"+Joshua Muwanguzi My boyfriend and mom (from Uganda) in the picture."
**
Reply
50. Amedeo Ferrigno
"Italian-Nigerian but live in England tho💯💯"
**
Reply
51. S Maine
"Nigeria ans Senegal"
**
Reply
52. Aksum አክሱም ፣ ንግሥት
"+Scopps94 Ethiopia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
**
Reply
53. P Charminggg
"Nigerian and black american living in the United States"
**
Reply
54. Noella M
"Congo/Ivory Coast, living in France"
**
Reply
55. BlackMambaForReal
"+Scopps94 Guadeloupe"
**
Reply
56. Leïla G
"Côte d'Ivoire/ France"
**
Reply
57. Ellis Walraven
"+Scopps94 the signal just hit Jupiter last week, currently #1 in the charts on the planet and all moons!!"
-snip-
I've no idea what this comment means.
**
Reply
58. H. Rashid
"+Scopps94 SUDAN ~"
**
Reply
59. Dieyi
"+Scopps94 Senegal!"
**
Reply
60. Anthonia Orji
"Nigeria but I was born and raised in the US"
**
Reply
61. lydia daniel
"+halefom meki born in Uganda but raised in Australia"
**
Reply
62. chris maloney
"+Anthonia Orji hi there, how you doing today?"
**
Reply
63. 100yearsofsolitudful
"+Scopps94 Congo kinshasa"
**
Reply
64. RRSYS.info - Roulette Prediction
"+Scopps94 how come the always say or talk about ronaldo the football player ha, i love the tunes there so fresh, im from liverpool in the uk"
-snip-
This comment refers to a mention of the football (soccer) star Ronaldo in Davido's "Aye" song.
**
Reply
65. LanaDelNeigh
"Ghana :p"
**
Reply
66. Dalila Santos
"+Scopps94 Brazil"
**
Reply
67. RRSYS.info - Roulette Prediction
"Liverpool UK. England."
**
Reply
68. shesBlessed83
"🇿🇦🇳🇬"
**
Reply
69. Myth the sage
"+shesBlessed83 wtf is zang?"
**
Reply
70. Dneyaa Ross
"+Scopps94 Portugal"
**
Reply
71. Denise McKinley
"+Scopps94 United States :)"
**
Reply
72. Mbessang Amandine
"Cameroon"
**
Reply
73. Sadde 111
"+Manresans lleig KeviAmandine lleig Kevin"
**
Reply
74. nondumiso kheswa
"south africa"
**
Reply
75. Brenda Kabanda
"Uganda"
**
Reply
76. Melina Melunsche
"+Scopps94 Germany"
**
Reply
77. Maka Velli
"+Scopps94 Zamunda"
-snip-
"Zamuda" is the name of the fictional African nation in Eddie Murphy's American movie Coming To America.
**
Reply
78. Scopps94
"+Maka Velli -___-"
**
Reply
79. Bhagyashree Thakore
"+Scopps94 From the UK but I'm Indian :)"
**
Reply
80. bruce hillary
"Malaysia anyone?????????"
**
Reply
81. L K
"Ireland 🇮🇪🍀"
**
Reply
82. Bolanle Adisa
"+Aksum አክሱም ፣ ንግሥት you're actually everywhere!"
**
Reply
83. Sakina Dremeau
"+Scopps94 FRANCE ! <3"
**
Reply
84. Esther Tongo
"+Scopps94 Gabon"
**
Reply
85. arryyam
"Eritrean but live in Sweden"
**
Reply
86. Negro SD
"+injera your name 😂"
**
Reply
87. socachai
"+Scopps94 Trinidad"
**
Reply
88. Seren Dialllo
"The netherland but mine parents are from Guinea conakry"
**
Reply
89. AmihsorihSayan YT
"+Scopps94 ALGERIA !!"
**
Reply
90. Koyenyi Divine Okimela
"Canada, but my mother is from DRC✊"
-snip-
DRC = Democratic Republic Of The Congo (also known as Congo Kinshasa)
**
Reply
91. shanneyp1
"Panama(Central America), but my roots are from France, Jamaica and Barbados."
**
Reply
92. THE VICTOR
"Man you've created so much love here. You deserve an award. By the way, I'm Nigerian. #Igbo extract. I love everyone here."
**
Reply
93. Koyenyi Divine Okimela
"+PIANO MAN We are all brothers and sisters! I doesnt even matter in which contry we come from, we're a family <3"
**
Reply
94. Scopps94
"+PIANO MAN oh I was just interested, but it seems I've shed light to the diverse listeners we have 👍"
-snip-
It appears that there was a comment that is no longer showing from PIANO MAN asking why Scoopps94 requested this information.
**
Reply
95. Hani Hasabo
"Sudan"
**
Reply
96. Jumai Hariran
"+Scopps94 Nigeria!!"
**
Reply
97. Joel Kotto
"+Scopps94 Cameroon"
**
Reply
98. Lwando G
"South Africa"
**
Reply
99. Tebogo Bakgakgodi
"Botswana."
**
Reply
100. mr forty tower
"Africa"
**
Reply
101. THE VICTOR
"+mr forty tower we know you are AFRICAN, WHAT COUNTRY IN AFRICA? The 54?"
**
Reply
102. Jessica Malach
"Canada!"
**
Reply
103. Andrew Mutambara
"Zimbabwe"
**
Reply
104. Amal Ali
"Somalia"
**
Reply
105. Tracy Afriyie
"US but I'm Ghanaian🇬🇭🇬🇭"
**
Reply
106. Sarah F K
"Belle cote d Ivoire"
****
ADDENDUM- SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
Here are some additional comments from this video's discussion thread that include nations that aren't listed in the 2016 sub-thread started by thScopps94 which asked commenters about their nation/ethnicity.
Please accept my apologies if I missed any nations/ethnicities. Also, my apologies if I repeated nations that are already listed in that featured sub-thread.
(Numbers have been assigned for referencing purposes only.)
1. Oscar Augou, 2014
"You make proud to be part of this humble but powerfull culture of Western Africa.... Lagos Rocks Naija people, a brother from Ivory coast"
**
2. Rossy Pico, 2014
"I appreciate your two cheeks .. from Ecuador"
**
3. sadeck alnadif, 2014
"From Central African Republic, your music makes us forget the war we are livin. Thank you very much, keep it goin..."
**
4. Gerald Mwangi, 2015
"This is why Nigerian music stays winning. Love from Nairobi, Kenya people."
**
5. Amna269, 2015
"Nice African Video.I like it s tradtional and Modern. Beautiful Natural Queen ! Amna From Comores Islands."
**
6. Sambou Sissoko, 2016
"Africaine fier de être Mon Afriqe trad Mali davido welcom"
**
7. Adri A, 2016
"ONE LOVE FROM JAMAICA!!!!!"
**
8. BlessedByHim, 2016
"Much love from the country Honduras!!!"
**
9. Daniela Aguilar, 2016
"I'm from Colombia, Latin America, but I like this music, haha is so cool, pd: sorry for my bad English, I speak Spanish :)"
**
10. Freddy Mejia1, 2016
"Boricua obsessed with Davido 👌🏽"
-snip-
"Boricua" = Puerto Rico
**
11. doc riak, 2016
"i am south sudanese i love this song can anyone translate it for please"
**
12. Mar Angely :v, 2017
"The guy that I like has dedicated me, I'm from the Dominican Republic."
**
13. Safyah Khater, 2017
"Ayoub Wsafi me too . From Egypt , mother of the world , umm al dunia!"
-snip-
This was posted in response to a comment from Ayoub Wsafi who identified himself as from Morocco and then wrote "Proud to be Africain"
**
14. jestey cooper, 2017
"my all time favourite.. lots of love from Botswana"
**
15. Marta Tchemane, 2017
"Hi im from Moçambique! Can someone who understand translate it for me please! Ple"
**
16. Barbara Gomes, 2017
"Amaya Kongaku i'm from Cape Verde"
**
17. Davis Kayumba, 2017
"Amaya Kongaku Rwanda"
**
18. Margaret Hamutenya, 2017
"Namibia"
**
19. Laurish, 2017
"I absolutly love this song. much love from angola"
**
20. Tamera Tarwoe, 2017
"proud Liberian-Ivorian American"
**
21. Abeme Elá, 2017
"Canary islands stolen islands from motherland"
**
22. Emily bn, 2017
"Nancy Moraa equatorial Guinea"
**
23. Vincypearl, 2017
"I'm proud to be Afro-Caribbean 😊"
**
24. Pedro Luis asumu Obama nchama, 2017
"it doesn't matter witch country, am just African."
**
25. Tiffany Rixton, 2017
"DR Congo, Malawi and Mozambique"
**
26. Ali Torres, 2016
"im inlove with this song <3 hello from Belize"
-snip-
Added to this post 7/15/2017
****
I also believe that I read a comment in Davido's official YouTube "Aye" video's discussion thread from someone from South Korea, from someone from China, and from someone from Russia. But I can't find those comments now.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This pancocojams post documents the pan-African and global reach of YouTube contemporary African music videos as demonstrated by commenters indicating their nation and/or ethnicity in the YouTube discussion thread for Nigerian Afrobeat star Davido's official video for his 2014 Afrobeat hit song "Aye".
The content of this post is presented for cultural and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Davido for his musical legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/10/davido-aye-nigerian-afro-beat-video.html for information about Davido and for song lyrics for "Aye" as well as some explanations about those lyrics.
Also, click the Davido Aye video tag that is found below for more information and comments about this Afrobeat song and about other subjects that relate to this song and video.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Aye - Davido (Official Music Video)
DMW HQ, Published on Feb 7, 2014
...HKN Music presents the official music video of Aye, Davido's fourth single off his forthcoming sophomore album. Directed by Clarence Peters, the video is shot in a rural setting and tells a tale of love between different classes.
Davido plays a poor farmer who falls in love with the prince's love interest. Aye shows Davido at his best, showing raw talent in a different direction, cultural, and entirely refreshing.....
-snip-
Statistics [as of 7/14/ 2017 5:40 PM]
total views: 40,573,802
likes: 97,054; dislikes: 5,768
total # of comments: 5,437
****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
Almost every discussion thread of YouTube Afrobeats music videos includes viewer commenters giving their nation of origin and/other affiliations such as their ethnic group.
This pancocojams post features a sub-thread and other selected comments from the official YouTube video of Nigerian Afrobeat star Davido's 2014 hit song "Aye" demonstrates how fans of Nigerian Afrobeat star Davido include people from numerous African nations and from many other nations throughout the world.
Among other points, these comments from this YouTube discussion thread documents that a number of people of recent African ancestry (apart from the African Diaspora) live in nations outside of Africa.
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
This is a complete sub-thread* from the discussion thread of Davido's official YouTube video of the song "Aye".
The post indicates that there were a total of 118 responses to the initial comment. However, only 109 of those comments can be read in that sub-thread (as of July 14, 2017 5:40 PM). I've quoted all of those comments in this pancocojams post except for three cases of accidental [?] repeat posting of the same comment
I've added brief editorial comments after a few of these comments.
Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.
2016
1. thScopps94
"Which Countries are you all from ?"
**
Reply
2. JASMIN OMER
"I'm ethiopia. proud to be African."
**
Reply
3. Sibel Filiz
"Turkey"
**
Reply
4. Persona Non Grata
"+Sibel Filiz cameroon"
**
Reply
5. bulut yağmur
"+Scopps94 Turkey:)"
**
Reply
6. Martha Dung
"Canada"
**
Reply
7. TIJWAN HD
"nigeria/English"
**
Reply
8. Scopps94
"ethnically*"
**
Reply
9. Martha Dung
"*ethnically Nigerian."
**
Reply
10. Abel First-Quao
"+Scopps94 Both Ethiopian and Ghanaian."
**
Reply
11. Ruby M
"Tanzania"
**
Reply
12. Hannan Omar
"Kenya/Tanzania"
**
Reply
13. Rahma A
"Somalia"
**
Reply
14. Scopps94
"+Abel First-Quao awesome mix 😊"
**
Reply
15. Abel First-Quao
"+Scopps94 Why thank you! Much appreciated haha"
**
Reply
16. Hamza yazz
"+Scopps94 morroco ♥♥"
**
Reply
17. Carbon Queen
"Nigerian - English."
**
Reply
18. Carbon Queen
"+Tijani Gaming
I'm black British, too! 😄"
**
Reply
19. Rackk City
"Turkey :D"
**
Reply
20. Chylsie Dominique
"Guyana"
**
Reply
21. Youss Hassan
"Djibouti ;)"
**
Reply
22. ukia Stardoll
"Irish"
**
Reply
23. chris maloney
"Naija flowing everywhere....."
**
Reply
24. Scopps94
"I'm loving the diversity in listeners, it's soo inspiring for us naijas , more"
**
Reply
25. Stanley Dougé
"Haïti Quisqueya bohio land of high mountains pearl of the Antilles 💪"
**
Reply
26. Yacine
"algerian french 😉😉"
**
Reply
27. Cynthia Gyimah
"Ghana 🇬🇭"
**
Reply
28. KILL'N'STEAL [MINECRAFT]
"+Scopps94 Ukraine=)"
**
Reply
29. Naomi Oke
"+Scopps94 Nigeria"
**
Reply
30. Gunjee
"English born Cameroonian"
**
Reply
31. RachedTV
"+Scopps94 I'm Tunisian but i leave in France"
**
Reply
33. James Earnest
"I'm a Nigerian 😁 but in D.C. people think I'm from Ethiopian. so I was always dating Ethiopian girl 😁"
**
Reply
34. Jitta Kombey
"Born in England Sierra Leonean"
**
Reply
35. Shadira Obi Adeleke
"Nigeria🇳🇬❤️"
**
Reply
36. Empress Shae Tadesse
"Ithiopia living in Jamaica"
**
Reply
37. mandy marume
"+Scopps94 Zimbabwe"
**
Reply
38. solo ell dineroo.
"holland"
**
Reply
39. Matheus Ugoagwu
"Brazil"
**
Reply
40. Tempestt Brown
"United States"
**
Reply
41. ahmed noor
"I born in Brazil 🇧🇷🇧🇷 but my parents from Somalia"
**
Reply
42. Diana Betton
"United States, but my family is from Jamaica, and South Africa. My boyfriend is Yoruba."
**
Reply
43. Jubin Pun
"Singapore"
**
Reply
44. An0th3rSumm3r
"Angola"
**
Reply
45. TheMimaps
"Benin, anyone? :("
**
Reply
46. forever young
"Nigerian living in England"
**
Reply
47. forever young
"+Naomi Oke same here Yoruba"
**
Reply
48. Joshua Muwanguzi
"Denmark :)"
**
Reply
49. Joshua Muwanguzi
"+Joshua Muwanguzi My boyfriend and mom (from Uganda) in the picture."
**
Reply
50. Amedeo Ferrigno
"Italian-Nigerian but live in England tho💯💯"
**
Reply
51. S Maine
"Nigeria ans Senegal"
**
Reply
52. Aksum አክሱም ፣ ንግሥት
"+Scopps94 Ethiopia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
**
Reply
53. P Charminggg
"Nigerian and black american living in the United States"
**
Reply
54. Noella M
"Congo/Ivory Coast, living in France"
**
Reply
55. BlackMambaForReal
"+Scopps94 Guadeloupe"
**
Reply
56. Leïla G
"Côte d'Ivoire/ France"
**
Reply
57. Ellis Walraven
"+Scopps94 the signal just hit Jupiter last week, currently #1 in the charts on the planet and all moons!!"
-snip-
I've no idea what this comment means.
**
Reply
58. H. Rashid
"+Scopps94 SUDAN ~"
**
Reply
59. Dieyi
"+Scopps94 Senegal!"
**
Reply
60. Anthonia Orji
"Nigeria but I was born and raised in the US"
**
Reply
61. lydia daniel
"+halefom meki born in Uganda but raised in Australia"
**
Reply
62. chris maloney
"+Anthonia Orji hi there, how you doing today?"
**
Reply
63. 100yearsofsolitudful
"+Scopps94 Congo kinshasa"
**
Reply
64. RRSYS.info - Roulette Prediction
"+Scopps94 how come the always say or talk about ronaldo the football player ha, i love the tunes there so fresh, im from liverpool in the uk"
-snip-
This comment refers to a mention of the football (soccer) star Ronaldo in Davido's "Aye" song.
**
Reply
65. LanaDelNeigh
"Ghana :p"
**
Reply
66. Dalila Santos
"+Scopps94 Brazil"
**
Reply
67. RRSYS.info - Roulette Prediction
"Liverpool UK. England."
**
Reply
68. shesBlessed83
"🇿🇦🇳🇬"
**
Reply
69. Myth the sage
"+shesBlessed83 wtf is zang?"
**
Reply
70. Dneyaa Ross
"+Scopps94 Portugal"
**
Reply
71. Denise McKinley
"+Scopps94 United States :)"
**
Reply
72. Mbessang Amandine
"Cameroon"
**
Reply
73. Sadde 111
"+Manresans lleig KeviAmandine lleig Kevin"
**
Reply
74. nondumiso kheswa
"south africa"
**
Reply
75. Brenda Kabanda
"Uganda"
**
Reply
76. Melina Melunsche
"+Scopps94 Germany"
**
Reply
77. Maka Velli
"+Scopps94 Zamunda"
-snip-
"Zamuda" is the name of the fictional African nation in Eddie Murphy's American movie Coming To America.
**
Reply
78. Scopps94
"+Maka Velli -___-"
**
Reply
79. Bhagyashree Thakore
"+Scopps94 From the UK but I'm Indian :)"
**
Reply
80. bruce hillary
"Malaysia anyone?????????"
**
Reply
81. L K
"Ireland 🇮🇪🍀"
**
Reply
82. Bolanle Adisa
"+Aksum አክሱም ፣ ንግሥት you're actually everywhere!"
**
Reply
83. Sakina Dremeau
"+Scopps94 FRANCE ! <3"
**
Reply
84. Esther Tongo
"+Scopps94 Gabon"
**
Reply
85. arryyam
"Eritrean but live in Sweden"
**
Reply
86. Negro SD
"+injera your name 😂"
**
Reply
87. socachai
"+Scopps94 Trinidad"
**
Reply
88. Seren Dialllo
"The netherland but mine parents are from Guinea conakry"
**
Reply
89. AmihsorihSayan YT
"+Scopps94 ALGERIA !!"
**
Reply
90. Koyenyi Divine Okimela
"Canada, but my mother is from DRC✊"
-snip-
DRC = Democratic Republic Of The Congo (also known as Congo Kinshasa)
**
Reply
91. shanneyp1
"Panama(Central America), but my roots are from France, Jamaica and Barbados."
**
Reply
92. THE VICTOR
"Man you've created so much love here. You deserve an award. By the way, I'm Nigerian. #Igbo extract. I love everyone here."
**
Reply
93. Koyenyi Divine Okimela
"+PIANO MAN We are all brothers and sisters! I doesnt even matter in which contry we come from, we're a family <3"
**
Reply
94. Scopps94
"+PIANO MAN oh I was just interested, but it seems I've shed light to the diverse listeners we have 👍"
-snip-
It appears that there was a comment that is no longer showing from PIANO MAN asking why Scoopps94 requested this information.
**
Reply
95. Hani Hasabo
"Sudan"
**
Reply
96. Jumai Hariran
"+Scopps94 Nigeria!!"
**
Reply
97. Joel Kotto
"+Scopps94 Cameroon"
**
Reply
98. Lwando G
"South Africa"
**
Reply
99. Tebogo Bakgakgodi
"Botswana."
**
Reply
100. mr forty tower
"Africa"
**
Reply
101. THE VICTOR
"+mr forty tower we know you are AFRICAN, WHAT COUNTRY IN AFRICA? The 54?"
**
Reply
102. Jessica Malach
"Canada!"
**
Reply
103. Andrew Mutambara
"Zimbabwe"
**
Reply
104. Amal Ali
"Somalia"
**
Reply
105. Tracy Afriyie
"US but I'm Ghanaian🇬🇭🇬🇭"
**
Reply
106. Sarah F K
"Belle cote d Ivoire"
****
ADDENDUM- SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
Here are some additional comments from this video's discussion thread that include nations that aren't listed in the 2016 sub-thread started by thScopps94 which asked commenters about their nation/ethnicity.
Please accept my apologies if I missed any nations/ethnicities. Also, my apologies if I repeated nations that are already listed in that featured sub-thread.
(Numbers have been assigned for referencing purposes only.)
1. Oscar Augou, 2014
"You make proud to be part of this humble but powerfull culture of Western Africa.... Lagos Rocks Naija people, a brother from Ivory coast"
**
2. Rossy Pico, 2014
"I appreciate your two cheeks .. from Ecuador"
**
3. sadeck alnadif, 2014
"From Central African Republic, your music makes us forget the war we are livin. Thank you very much, keep it goin..."
**
4. Gerald Mwangi, 2015
"This is why Nigerian music stays winning. Love from Nairobi, Kenya people."
**
5. Amna269, 2015
"Nice African Video.I like it s tradtional and Modern. Beautiful Natural Queen ! Amna From Comores Islands."
**
6. Sambou Sissoko, 2016
"Africaine fier de être Mon Afriqe trad Mali davido welcom"
**
7. Adri A, 2016
"ONE LOVE FROM JAMAICA!!!!!"
**
8. BlessedByHim, 2016
"Much love from the country Honduras!!!"
**
9. Daniela Aguilar, 2016
"I'm from Colombia, Latin America, but I like this music, haha is so cool, pd: sorry for my bad English, I speak Spanish :)"
**
10. Freddy Mejia1, 2016
"Boricua obsessed with Davido 👌🏽"
-snip-
"Boricua" = Puerto Rico
**
11. doc riak, 2016
"i am south sudanese i love this song can anyone translate it for please"
**
12. Mar Angely :v, 2017
"The guy that I like has dedicated me, I'm from the Dominican Republic."
**
13. Safyah Khater, 2017
"Ayoub Wsafi me too . From Egypt , mother of the world , umm al dunia!"
-snip-
This was posted in response to a comment from Ayoub Wsafi who identified himself as from Morocco and then wrote "Proud to be Africain"
**
14. jestey cooper, 2017
"my all time favourite.. lots of love from Botswana"
**
15. Marta Tchemane, 2017
"Hi im from Moçambique! Can someone who understand translate it for me please! Ple"
**
16. Barbara Gomes, 2017
"Amaya Kongaku i'm from Cape Verde"
**
17. Davis Kayumba, 2017
"Amaya Kongaku Rwanda"
**
18. Margaret Hamutenya, 2017
"Namibia"
**
19. Laurish, 2017
"I absolutly love this song. much love from angola"
**
20. Tamera Tarwoe, 2017
"proud Liberian-Ivorian American"
**
21. Abeme Elá, 2017
"Canary islands stolen islands from motherland"
**
22. Emily bn, 2017
"Nancy Moraa equatorial Guinea"
**
23. Vincypearl, 2017
"I'm proud to be Afro-Caribbean 😊"
**
24. Pedro Luis asumu Obama nchama, 2017
"it doesn't matter witch country, am just African."
**
25. Tiffany Rixton, 2017
"DR Congo, Malawi and Mozambique"
**
26. Ali Torres, 2016
"im inlove with this song <3 hello from Belize"
-snip-
Added to this post 7/15/2017
****
I also believe that I read a comment in Davido's official YouTube "Aye" video's discussion thread from someone from South Korea, from someone from China, and from someone from Russia. But I can't find those comments now.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Africans' Use Of African American Vernacular English Terms In The Discussion Thread Of Skales' "Shake Body" Official YouTube Video (Part II: L-Z)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II in a two part post that documents the use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) originated words and phrases by African commenters and others in the YouTube discussion thread for Nigerian singer Skales' "Shake Body" official video.
Pancocojams' linguistics posts document and consider the ways that African American Vernacular English, Caribbean Patois, African Pidgin English, and other Pidgin languages have been used and are now being used. As is the case with some other pancocojams linguistic posts, the post in this series document how Africans and others are combining slang (vernacular words & phrases) from African traditional languages, African Pidgin English languages, African American Vernacular English, British slang, Arabic adapted French slang and probably other language sources.
This particular two part series raises questions about possible changes and innovations in the use of African American Vernacular English by Africans, specifically in regards to the use of qualifiers for adjectives such as "cool", and "dope".
Part II provides comments from that discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English words/phrases beginning with the letter L - Z.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/africans-use-of-african-american.html for Part I of this series. That post provides comments from that discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English words/phrases beginning with the letter A - K.
The content of this post is presented for linguistic, cultural, and folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Skales for his music and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: SKALES - SHAKE BODY (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Skales Published on Jul 22, 2014
Official music video to the worldwide certified hit, 'Shake Body' by SKALES.
-snip-
This video is embedded for referencing purposes only. A considerable number of commenters on this video's discussion thread vehemently praised this song while negatively critiquing its video.
****
AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH IN THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR SKALES'S SHAKE BODY (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
These African American Vernacular English word/phrase entries are given in bold font and in capitol letters followed by a brief definition. To highlight the fact that many of these slang definitions mean the same thing, I've used basically the same definition for those particular entries.
A number of vernacular terms have more than one colloquial meaning. This compilation only gives the meaning that I think is intended by the commenters.
The selected comments are from this 2014 Nigerian/Ivory Coast Afrobeat video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qoUU4onORY Skales- "Body Shake". That discussion thread was selected for this post instead of another one only because that was the discussion thread that I was reading when the idea occurred to me for this post. However, the wide use of African American Vernacular English terms/phrases also occurs in other Afrobeat and other contemporary African music YouTube discussion threads that I have read since at least 2014.
The comments from this discussion thread are given under those entries in chronological order by year, with the oldest dated selected comment presented first.
The featured slang words/phrases are written in italics when they are part of a long comment. Additions and corrections for these definitions are very welcome.
Each comment is given only once in this compilation although certain comments include more than one AAVE word/phrases. In those cases, I've referred readers back to the entry for the first vernacular word that is used in that comment.
There were a total number of 1,514 comments as of the date and time of this publication*. This compilation showcases selected examples of comments that include African American Vernacular English [AAVE} terms and phrases. I didn't puropsely include comments that may include examples of certain forms of 19th century and contemporary AAVE spelling such as "dis" because that spelling is also found in contemporary Nigerian Pidgin English and Jamaican Patois etc.
Although I read the entire discussion thread, I might have missed some examples. While these comments are described as being "selected", I've included a large number of the comments from that Skales' "Shake Body" discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English terms/phrases. I purposely excluded certain omments that had a lot of profanity or used what I call the "n word". I also usually purposely excluded one word comments such as "cool" or "dope" except for one example of each of those types of comments.
-snip-
*I'm not sure how often YouTube updates their statistics, but as of March 23, 2017 at 7:25 AM when I began to work on Part II for this series, the same number of comments (1, 514) was given for this video and the total viewer count was 12,547,332. I believe that was the same number that was given when I published this post on March 22, 2017.
-snip-
*I'm not sure how often YouTube updates their statistics, but as of March 23, 2017 at 7:25 AM when I began to work on Part II for this series, the same number of comments (1,514) was given for this video and the total viewer count was 12,547,332. I believe that was the same number that was given when I published Part I on March 22, 2017.
****
PART II
LAME
adjective; not good; the opposite of something that is (or someone who is) "killin it"; the opposite of something or someone who is "hot", "the bomb", etc. (This vernacular meaning of "lame" is the same as the vernacular meaning of the word "weak" given below.)
Victoria Oppong, 2016
"i like it but it is lame"
-snip-
Judging from many other comments in the discussion thread for Skales' "Shake Body" official video, the first "it" probably refers to the song and the second “it” probably refers to the video.
****
LIT
adjective; very exciting, very stimulating; something that is great, wonderful, awesome; (This word is part of the African American Vernacular English "fire/hot" vernacular family).
Mike Jean-philippe, 2017
"I've been searching for this song for ages and I just now found it. Me and my dumb self finally decided to listen to the words and turns out he says "shake body" which led me here. Nigerian Music is lit though!
**
(The following comment is a reply to the questions "Where is Skales (the artist who sung this song) from and what type of music is it?"
Lady Charla, 2017
"Christi B. its from ivory coast ..music style coupe decale...look up ...mokonzi dj...ivory coast music is lit too"
**
andrea pickron, 2017
"this song lit🔥🔥🔥"
-snip-
Notice the flame pictorial icons at the end of this comment reinforcing the fact that "lit" means flames/fire. Flames are also found at the end of other comments such as the one for "murdered" and one for "sh&t" below.
****
MURDERED [THE MURDERER]
verb; vanquished all his or her competitors; did an excellent job (excelled in what he or she was doing; "Murdered" has the same vernacular meaning as "killed it"; "slayed").
Sweetness, 2017
"Much love from South Sudan 🇸🇸 Skales Murdered this beat 🔥🔥🔥🙌"
-snip-
"Much love" (and "much respect") are vernacular phrases that probably originated in Jamaica.
**
oe khaled, 2016
"skales the murderer
***
NICE [NYC]*
adjective; very good
-snip-
*I'm not sure that this vernacular use of the word "nice" originated in or is even used by African Americans. However, I wanted to document this usage for the folkloric record.
I kept reading "nyc" in a number of YouTube discussion threads for Afrobeat music and finally figured out that the letters "nyc" in West African music and dance discussion threads usually didn't mean "New York City" but were instead a [West African originated?] vernacular way of spelling the word "nice" (meaning something is "very good").
Grace Mauya, 2015
"waoooo!!!!itz nyc....mwaaaahaa i lyk it"
-snip-
Waoooo!!!!! It's nice...mwaaahaa I like it".
**
Nabou Sarr, 2015
"niceuh song much love from senegal"
-snip-
"niceuh" = "nice one"
-snip-
Another example of the use of "nice" is given in the comment below in the entry for "Rocked".
****
REPRESENT [REPRESENTING; REPPIN']
verb, publicly serves as a positive example of a particular entity (nation, race, community, music genre, cause, etc); publicly stands up for a nation, race, community, music genre, cause. etc
The Sally Manuel, 2015
"Yesss reppin Eritrea too! :)"
**
John Kinyanjui, 2016
"Kenya representing.. Big up!"
-snip-
I believe that “Big Up" originated in Jamaica, but it is also appears to be widely found in many West African Afrobeat music/dance YouTube videos.
**
ROCK [SOMETHING]
verb; heavily play [a particular record]
blessing james James, 2015
"Nice song from Skales..we rock this song here in Asia club..."
****
SELLOUT
noun; definition from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selling_out
"Selling out" is a common idiomatic pejorative expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles in exchange for personal gain, such as money.[1] In terms of music or art, selling out is associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream or commercial audience; for example, a musician who alters his material to encompass a wider audience, and in turn generates greater revenue, may be labeled by fans who pre-date the change as a "sellout."
-snip-
The comment by oke eva, 2014 in the entry for "dope" in Part I includes the word "sellout".
****
SHADY [definition "a"
adjective; a deceitful person
SHADY definition [b]
a person who "throws shade" (i.e. insults someone else in a sly and/or clever/witty manner)
[I'm not sure which definition is intended for this particular example:]
PE Cornal, 2015
"+iBeautyiStyle Please explain to me how I'm shady if I just PRAISED the Nigerian culture?Amuse me please."
****
SH&T*
noun, something that is the best at something (or someone who is) the best (The vernacular use of the word "sh&t" may have developed as an opposite word play the same way that the African American Vernacular English meaning of the word "bad" is "very good" developed. (And/or) perhaps this meaning developed because "sh&t" constitutes the "nitty gritty", pure essence of life. After all, "sh&t" helps plants grow and flourish).
The word "sh&t" is fully spelled out in all of the following comments.
CASHBUZZ, 2014
"Round of applause... sh&t dopeee"
-snip-
Part I of this series includes a vernacular definition of "dope" and comment examples from this featured video's discussion thread.
**
TdotJohn, 2014
toronto sending love sh&ts fire
-snip_
Part I includes a definition of and comment examples of the vernacular term "fire".
**
Fredo416, 2014
This sh&t a banger frfr 🔥🔥🔥
-snip-
"Frfr" probably means "for real for real" [which is an African American Vernacular English phrase meaning "reallY", without any doubt.
Notice the pictorial flame icons which signify that the song is hot.
"Banger" is a British originated slang word. In the context of this comment, "banger" means a hot, explosive song (a hit record).
Here's information about the word "banger" from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/banger indicates that "banger" is a word that originated in Britain. Here's the relevant definition from that page: "banger" - "a type of firework that explodes loudly"
King james, 2015
"bedu !!! You know you need a big ass to dance to this sh&t !! lol"
Luciddreamer333, 2015
This sh&t FIYAH!!FOR REAL this coming from a African American guy.and the woman in here! :-/ Uhhhhh!! Damn
Well i guess its not coincidence i love it, of course the roots, the spirit of Africa is in my Dna!
-snip-
The word "sh&t" is also colloquially given as "ish" as in Eniola ade's 2014 comment that is given in Part I under the entry for the word "cool".
**
SN M1, 2017
"My shiiiiiiit!!!! 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽"
-snip-
"My shiiiiiit" means that this song is really "my jam" [or in Jamaican Patois, "This is my chuneeeee". Another Jamaican Patois example is "Tuneeee!"]
**
heavy duty Henry, 2017
"this sh&t is my jam."
-snip-
Part I includes a definition of and comment examples of the vernacular word "jam".
****
SICK
adjective; a very complimentary descriptor of something that is (or someone who is) great, wonderful, awesome [in the context of urban cultures], "The bomb" is one synonym for "sick".
Read the definition for "bumpin" in Part I of this series. A sick beat is one that is really bumpin. A musician who performs a really sick beat is said to be "killin it".
It seems to me that "The beat is sick" implies that it is very written or performed very well. Therefore, you don't have to add qualifiers such as "The beat is really sick" or "The beat is very sick". On YouTube comment threads and elsewhere in order to really emphasize that point, a person might add vowels to extend that word- for example "The beat was siiiiick" or "That dance was dooooope".
**
Augustine Flahn, 2014
"Sick"
**
Osberg, 2014
"sick beatz"
-snip-
Using a "z" in place of a "s" is considered a "hip" way of spelling words.
**
TheAisha2287, 2014
"Love the music but I can't watch the video. It's hurting my eyes...anyways the beat is sick though
-snip-
What is the "in" contemporary way of saying "hip" [being up to date with the latest urban cultures]? I think "fly" is no longer used [by African Americans], but I'm not sure about that.
**
Jaynette Ak, 2014
"The beat is so sick"
**
fanny Wilson, 2015
"Great music but the dacing is not good enough. i believe the music would have so sick plus!!!! if the dancing was also as good as the music. good job still
**
khairiya wazir, 2015
"This song is yaga even when u say u won't dance u must dance to this sick beat
-snip-
I don't know what language "yaga" is from and what that word means.
**
Bryan Alister, 2016
Sick... Mad Mi Boss. Sounds Good.
-snip-
I'm not sure what "mad mi" means in the context of this comment. Two vernacular definition for "boss" and examples of that vernacular term are given in Part I of this pancocojams series.
**
Makeya Makeya, 2016
"so sick I never get tired watching of this song & lovely dance
from Ethiopia">
-snip-
I think that the commenter means:
This song is so sick (i.e. very good]. I never get tired of wathing the video of this song and its lovely dance.
****
SISTA
noun; a referent for a person's female sibling, or a referent used by females or males for females who share certain experiences (such as being from the same nation, community, neighborhood, race, ethnic group and/or who are part of the same social scene, or promote the same cause/s); calling a female "sista" (sister) means that you are acknowledging your kinship with her
Mariama Bangura, 2015
"THX MY SISTA!"
-snip-
"Thx" = thanks
In contrast to a number of comments in this post that included the word "bro", this is the only comment that I found in that discussion thread in which someone referred to another commenter as my sista [sister].
****
SHOUT OUT [SHOUTOUT]
Michael shuffler, 2015
"Shoutout to DJ-AMIN, best African DJ in Chin.a
Hills D1 year ago
Yassss. Shoutout to all my Cameroonians 😍
-snip-
"Yass" is a relatively new [early 2000s?] vernacular way of spelling "yes". I'm not sure where this custom came from.
****
SMOKIN’
adjective, [in the context of this discussion thread]. refers to something that is performed really well; something that is hot (the bomb, on fire etc).
Donna Star, 2016
"This song is smokin!
****
TURN UP/ TURNT UP
verbal phrase; in the context of this discussion thread, this is a command that people get more excited [turn up the volume of their excitement]; "Getting crunk" is a synonym for "getting wild, but it also means to let go of your inhibitions and be more authentically yourself
toni manning, 2015
Aaayyyyyyye!!!!! Turn up..😄!!
-snip-
This comment may be a call for people to "turn up" or it may be a description of people (or the commenter) being turned up.
****
TURNED UP [TURNT UP]
adjective. a description of people who are very excited by/at a music scene or some other social event; a synonym for people who are "crunked"; turnt (crazy, wild, drunk), and/or people who are free of their inhibitions and more authentically themselves
Remi S, 2016
"Turned the hell up"
-snip-
This comment might describe a scene where people are "turnt up" or where the commenter was "turned up".
It also may be a call to for peopl"turn up"definition "a"].
****
WEAK
adjective; [in the context of this discussion thread, a description of something that is the opposite of "the bomb", the same meaning as "lame"
dbreeze ronkaku, 2014
"I live skales but this is weak...+ dude d french verse sounds like xcellente's rhyme....#youcandomore
-snip-
"I live" is probably a typo for "I like".
****
WICKED
adjective; in the context of this discussion thread, something that is very good, exciting, stimulating, "the bomb"
renea brown, 2014
"omg this song plus the beat is wicked!!! JAMAICA
-snip-
The Internet phrase "omg" is often actually pronounced "oh m gee". "Jamaica" at the end of that comment may mean that the commenter is from Jamaica.
****
[revised March 31, 2017]
YO
a vernacular word that since at least the 1970s is usually associated with African American Hip Hop culture; In the title of the American Hip Hop television music video series Yo! MTV rap; the word "yo" is used as an exclamation whose meaning is similar to "Hey!".
"Yo" used at the end of a sentence, might mean "man" or "dude" or might just be a place marker that connotes "hipness" and African American Hip Hop urban culture but has no literal meaning.
Example He was killin it yo.]
-snip-
In the context of this compilation, "yo" isn't the same as the African American Vernacular English "yo'" as a form of the word "your".
Example - Yo mama [Common insult phrase or beginning of an insult in the Dozens.]
****
This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part II in a two part post that documents the use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) originated words and phrases by African commenters and others in the YouTube discussion thread for Nigerian singer Skales' "Shake Body" official video.
Pancocojams' linguistics posts document and consider the ways that African American Vernacular English, Caribbean Patois, African Pidgin English, and other Pidgin languages have been used and are now being used. As is the case with some other pancocojams linguistic posts, the post in this series document how Africans and others are combining slang (vernacular words & phrases) from African traditional languages, African Pidgin English languages, African American Vernacular English, British slang, Arabic adapted French slang and probably other language sources.
This particular two part series raises questions about possible changes and innovations in the use of African American Vernacular English by Africans, specifically in regards to the use of qualifiers for adjectives such as "cool", and "dope".
Part II provides comments from that discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English words/phrases beginning with the letter L - Z.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/africans-use-of-african-american.html for Part I of this series. That post provides comments from that discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English words/phrases beginning with the letter A - K.
The content of this post is presented for linguistic, cultural, and folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Skales for his music and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: SKALES - SHAKE BODY (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Skales Published on Jul 22, 2014
Official music video to the worldwide certified hit, 'Shake Body' by SKALES.
-snip-
This video is embedded for referencing purposes only. A considerable number of commenters on this video's discussion thread vehemently praised this song while negatively critiquing its video.
****
AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH IN THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR SKALES'S SHAKE BODY (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
These African American Vernacular English word/phrase entries are given in bold font and in capitol letters followed by a brief definition. To highlight the fact that many of these slang definitions mean the same thing, I've used basically the same definition for those particular entries.
A number of vernacular terms have more than one colloquial meaning. This compilation only gives the meaning that I think is intended by the commenters.
The selected comments are from this 2014 Nigerian/Ivory Coast Afrobeat video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qoUU4onORY Skales- "Body Shake". That discussion thread was selected for this post instead of another one only because that was the discussion thread that I was reading when the idea occurred to me for this post. However, the wide use of African American Vernacular English terms/phrases also occurs in other Afrobeat and other contemporary African music YouTube discussion threads that I have read since at least 2014.
The comments from this discussion thread are given under those entries in chronological order by year, with the oldest dated selected comment presented first.
The featured slang words/phrases are written in italics when they are part of a long comment. Additions and corrections for these definitions are very welcome.
Each comment is given only once in this compilation although certain comments include more than one AAVE word/phrases. In those cases, I've referred readers back to the entry for the first vernacular word that is used in that comment.
There were a total number of 1,514 comments as of the date and time of this publication*. This compilation showcases selected examples of comments that include African American Vernacular English [AAVE} terms and phrases. I didn't puropsely include comments that may include examples of certain forms of 19th century and contemporary AAVE spelling such as "dis" because that spelling is also found in contemporary Nigerian Pidgin English and Jamaican Patois etc.
Although I read the entire discussion thread, I might have missed some examples. While these comments are described as being "selected", I've included a large number of the comments from that Skales' "Shake Body" discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English terms/phrases. I purposely excluded certain omments that had a lot of profanity or used what I call the "n word". I also usually purposely excluded one word comments such as "cool" or "dope" except for one example of each of those types of comments.
-snip-
*I'm not sure how often YouTube updates their statistics, but as of March 23, 2017 at 7:25 AM when I began to work on Part II for this series, the same number of comments (1, 514) was given for this video and the total viewer count was 12,547,332. I believe that was the same number that was given when I published this post on March 22, 2017.
-snip-
*I'm not sure how often YouTube updates their statistics, but as of March 23, 2017 at 7:25 AM when I began to work on Part II for this series, the same number of comments (1,514) was given for this video and the total viewer count was 12,547,332. I believe that was the same number that was given when I published Part I on March 22, 2017.
****
PART II
LAME
adjective; not good; the opposite of something that is (or someone who is) "killin it"; the opposite of something or someone who is "hot", "the bomb", etc. (This vernacular meaning of "lame" is the same as the vernacular meaning of the word "weak" given below.)
Victoria Oppong, 2016
"i like it but it is lame"
-snip-
Judging from many other comments in the discussion thread for Skales' "Shake Body" official video, the first "it" probably refers to the song and the second “it” probably refers to the video.
****
LIT
adjective; very exciting, very stimulating; something that is great, wonderful, awesome; (This word is part of the African American Vernacular English "fire/hot" vernacular family).
Mike Jean-philippe, 2017
"I've been searching for this song for ages and I just now found it. Me and my dumb self finally decided to listen to the words and turns out he says "shake body" which led me here. Nigerian Music is lit though!
**
(The following comment is a reply to the questions "Where is Skales (the artist who sung this song) from and what type of music is it?"
Lady Charla, 2017
"Christi B. its from ivory coast ..music style coupe decale...look up ...mokonzi dj...ivory coast music is lit too"
**
andrea pickron, 2017
"this song lit🔥🔥🔥"
-snip-
Notice the flame pictorial icons at the end of this comment reinforcing the fact that "lit" means flames/fire. Flames are also found at the end of other comments such as the one for "murdered" and one for "sh&t" below.
****
MURDERED [THE MURDERER]
verb; vanquished all his or her competitors; did an excellent job (excelled in what he or she was doing; "Murdered" has the same vernacular meaning as "killed it"; "slayed").
Sweetness, 2017
"Much love from South Sudan 🇸🇸 Skales Murdered this beat 🔥🔥🔥🙌"
-snip-
"Much love" (and "much respect") are vernacular phrases that probably originated in Jamaica.
**
oe khaled, 2016
"skales the murderer
***
NICE [NYC]*
adjective; very good
-snip-
*I'm not sure that this vernacular use of the word "nice" originated in or is even used by African Americans. However, I wanted to document this usage for the folkloric record.
I kept reading "nyc" in a number of YouTube discussion threads for Afrobeat music and finally figured out that the letters "nyc" in West African music and dance discussion threads usually didn't mean "New York City" but were instead a [West African originated?] vernacular way of spelling the word "nice" (meaning something is "very good").
Grace Mauya, 2015
"waoooo!!!!itz nyc....mwaaaahaa i lyk it"
-snip-
Waoooo!!!!! It's nice...mwaaahaa I like it".
**
Nabou Sarr, 2015
"niceuh song much love from senegal"
-snip-
"niceuh" = "nice one"
-snip-
Another example of the use of "nice" is given in the comment below in the entry for "Rocked".
****
REPRESENT [REPRESENTING; REPPIN']
verb, publicly serves as a positive example of a particular entity (nation, race, community, music genre, cause, etc); publicly stands up for a nation, race, community, music genre, cause. etc
The Sally Manuel, 2015
"Yesss reppin Eritrea too! :)"
**
John Kinyanjui, 2016
"Kenya representing.. Big up!"
-snip-
I believe that “Big Up" originated in Jamaica, but it is also appears to be widely found in many West African Afrobeat music/dance YouTube videos.
**
ROCK [SOMETHING]
verb; heavily play [a particular record]
blessing james James, 2015
"Nice song from Skales..we rock this song here in Asia club..."
****
SELLOUT
noun; definition from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selling_out
"Selling out" is a common idiomatic pejorative expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles in exchange for personal gain, such as money.[1] In terms of music or art, selling out is associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream or commercial audience; for example, a musician who alters his material to encompass a wider audience, and in turn generates greater revenue, may be labeled by fans who pre-date the change as a "sellout."
-snip-
The comment by oke eva, 2014 in the entry for "dope" in Part I includes the word "sellout".
****
SHADY [definition "a"
adjective; a deceitful person
SHADY definition [b]
a person who "throws shade" (i.e. insults someone else in a sly and/or clever/witty manner)
[I'm not sure which definition is intended for this particular example:]
PE Cornal, 2015
"+iBeautyiStyle Please explain to me how I'm shady if I just PRAISED the Nigerian culture?Amuse me please."
****
SH&T*
noun, something that is the best at something (or someone who is) the best (The vernacular use of the word "sh&t" may have developed as an opposite word play the same way that the African American Vernacular English meaning of the word "bad" is "very good" developed. (And/or) perhaps this meaning developed because "sh&t" constitutes the "nitty gritty", pure essence of life. After all, "sh&t" helps plants grow and flourish).
The word "sh&t" is fully spelled out in all of the following comments.
CASHBUZZ, 2014
"Round of applause... sh&t dopeee"
-snip-
Part I of this series includes a vernacular definition of "dope" and comment examples from this featured video's discussion thread.
**
TdotJohn, 2014
toronto sending love sh&ts fire
-snip_
Part I includes a definition of and comment examples of the vernacular term "fire".
**
Fredo416, 2014
This sh&t a banger frfr 🔥🔥🔥
-snip-
"Frfr" probably means "for real for real" [which is an African American Vernacular English phrase meaning "reallY", without any doubt.
Notice the pictorial flame icons which signify that the song is hot.
"Banger" is a British originated slang word. In the context of this comment, "banger" means a hot, explosive song (a hit record).
Here's information about the word "banger" from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/banger indicates that "banger" is a word that originated in Britain. Here's the relevant definition from that page: "banger" - "a type of firework that explodes loudly"
King james, 2015
"bedu !!! You know you need a big ass to dance to this sh&t !! lol"
Luciddreamer333, 2015
This sh&t FIYAH!!FOR REAL this coming from a African American guy.and the woman in here! :-/ Uhhhhh!! Damn
Well i guess its not coincidence i love it, of course the roots, the spirit of Africa is in my Dna!
-snip-
The word "sh&t" is also colloquially given as "ish" as in Eniola ade's 2014 comment that is given in Part I under the entry for the word "cool".
**
SN M1, 2017
"My shiiiiiiit!!!! 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽"
-snip-
"My shiiiiiit" means that this song is really "my jam" [or in Jamaican Patois, "This is my chuneeeee". Another Jamaican Patois example is "Tuneeee!"]
**
heavy duty Henry, 2017
"this sh&t is my jam."
-snip-
Part I includes a definition of and comment examples of the vernacular word "jam".
****
SICK
adjective; a very complimentary descriptor of something that is (or someone who is) great, wonderful, awesome [in the context of urban cultures], "The bomb" is one synonym for "sick".
Read the definition for "bumpin" in Part I of this series. A sick beat is one that is really bumpin. A musician who performs a really sick beat is said to be "killin it".
It seems to me that "The beat is sick" implies that it is very written or performed very well. Therefore, you don't have to add qualifiers such as "The beat is really sick" or "The beat is very sick". On YouTube comment threads and elsewhere in order to really emphasize that point, a person might add vowels to extend that word- for example "The beat was siiiiick" or "That dance was dooooope".
**
Augustine Flahn, 2014
"Sick"
**
Osberg, 2014
"sick beatz"
-snip-
Using a "z" in place of a "s" is considered a "hip" way of spelling words.
**
TheAisha2287, 2014
"Love the music but I can't watch the video. It's hurting my eyes...anyways the beat is sick though
-snip-
What is the "in" contemporary way of saying "hip" [being up to date with the latest urban cultures]? I think "fly" is no longer used [by African Americans], but I'm not sure about that.
**
Jaynette Ak, 2014
"The beat is so sick"
**
fanny Wilson, 2015
"Great music but the dacing is not good enough. i believe the music would have so sick plus!!!! if the dancing was also as good as the music. good job still
**
khairiya wazir, 2015
"This song is yaga even when u say u won't dance u must dance to this sick beat
-snip-
I don't know what language "yaga" is from and what that word means.
**
Bryan Alister, 2016
Sick... Mad Mi Boss. Sounds Good.
-snip-
I'm not sure what "mad mi" means in the context of this comment. Two vernacular definition for "boss" and examples of that vernacular term are given in Part I of this pancocojams series.
**
Makeya Makeya, 2016
"so sick I never get tired watching of this song & lovely dance
from Ethiopia">
-snip-
I think that the commenter means:
This song is so sick (i.e. very good]. I never get tired of wathing the video of this song and its lovely dance.
****
SISTA
noun; a referent for a person's female sibling, or a referent used by females or males for females who share certain experiences (such as being from the same nation, community, neighborhood, race, ethnic group and/or who are part of the same social scene, or promote the same cause/s); calling a female "sista" (sister) means that you are acknowledging your kinship with her
Mariama Bangura, 2015
"THX MY SISTA!"
-snip-
"Thx" = thanks
In contrast to a number of comments in this post that included the word "bro", this is the only comment that I found in that discussion thread in which someone referred to another commenter as my sista [sister].
****
SHOUT OUT [SHOUTOUT]
Michael shuffler, 2015
"Shoutout to DJ-AMIN, best African DJ in Chin.a
Hills D1 year ago
Yassss. Shoutout to all my Cameroonians 😍
-snip-
"Yass" is a relatively new [early 2000s?] vernacular way of spelling "yes". I'm not sure where this custom came from.
****
SMOKIN’
adjective, [in the context of this discussion thread]. refers to something that is performed really well; something that is hot (the bomb, on fire etc).
Donna Star, 2016
"This song is smokin!
****
TURN UP/ TURNT UP
verbal phrase; in the context of this discussion thread, this is a command that people get more excited [turn up the volume of their excitement]; "Getting crunk" is a synonym for "getting wild, but it also means to let go of your inhibitions and be more authentically yourself
toni manning, 2015
Aaayyyyyyye!!!!! Turn up..😄!!
-snip-
This comment may be a call for people to "turn up" or it may be a description of people (or the commenter) being turned up.
****
TURNED UP [TURNT UP]
adjective. a description of people who are very excited by/at a music scene or some other social event; a synonym for people who are "crunked"; turnt (crazy, wild, drunk), and/or people who are free of their inhibitions and more authentically themselves
Remi S, 2016
"Turned the hell up"
-snip-
This comment might describe a scene where people are "turnt up" or where the commenter was "turned up".
It also may be a call to for peopl"turn up"definition "a"].
****
WEAK
adjective; [in the context of this discussion thread, a description of something that is the opposite of "the bomb", the same meaning as "lame"
dbreeze ronkaku, 2014
"I live skales but this is weak...+ dude d french verse sounds like xcellente's rhyme....#youcandomore
-snip-
"I live" is probably a typo for "I like".
****
WICKED
adjective; in the context of this discussion thread, something that is very good, exciting, stimulating, "the bomb"
renea brown, 2014
"omg this song plus the beat is wicked!!! JAMAICA
-snip-
The Internet phrase "omg" is often actually pronounced "oh m gee". "Jamaica" at the end of that comment may mean that the commenter is from Jamaica.
****
[revised March 31, 2017]
YO
a vernacular word that since at least the 1970s is usually associated with African American Hip Hop culture; In the title of the American Hip Hop television music video series Yo! MTV rap; the word "yo" is used as an exclamation whose meaning is similar to "Hey!".
"Yo" used at the end of a sentence, might mean "man" or "dude" or might just be a place marker that connotes "hipness" and African American Hip Hop urban culture but has no literal meaning.
Example He was killin it yo.]
-snip-
In the context of this compilation, "yo" isn't the same as the African American Vernacular English "yo'" as a form of the word "your".
Example - Yo mama [Common insult phrase or beginning of an insult in the Dozens.]
****
This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Africans' Use Of African American Vernacular English Terms In The Discussion Thread Of Skales' "Shake Body" Official YouTube Video (Part I: A-K)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I in a two part post that documents the use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) originated words and phrases by African commenters and others in the YouTube discussion thread for Nigerian singer Skales' "Shake Body" official video.
Pancocojams' linguistics posts document and consider the ways that African American Vernacular English, Caribbean Patois, African Pidgin English, and other Pidgin languages have been used and are now being used. As is the case with some other pancocojams linguistic posts, the post in this series document how Africans and others are combining slang (vernacular words & phrases) from African traditional languages, African Pidgin English languages, African American Vernacular English, British slang, Arabic adapted French slang and probably other language sources.
This particular two part series raises questions about possible changes and innovations in the use of African American Vernacular English by Africans, specifically in regards to the use of qualifiers for adjectives such as "cool", and "dope".
Part I provides comments from that discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English words/phrases beginning with the letter A - K.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/africans-use-of-african-american_23.html for Part II of this series. Part II provides comments from that discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English words/phrases beginning with the letter L - Z.
The content of this post is presented for linguistic, cultural, and folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Skales for his music and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: SKALES - SHAKE BODY (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Skales Published on Jul 22, 2014
Official music video to the worldwide certified hit, 'Shake Body' by SKALES.
-snip-
This video is embedded for referencing purposes only.
A considerable number of commenters on this video's discussion thread vehemently praised this song while negatively critiquing its video.
****
AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH IN THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR SKALES'S SHAKE BODY (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Revised with more comments- March 22, 2017
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
These African American Vernacular English word/phrase entries are given in bold font and in capitol letters followed by a brief definition. To highlight the fact that many of these slang definitions mean the same thing, I've used basically the same definition for those particular entries.
A number of vernacular terms have more than one colloquial meaning. This compilation only gives the meaning that I think is intended by the commenters.
The selected comments are from this 2014 Nigerian/Ivory Coast Afrobeat video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qoUU4onORY Skales- "Body Shake". This video's discussion thread was selected for this post instead of another one only because that was the discussion thread that I was reading when the idea occurred to me for this post. However, the wide use of African American Vernacular English terms/phrases also occurs in other Afrobeat and other contemporary African music YouTube discussion threads that I have read since at least 2014.
The comments from this discussion thread are given under those entries in chronological order by year, with the oldest dated selected comment presented first.
The featured slang words/phrases are written in italics when they are part of a long comment. Additions and corrections for these definitions are very welcome.
Each comment is given only once in this compilation although certain comments include more than one AAVE word/phrases. In those cases, I've referred readers back to the entry for the first vernacular word that is used in that comment.
There were a total number of 1,514 comments as of the date and time of this publication*. This compilation showcases selected examples of comments that include African American Vernacular English [AAVE} terms and phrases. I didn't puropsely include comments that may include examples of certain forms of 19th century and contemporary AAVE spelling such as "dis" because that spelling is also found in contemporary Nigerian Pidgin English and Jamaican Patois etc.
Although I read the entire discussion thread, I might have missed some examples. While these comments are described as being "selected", I've included a large number of the comments from that Skales' "Shake Body" discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English terms/phrases. I purposely excluded certain omments that had a lot of profanity or used what I call the "n word". I also usually purposely excluded one word comments such as "cool" or "dope" except for one example of each of those types of comments.
-snip-
*I'm not sure how often YouTube updates their statistics, but as of March 23, 2017 at 7:25 AM when I began to work on Part II for this series, the same number of comments (1, 514) was given for this video and the total viewer count was 12,547,332. I believe that was the same number that was given when I published this post on March 22, 2017.
****
PART I
BAD
adjective; very good, great, awesome
Rocky Quel, 2017
"DAH CHUNE YAH BAD"
-snip-
In standard English this sentence would read "That tune is very good .
:Chune" is most often used by people from the Caribbean, although I've found that spelling for the word "tune" in some early 20th century writing by African Americans (such as in Thomas W. Talley's 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Unwise.
Some of the commenters on that YouTube discussion thread for Skales "Shake Body" official video identified themselves as being from the Caribbean. Furthermore, certain Caribbean (perhaps mostly Jamaican) terms and phrases such as "Big up!", "Much love", and "Much respect" were found in that discussion threads and appear to be commonly found in other Afrobeat discussion threads as well as some other contemporary African music and dance YouTube discussion threads .
****
(THE) BOMB
noun* used to refer to something that (or someone who) is great, wonderful, awesome; (This word is part of the African American Vernacular English "fire"/"hot" noun/verb/exclamation vernacular family).
*[When this post was first published, I incorrectly wrote that in its vernacular use "the bomb" was an adjective.]
Amel Derdega, 2014
"Franchement bonne zik rien a dire je kiff 💝 jaaadooooooooor de la bombe trooooop fort ce mec continu comme sa un pure kiff"
-snip-
Here's the Google Translate translation for that comment from French to English
"Frankly good zik nothing to say I kiff 💝 jaaadooooooooor the trooooop bomb strong this guy continues as his a pure kiff"
-snip-
Here's my attempt at giving that comment in standard English:
Frankly, [it's] good zik [?]. I've nothing more to say. I love [this song]. I really adore it. It's really the bomb [great]. I hope that this guy continues [making music like this.] [His music is] pure enjoyment.
-snip-
Here's information about the French slang word "kiffe" (also written as "kiff") from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kiffe
"kiffe" is used in French as a verb (kiffer, in english to kiffe), as an adjective (kiffant, in english kiffable) and as a noun (kiffe, a kiffe)... or just use it how you want to!
Kiffe comes from an arab word (kef) which means to like, to enjoy, a pleasure... which has been "imported" into France by North African people... and became "kiffe".
It simply means "to really enjoy someone or something!"
e.g: I kiffed that trip!
I would kiffe to meet her;
She really is kiffable
What a kiffe to drive that car!
Because it comes from some sort of French suburb slang (langage des cités), but is now used by everyone (though it is still 'slangish'), you can use it how you want to!
If anyone was wondering how to pronounce it, it sounds the same in english say "keef", like a reef but with a "k" instead!
[...]
-by KSC-ONE April 02, 2009"
**
Kuddy, 2015
"Never get bored of this song! It's the bomb..."
**
Ellaura, 2015
"This music is the bomb my goodness. .cameroonians ar strongly behind u haters get lost bcs yr opinion don't really count here instead they make u popular and motivated. .OYA I Don already d shake the body sef"
-snip-
This comment serves as one example of the lack of interest that YouTube commenters (and many other internet bloggers) have in punctuation, capitalization, and standard spelling rules. Here's how I think that comment would be written using those standard English language practices:
"This music is the bomb. My goodness, Cameroonians are strongly behind you. Haters get lost because your opinion doesn't really count here. Instead, they [the haters?] make you popular and motivated."...
"Oya I Don already d shake the body sef" is Nigerian Pidgin. Skales' Afrobeat song "Shake Body" repeats the word "Oya shake body". Here's information about the word "oya" from http://buzznigeria.com/common-nigerian-words-used-in-place-of-some-english-equivalents/# Common Nigerian Words Used In Place Of English Equivalents:
"Ngwa" is the Igbo version of the Yoruba word "Oya". They are both used to hasten someone. Ngwa make we de go". Oya na let's go.
-end of quote-
Given that information, the lyrics "Oya shake body" may mean something like "Come on. Hurry up and shake your body".
**
temi adekola, 2017
"bomb song
nigerinas are the best"
-snip-
I think that African American would say and write "This song is the bomb" and not [This is a] bomb song.
"nigerinas" is a misspelling of "Nigerians".
The term "bombed" has an entirely different meaning. "This song bombed" means that it was a big failure.
****
BOSS [definition "a"]
[in the context of this discussion thread], an adjective that is used to describe something that is the best in its category
PE Cornal, 2015
"Dear Nigerians,
You're music is boss , Your dancing slays life, And you have very beautiful people.
-Cameroonians
-snip-
The phrase "slays life" here probably has the same meaning as the word "killin'"given below and "murdered" given in Part II of this series.
**
Scorpion Cool, 2017
"the music is very boss."
-snip-
In this comment, "boss" has the same adjectival meaning as "the bomb" and "dope". I don't think that this is the way African Americans use the vernacular term "boss".
****
BOSS [definition "b"]
noun, a person who is the "head man (or woman] in charge", a person who rules others in his or her field (career, performance art)
D BS, 2016
"Skales, Tha Boss."
-snip-
"Skales [is] the boss.
****
BOOTY
noun; a referent for the part of the body that African Americans also refer to as "butt", "behind" and "ass".
Claire Dreher, 2015
"shakes our bodies, and bootys, in Paris, France
**
Mehdi Tabit. 2015
"Nigerian Music is so dope ;) This song makes me wanna shake my booty :D"
-snip-
My sense is that African Americans "booty" seldom use the word "booty" anymore. We seem to prefer the vernacular terms "butt:, "behind", and "ass" and not the word "bum" which has the same meaning. In my experience, the word "bum" (as in the sentence "Sit on your bum") is used much more by White Americans than by Black Americans.
****
BRO
noun; clip of the word "brother"; noun; a referent for a person's male sibling, and a referent used by females or males for males who share certain experiences (such as being from the same nation, community, neighborhood, race, ethnic group and/or who are part of the same social scene, or promote the same cause/s); calling a male "bro" [or "bruh" or other similar spellings] means that you are acknowledging your kinship with him; "Brotherman" was a 1960s form of "bro".
bankole gome, 2014
"Nice song,no doubt about it but not too good dance choreography and visuals. I reckon that the short video of timaya' dance actually matches the song. Thumbs up bro for the sounds!
**
Hadish Mengisteab, 2016
"Shake body love this music very much keep going bro from Eritrea 🇪🇷
**
peter Laqua, 2016
"nice bro"
****
BUMPIN [BUMPING]
verb; playing [a record]; Here's a definition of bumpin that was submitted to urban dictionary:
"blaring music and getting down to it. Jaming. Rocking out. Grooving to the music. Often used in reference to people driving down the road in their cars listening to some recording artists that they really like."
[...]
.
by runandwin June 27, 2005 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bumping
Erik Forman, 2015
"First heard this track at my daughters dance performance. I've been bumping this all day and passing it along. Skales...you are getting some love and support over here in NYC!!!"
-snip-
"Track" here means "record".
"NYC" means "New York City".
Read my comments about "nice" ("nyc") in Part II of this series.
**
george blake, 2015
its in new york now so its a wrap, bumpin this tonight.
-Snip-
In the context of this comment, "It’s a wrap" means that nothing more needs to be said or done (from a producer's words to actors when a scene is performed and filmed well). My sense is that the commenter meant that if Skales song has even reached New York City, it means that it has “made it” [to the big time].
**
JanyllHquez, 2016
"still bumping this!!!"
****
COOL
[in the context of this discussion thread]
adjective; something or someone who is "hip", up to date with the latest "in" urban youth/young adult cultures; a term used to describe something that is [or someone who is] great, wonderful, awesome.
adam binta, 2014
"Cool☺"
**
crooks d. jango, 2014
"Cool video (but not great though), he could have out some "coupé-décalé" dansers in it, i believe it would made ot more interrestiong."
-snip-
Here's information about "Coupe-decale" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup%C3%A9-D%C3%A9cal%C3%A9
"Coupé-Décalé is a type of popular dance music originating from Côte d'Ivoire and the Ivorian diaspora in Paris, France"...
-snip-
This commenter (and many others in that YouTube discussion thread) wasn't pleased with the dancing that was done in the official video for Skales' "Shake Body" song.
**
Eniola ade, 2014
"This video is disappointing, I was expecting more than this, but ish cool..."
-snip-
"ish" is a socially correct way of writing and saying the word "sh&t" (which is only partly spelled on this blog.)
Examples from this discussion thread of comments using a vernacular meaning of the word "sh&t" are included in Part II of this pancocojams series.
**
Benson Owusuansah, 2015
"hey guys this song b cull"
-snip-
I think that "b cull" probably means "be cool" [i.e. "is cool"].
**
Kodjo [an email address], 2015
"cool yo he killed it man"
-snip-
"Cool" here may have the meaning that is given above or may mean something like "Yeah" or Hey". The word "yo" in sentence means something like "Hey" if it has any meaning at all beyond its "hip" African American connotation.
Read the entries for "killin'" below.
**
Relson relson, 2016
"i love it it so cool just feel like dancing"
-snip-
Update: March 25, 2017
In my initial publication of this post, I wondered whether it was "authentically African American" to use adverbs such as "so", "too", and "real" as qualifiers/descriptors of vernacular adjectives such as "cool" and "hot". After doing some online research, I found some historical examples of such terms in the United States among African American and among non-African Americans. However, it may be "cool" [hip/acceptable] to use certain adverbs and not others with vernacular words such as "cool" and "hot". And, it seems to me that it's more appropriate [according to African American culture- in the past and in the present] to use the word "cool" without any qualifiers.
I'll publish a post on this topic ASAP and add its link here.
**
Relson relson, 2016
"i love it it so cool just feel like dancing"
**
boubacar mar gueye, 2016
"Trop cool"
-snip-
"trop" = French meaning "very much"
Note that a commenter reply with what I believe is a criticism of the practice of mixing French with another language:
Shanna. Shannaa, 2016
"A oooô chui pas la seule française merciiiii mdr"
[Google translate: "A oooô chui not the only French merciiiii mdr"]
**
cool gamer, 2016
this is a cool song
**
superAweber, 2017
That's rather cool.
**
ohcantona10, 2017
I could have sworn I heard this song on eastenders..lol. Cool tune!
**
Nebyu Nebyu, 2017
"so cool music"
****
DOPE
adjective; a term used to describe something that (or someone who) is great, wonderful, awesome
Savior Self, 2014
"Too dope"
**
Elizabeth Asemah, 2014
"The introduction is too dope.
**
Andres Rodriguez, 2014
"very dope song"
**
oke eva, 2014
"what a sellout!! this dude was a dope rapper with fire now he sounds like every dick,jack tom and harry SHAME!"
-snip-
For the folkloric record, here are two responses to this comment from that discussion thread. Note that two of those responses are given in Nigerian Pidgin English. I've included my relative interpretation in standard English for those comments using in part this online source: http://ngex.com/personalities/babawilly/dictionary/pidginn.htm Babawilly's Dictionary of Pidgin English Words and Phrases. Additions and corrections are welcome.
Reply
John Bosco, 2014
O boi as he was a dope rapper hunger no nearly kill am? if tom, dick and harry na the way to chop belle full abeg Skales, continue in that path, ask Inyanya and recently Praiz.
-snip-
Here's my attempt to put this in standard English: "Oh boy, and if he were a very good rapper he wouldn't have to worry about being killed by hunger? As if being like every Tom, Dick, and Harry is the way to succeed [sarcastically written]. Please, Skales, continue do do what you are doing. Ask [two Nigerian successful recording artists] Inyanya and recently Praiz."
-snip-
Note that "In June 2013, an upbeat dance song was released on YouTube by Minjin titled "Coupé-Décalé" It featured Iyanya, a Nigerian artist famous for his hit single "Kukere". [from Wikipedia's "coupe-decale" link given above]
**
Reply
louie dana, 2014
+oke eva
"Guy, nothing like dope rapper inside this matter o! Na until hungry dey follow am drag pillow for night ur body go calm down abi? Abeg free the guy JOR! LMAOOOOO
-snip-
Here's my attempt to translate that comment into standard English "Man, being a dope [awesome] rapper has nothing to do with this. It's a matter of survival. Shouldn't you calm down. Please free this guy [who wrote that statement I'm responding to as he has spoken nonsense.]
-snip-
Although it's off topic, here's some information about "I beg" from https://matadornetwork.com/abroad/beginners-guide-to-nigerian-pidgin-english/
Beginner’s guide to Nigerian pidgin English:
"I beg (abeg) is a Nigerian Pidgin English term that means "Please, but usually not a repentant plea. Example – Abeg! No waste my time!; Which means Please! Don’t waste my time!"
**
amour zongo, 2014
"Disons que sait cool le sound"
-snip-
Here's Google translates translation of this comment from French to English:
Let's say that cool the sound
-snip-
Here's my translation in standard English: "Let's say that the sound is [the song is] cool."
**
1LOVE_09, 2015
"This music is D.O.P.E
**
fasika bini, 2016
"it's dope :)"
**
Joshua Onyango, 2017
"dope"
-snip-
“Onyango” is a Kenyan [Luo] surname
-snip-
Also, here's a comment from that discussion thread that includes the word "doper". (That word isn't used by African Americans)
**
Josi Jeo El, 2014
"This video cld have been doper dan dis, he really worked hard on it but picked an inexperienced director, too many scenes to fit into a 3mins video was just a problem typical mistakes from directors who are over zealous."
-snip-
"This video cld have been doper dan dis" = "This video could have been better (more "hip") than this."
****
GET DOWN
verbal phrase meaning to dance really well; to show off your best moves, similar to "to break it on down" ("Breakdown!)
Cherise Yanick, 2014
"Love the song but damn it says ah yuh shake body and the were shaking slow shoulda turned it all the way up in this video uh oh!(in my haitian voice) lol I get down to this song
**
Lisa Avery, 2017
"I think it's interesting how even modern African music unites Nigerian parents and their children (especially if the kids are born outside of Nigeria). Like you see both adults and kids get down on the dancefloor when this song comes on during our functions.
****
GROOVE
noun; [in the context of the comment given below, "groove" means "a very good [music] record"
abrokenlife, 2014
"If you no jam to this groove, ah, you need help lol"
-snip-
A common practice in Nigeria is to end a sentence with the letter "o". http://ngex.com/personalities/babawilly/dictionary/pidgino.htm
"O!: Placed at the end of sentences for emphasis and effect E.g. I go broke bottle for yua head O!"
-snip-
Notice that custom in the following two comments that were written in response to abrokenlife's comment:
Reply
Mbula Enobong, 2014
"Amen-o"
-snip-
This is a good example of the combination of African American Vernacular English and Nigerian traditional language customs.
**
Reply
Shannen Tales, 2015
"Well Said o 😂😂😂😂"
-snip-
Another commenter wrote this reply to abrokenlife's comment in Nigerian [?] Pidgin English:
Sharon Lawsom, 2014
"No be lie"
****
HATERS [HATING ON]
noun; people who criticize others [i.e. "hate on others"] for no real reason
chiyere1982, 2014
"Make all of you haters go make you sing your own make we hear!!!!!!! I beg im loving this song
**
[This comment was written as part of a long sub-thread that was started by commenter PE Cornal. That comment is given under the entry in this post for the word "boss".
chris maloney, 2015
"+PE Cornal leave him alone just the usual losers ... Hating...
**
james frank, 2014
"why are people still hating on this much loved song, i have traveled to three country in Africa recently, Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda and this song is hitting up in every club and the African people love the song. so please stop hating. Skales is a star and he can be better than wiz-kid and Michael Jackson if he wishes it all depends on him. #SHAKE BODY"
-SNIP-
"Hitting up" as it is used in this comment may be the same as "heating up" (getting hot, becoming very popular). "To hit up" someone means something different in African American Vernacular English and to "hit on" someone also has completely different African American Vernacular English meanings.
****
HOT
adjective; very exciting, very stimulating; something that (or someone who) is great, wonderful, awesome, very popular (a hit)
Other African American Vernacular English words in the "hot"/fire" family (that have the same vernacular meaning) are "smokin", "the bomb", the now largely retired slang expression "Dynamite!", and the relatively recently coined vernacular meaning for the word "lit". Also, notice the flame pictorial icons that are found after a number of comments in this discussion thread. Those flame icons are signify that that beat is hot (The beat is on fire).
Gabriela Veizaga, 2014
"This song is HOT, I'm hispanic (From Bolivia) dance is a universal language
**
Mary Stephen, 2016
"THz beats is 2 hot and I cant sit still without dancing!"
**
sheniqueen, 2017
"Too Hot"
-snip-
The apparent popularity of the phrase "too hot" may be credited to Bruno Mars as that phrase is repeated in his popular 2014 Pop/Funk song "Uptown Funk". In that song, Bruno Mars is "braggin' on" himself. The adverb "too" in that lyrics means "very".
"Too hot" is a very strong compliment and not a complaint about the weather or otherwise.
**
Shella Stella Khalista, 2017
"Wow, the music is Hot. Love this from Atlanta Georgia!!!!!"
****
FEEL YOU
verbal phrase, "I agree with you" (I understand what you are feeling). "I hear you" is an earlier form of this saying.
Sati .A, 2015
"^_^ I feel ya bro"
****
FIRE [FIYAH] [definition "a"]
an exclamation indicating that something [or, less often someone] is "hot" [in the African American slang meaning of the word as given in the entry below], something (or someone) is very exciting, really stimulating
Ayodeji Marquis, 2014
This beat is "fire" !!!!
**
TdotJohn, 2014
"toronto sending love sh&ts* fire"
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment. The word love probably marks the end of one sentence and "sh&ts" the beginning of the next sentence.
Additional comments from that Skales' "Shake Body" discussion thread that include the word "sh&t" are given in Part II of this pancocojams series.
**
DJ Trinivibes, 2015
"this tune is FIRE!!!! even would make the dead get up and DANCE. blessings from DJ TRINIVIBES"
**
Speechiegirl1, 2015
This song is a straight shot of hot fire!
**
FIRE [FIYAH] [definition "b"]
noun; meaning energy, intensity, passion [in a pure, non-sexual sense]
Read the comment written by oke eva, 2014 in the entry for "dope" for an example of this usage.
Additional comments that include the word "fire" are given in comments that are featured in Part II of this pancocojams series.
****
HELLA
adverb; an intensifier that is formed by clipping the phrase "a hell of a lot of"; used to mean "very"
Ghizlane Z, 2016
"lol the beat is so north African. I hear this beat at Moroccan weddings often, but this is more sped up and more autotune to it. STILL HELLA NICE THO
-snip-
For the folkloric record, here's one reply to that comment:
JoStylin, 2015
"+Ghizlane ZThe instrument you are hearing is called the Goje and is only found in West Africa. The reason why you think its North African is because of the Tuareg tribe and Gnawa people who have transported traditional West African music to North Africa, particularly Morocco"
****
JAM
[in the context of this discussion thread] noun; song, [music] recording, music instrumental composition
Bryan i Braimah, 2014
This jam is a hit, We are jamming to it in San Francisco. Everyone loves it.
-snip-
I think that the word "jamming" [which in the context of the above comment means enjoying music and/or dancing] is of Caribbean (probably Jamaican) origin.
**
African Barbie, 2015
"My workout jam I love it
**
Cece Christian, 2016
"my favorite zumba jam
**
mma mmarecon, 2016
"Lovely jam!"
-snip-
The standard English word “lovely” isn't usually used with the vernacular English word "jam".
**
Victor Aganoke, 2016
If you no shake body to this jam, your spirit go help you shake the body.
**
Darlene X, 2016
this is the jam!!!!!! Love it
-snip-
"This is my jam" means that this is your favorite song or one of your favorite songs.
I believe "jamming" is of Jamaican origin and not African American origin. As such, this compilation doesn't purposely include any examples of "jamming" from that discussion thread.
**
Emmanuella Niamke, 2017
"i beg that moment where you going to the bathroom and the dj decides to play this jam .i even forgot about bathroom #Nigerians you guys rock I love your music can't help but dance well done
-snip-
"This is my jam" is another way of saying "This is my song. Here's that comment from that discussion thread for Skales' "Body Shake" official video:
kplunkett00021, 2017
"This is my song!!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥
-snip_
Notice the flame icons that follow this comment. Those icons are the same as saying "This beat is on fire". Read the entries for "fire" that are given above.
****
KILLA
noun; an unquestionable winner; something that kills (vanquishes) any other competition; Read the definition of "killin'" below.
Frank Lafavela, 2014
"''them wan hold me 4 randsom cuz im #young n im #rich and im #handsome'' #OYASHAKEBODY this beat is a killa
bigup 4rm Kamerun!
-snip-
Them wan hold me for ransom cause I'm young, rich, and handsome" and "oya shake body" are the most quoted lyrics from Skales' "Shake Body" song.
"Big up" is a widely used Jamaican phrase on Afrobeat music video's discussion threads. It doesn't appear to be used that often by African Americans. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-term-big-up-in-youtube-discussion.html for the pancocojams post "The Term "Big Up" In The YouTube Discussion Thread For The South African Music Video "Xigubu" by DJ Ganyani ft FB (Fiesta Black)."
"Kamerun" is a contemporary colloquial spelling for the nation of Cameroon, West Africa.
****
KILLIN' ["KILLING"]; [KILLED IT"]
verb; doing something very well; without question vanquishing any competitor; Other AAVE words with the same meaning are "murdered" and "slaughtered". Read those entries in Part II of this series.
Abraham Aklilu, 2016
NAIJA boys "killing" it!
-snip-
"Naija" is a contemporary informal term for "Nigeria".
**
JuiceHarris, 2016
"Just was in Jamaica and they're killin this song! That's how I discovered it. Love it!!"
-snip-
"Killin" here means that they are really loving this song [more than any other song.]
**
Yonis Ahmed, 2017
"lam a young a rich and awesome damn he killed l like that papa."
-snip-
"Papa" here is a term of respect for another man.
In contrast, when a man calls another man "son", it might be an insult.
**
Dat Bih, 2017
"lmaooo chris brown was killing this song in ny"
-snip-
Chris Brown is a contemporary Hip Hop star who is widely noted for his dancing skills.
Another commenter on that Skales "Shake Body" discussion thread wrote:
Oldies, 2016
Oh My God!!! This song is a pain killer.
-end of quote-
This isn’t the original African American vernacular meaning of the word “killin' ["killing"]
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/06/what-killing-it-means-how-it-got-those.html "African American Vernacular English: What "Killing It" Means & How It Got Those Slang Meanings" for one of pancocojams' posts on the AAVE term "killin'.
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I in a two part post that documents the use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) originated words and phrases by African commenters and others in the YouTube discussion thread for Nigerian singer Skales' "Shake Body" official video.
Pancocojams' linguistics posts document and consider the ways that African American Vernacular English, Caribbean Patois, African Pidgin English, and other Pidgin languages have been used and are now being used. As is the case with some other pancocojams linguistic posts, the post in this series document how Africans and others are combining slang (vernacular words & phrases) from African traditional languages, African Pidgin English languages, African American Vernacular English, British slang, Arabic adapted French slang and probably other language sources.
This particular two part series raises questions about possible changes and innovations in the use of African American Vernacular English by Africans, specifically in regards to the use of qualifiers for adjectives such as "cool", and "dope".
Part I provides comments from that discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English words/phrases beginning with the letter A - K.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/africans-use-of-african-american_23.html for Part II of this series. Part II provides comments from that discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English words/phrases beginning with the letter L - Z.
The content of this post is presented for linguistic, cultural, and folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Skales for his music and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: SKALES - SHAKE BODY (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Skales Published on Jul 22, 2014
Official music video to the worldwide certified hit, 'Shake Body' by SKALES.
-snip-
This video is embedded for referencing purposes only.
A considerable number of commenters on this video's discussion thread vehemently praised this song while negatively critiquing its video.
****
AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH IN THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR SKALES'S SHAKE BODY (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Revised with more comments- March 22, 2017
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
These African American Vernacular English word/phrase entries are given in bold font and in capitol letters followed by a brief definition. To highlight the fact that many of these slang definitions mean the same thing, I've used basically the same definition for those particular entries.
A number of vernacular terms have more than one colloquial meaning. This compilation only gives the meaning that I think is intended by the commenters.
The selected comments are from this 2014 Nigerian/Ivory Coast Afrobeat video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qoUU4onORY Skales- "Body Shake". This video's discussion thread was selected for this post instead of another one only because that was the discussion thread that I was reading when the idea occurred to me for this post. However, the wide use of African American Vernacular English terms/phrases also occurs in other Afrobeat and other contemporary African music YouTube discussion threads that I have read since at least 2014.
The comments from this discussion thread are given under those entries in chronological order by year, with the oldest dated selected comment presented first.
The featured slang words/phrases are written in italics when they are part of a long comment. Additions and corrections for these definitions are very welcome.
Each comment is given only once in this compilation although certain comments include more than one AAVE word/phrases. In those cases, I've referred readers back to the entry for the first vernacular word that is used in that comment.
There were a total number of 1,514 comments as of the date and time of this publication*. This compilation showcases selected examples of comments that include African American Vernacular English [AAVE} terms and phrases. I didn't puropsely include comments that may include examples of certain forms of 19th century and contemporary AAVE spelling such as "dis" because that spelling is also found in contemporary Nigerian Pidgin English and Jamaican Patois etc.
Although I read the entire discussion thread, I might have missed some examples. While these comments are described as being "selected", I've included a large number of the comments from that Skales' "Shake Body" discussion thread that include African American Vernacular English terms/phrases. I purposely excluded certain omments that had a lot of profanity or used what I call the "n word". I also usually purposely excluded one word comments such as "cool" or "dope" except for one example of each of those types of comments.
-snip-
*I'm not sure how often YouTube updates their statistics, but as of March 23, 2017 at 7:25 AM when I began to work on Part II for this series, the same number of comments (1, 514) was given for this video and the total viewer count was 12,547,332. I believe that was the same number that was given when I published this post on March 22, 2017.
****
PART I
BAD
adjective; very good, great, awesome
Rocky Quel, 2017
"DAH CHUNE YAH BAD"
-snip-
In standard English this sentence would read "That tune is very good .
:Chune" is most often used by people from the Caribbean, although I've found that spelling for the word "tune" in some early 20th century writing by African Americans (such as in Thomas W. Talley's 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Unwise.
Some of the commenters on that YouTube discussion thread for Skales "Shake Body" official video identified themselves as being from the Caribbean. Furthermore, certain Caribbean (perhaps mostly Jamaican) terms and phrases such as "Big up!", "Much love", and "Much respect" were found in that discussion threads and appear to be commonly found in other Afrobeat discussion threads as well as some other contemporary African music and dance YouTube discussion threads .
****
(THE) BOMB
noun* used to refer to something that (or someone who) is great, wonderful, awesome; (This word is part of the African American Vernacular English "fire"/"hot" noun/verb/exclamation vernacular family).
*[When this post was first published, I incorrectly wrote that in its vernacular use "the bomb" was an adjective.]
Amel Derdega, 2014
"Franchement bonne zik rien a dire je kiff 💝 jaaadooooooooor de la bombe trooooop fort ce mec continu comme sa un pure kiff"
-snip-
Here's the Google Translate translation for that comment from French to English
"Frankly good zik nothing to say I kiff 💝 jaaadooooooooor the trooooop bomb strong this guy continues as his a pure kiff"
-snip-
Here's my attempt at giving that comment in standard English:
Frankly, [it's] good zik [?]. I've nothing more to say. I love [this song]. I really adore it. It's really the bomb [great]. I hope that this guy continues [making music like this.] [His music is] pure enjoyment.
-snip-
Here's information about the French slang word "kiffe" (also written as "kiff") from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kiffe
"kiffe" is used in French as a verb (kiffer, in english to kiffe), as an adjective (kiffant, in english kiffable) and as a noun (kiffe, a kiffe)... or just use it how you want to!
Kiffe comes from an arab word (kef) which means to like, to enjoy, a pleasure... which has been "imported" into France by North African people... and became "kiffe".
It simply means "to really enjoy someone or something!"
e.g: I kiffed that trip!
I would kiffe to meet her;
She really is kiffable
What a kiffe to drive that car!
Because it comes from some sort of French suburb slang (langage des cités), but is now used by everyone (though it is still 'slangish'), you can use it how you want to!
If anyone was wondering how to pronounce it, it sounds the same in english say "keef", like a reef but with a "k" instead!
[...]
-by KSC-ONE April 02, 2009"
**
Kuddy, 2015
"Never get bored of this song! It's the bomb..."
**
Ellaura, 2015
"This music is the bomb my goodness. .cameroonians ar strongly behind u haters get lost bcs yr opinion don't really count here instead they make u popular and motivated. .OYA I Don already d shake the body sef"
-snip-
This comment serves as one example of the lack of interest that YouTube commenters (and many other internet bloggers) have in punctuation, capitalization, and standard spelling rules. Here's how I think that comment would be written using those standard English language practices:
"This music is the bomb. My goodness, Cameroonians are strongly behind you. Haters get lost because your opinion doesn't really count here. Instead, they [the haters?] make you popular and motivated."...
"Oya I Don already d shake the body sef" is Nigerian Pidgin. Skales' Afrobeat song "Shake Body" repeats the word "Oya shake body". Here's information about the word "oya" from http://buzznigeria.com/common-nigerian-words-used-in-place-of-some-english-equivalents/# Common Nigerian Words Used In Place Of English Equivalents:
"Ngwa" is the Igbo version of the Yoruba word "Oya". They are both used to hasten someone. Ngwa make we de go". Oya na let's go.
-end of quote-
Given that information, the lyrics "Oya shake body" may mean something like "Come on. Hurry up and shake your body".
**
temi adekola, 2017
"bomb song
nigerinas are the best"
-snip-
I think that African American would say and write "This song is the bomb" and not [This is a] bomb song.
"nigerinas" is a misspelling of "Nigerians".
The term "bombed" has an entirely different meaning. "This song bombed" means that it was a big failure.
****
BOSS [definition "a"]
[in the context of this discussion thread], an adjective that is used to describe something that is the best in its category
PE Cornal, 2015
"Dear Nigerians,
You're music is boss , Your dancing slays life, And you have very beautiful people.
-Cameroonians
-snip-
The phrase "slays life" here probably has the same meaning as the word "killin'"given below and "murdered" given in Part II of this series.
**
Scorpion Cool, 2017
"the music is very boss."
-snip-
In this comment, "boss" has the same adjectival meaning as "the bomb" and "dope". I don't think that this is the way African Americans use the vernacular term "boss".
****
BOSS [definition "b"]
noun, a person who is the "head man (or woman] in charge", a person who rules others in his or her field (career, performance art)
D BS, 2016
"Skales, Tha Boss."
-snip-
"Skales [is] the boss.
****
BOOTY
noun; a referent for the part of the body that African Americans also refer to as "butt", "behind" and "ass".
Claire Dreher, 2015
"shakes our bodies, and bootys, in Paris, France
**
Mehdi Tabit. 2015
"Nigerian Music is so dope ;) This song makes me wanna shake my booty :D"
-snip-
My sense is that African Americans "booty" seldom use the word "booty" anymore. We seem to prefer the vernacular terms "butt:, "behind", and "ass" and not the word "bum" which has the same meaning. In my experience, the word "bum" (as in the sentence "Sit on your bum") is used much more by White Americans than by Black Americans.
****
BRO
noun; clip of the word "brother"; noun; a referent for a person's male sibling, and a referent used by females or males for males who share certain experiences (such as being from the same nation, community, neighborhood, race, ethnic group and/or who are part of the same social scene, or promote the same cause/s); calling a male "bro" [or "bruh" or other similar spellings] means that you are acknowledging your kinship with him; "Brotherman" was a 1960s form of "bro".
bankole gome, 2014
"Nice song,no doubt about it but not too good dance choreography and visuals. I reckon that the short video of timaya' dance actually matches the song. Thumbs up bro for the sounds!
**
Hadish Mengisteab, 2016
"Shake body love this music very much keep going bro from Eritrea 🇪🇷
**
peter Laqua, 2016
"nice bro"
****
BUMPIN [BUMPING]
verb; playing [a record]; Here's a definition of bumpin that was submitted to urban dictionary:
"blaring music and getting down to it. Jaming. Rocking out. Grooving to the music. Often used in reference to people driving down the road in their cars listening to some recording artists that they really like."
[...]
.
by runandwin June 27, 2005 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bumping
Erik Forman, 2015
"First heard this track at my daughters dance performance. I've been bumping this all day and passing it along. Skales...you are getting some love and support over here in NYC!!!"
-snip-
"Track" here means "record".
"NYC" means "New York City".
Read my comments about "nice" ("nyc") in Part II of this series.
**
george blake, 2015
its in new york now so its a wrap, bumpin this tonight.
-Snip-
In the context of this comment, "It’s a wrap" means that nothing more needs to be said or done (from a producer's words to actors when a scene is performed and filmed well). My sense is that the commenter meant that if Skales song has even reached New York City, it means that it has “made it” [to the big time].
**
JanyllHquez, 2016
"still bumping this!!!"
****
COOL
[in the context of this discussion thread]
adjective; something or someone who is "hip", up to date with the latest "in" urban youth/young adult cultures; a term used to describe something that is [or someone who is] great, wonderful, awesome.
adam binta, 2014
"Cool☺"
**
crooks d. jango, 2014
"Cool video (but not great though), he could have out some "coupé-décalé" dansers in it, i believe it would made ot more interrestiong."
-snip-
Here's information about "Coupe-decale" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup%C3%A9-D%C3%A9cal%C3%A9
"Coupé-Décalé is a type of popular dance music originating from Côte d'Ivoire and the Ivorian diaspora in Paris, France"...
-snip-
This commenter (and many others in that YouTube discussion thread) wasn't pleased with the dancing that was done in the official video for Skales' "Shake Body" song.
**
Eniola ade, 2014
"This video is disappointing, I was expecting more than this, but ish cool..."
-snip-
"ish" is a socially correct way of writing and saying the word "sh&t" (which is only partly spelled on this blog.)
Examples from this discussion thread of comments using a vernacular meaning of the word "sh&t" are included in Part II of this pancocojams series.
**
Benson Owusuansah, 2015
"hey guys this song b cull"
-snip-
I think that "b cull" probably means "be cool" [i.e. "is cool"].
**
Kodjo [an email address], 2015
"cool yo he killed it man"
-snip-
"Cool" here may have the meaning that is given above or may mean something like "Yeah" or Hey". The word "yo" in sentence means something like "Hey" if it has any meaning at all beyond its "hip" African American connotation.
Read the entries for "killin'" below.
**
Relson relson, 2016
"i love it it so cool just feel like dancing"
-snip-
Update: March 25, 2017
In my initial publication of this post, I wondered whether it was "authentically African American" to use adverbs such as "so", "too", and "real" as qualifiers/descriptors of vernacular adjectives such as "cool" and "hot". After doing some online research, I found some historical examples of such terms in the United States among African American and among non-African Americans. However, it may be "cool" [hip/acceptable] to use certain adverbs and not others with vernacular words such as "cool" and "hot". And, it seems to me that it's more appropriate [according to African American culture- in the past and in the present] to use the word "cool" without any qualifiers.
I'll publish a post on this topic ASAP and add its link here.
**
Relson relson, 2016
"i love it it so cool just feel like dancing"
**
boubacar mar gueye, 2016
"Trop cool"
-snip-
"trop" = French meaning "very much"
Note that a commenter reply with what I believe is a criticism of the practice of mixing French with another language:
Shanna. Shannaa, 2016
"A oooô chui pas la seule française merciiiii mdr"
[Google translate: "A oooô chui not the only French merciiiii mdr"]
**
cool gamer, 2016
this is a cool song
**
superAweber, 2017
That's rather cool.
**
ohcantona10, 2017
I could have sworn I heard this song on eastenders..lol. Cool tune!
**
Nebyu Nebyu, 2017
"so cool music"
****
DOPE
adjective; a term used to describe something that (or someone who) is great, wonderful, awesome
Savior Self, 2014
"Too dope"
**
Elizabeth Asemah, 2014
"The introduction is too dope.
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Andres Rodriguez, 2014
"very dope song"
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oke eva, 2014
"what a sellout!! this dude was a dope rapper with fire now he sounds like every dick,jack tom and harry SHAME!"
-snip-
For the folkloric record, here are two responses to this comment from that discussion thread. Note that two of those responses are given in Nigerian Pidgin English. I've included my relative interpretation in standard English for those comments using in part this online source: http://ngex.com/personalities/babawilly/dictionary/pidginn.htm Babawilly's Dictionary of Pidgin English Words and Phrases. Additions and corrections are welcome.
Reply
John Bosco, 2014
O boi as he was a dope rapper hunger no nearly kill am? if tom, dick and harry na the way to chop belle full abeg Skales, continue in that path, ask Inyanya and recently Praiz.
-snip-
Here's my attempt to put this in standard English: "Oh boy, and if he were a very good rapper he wouldn't have to worry about being killed by hunger? As if being like every Tom, Dick, and Harry is the way to succeed [sarcastically written]. Please, Skales, continue do do what you are doing. Ask [two Nigerian successful recording artists] Inyanya and recently Praiz."
-snip-
Note that "In June 2013, an upbeat dance song was released on YouTube by Minjin titled "Coupé-Décalé" It featured Iyanya, a Nigerian artist famous for his hit single "Kukere". [from Wikipedia's "coupe-decale" link given above]
**
Reply
louie dana, 2014
+oke eva
"Guy, nothing like dope rapper inside this matter o! Na until hungry dey follow am drag pillow for night ur body go calm down abi? Abeg free the guy JOR! LMAOOOOO
-snip-
Here's my attempt to translate that comment into standard English "Man, being a dope [awesome] rapper has nothing to do with this. It's a matter of survival. Shouldn't you calm down. Please free this guy [who wrote that statement I'm responding to as he has spoken nonsense.]
-snip-
Although it's off topic, here's some information about "I beg" from https://matadornetwork.com/abroad/beginners-guide-to-nigerian-pidgin-english/
Beginner’s guide to Nigerian pidgin English:
"I beg (abeg) is a Nigerian Pidgin English term that means "Please, but usually not a repentant plea. Example – Abeg! No waste my time!; Which means Please! Don’t waste my time!"
**
amour zongo, 2014
"Disons que sait cool le sound"
-snip-
Here's Google translates translation of this comment from French to English:
Let's say that cool the sound
-snip-
Here's my translation in standard English: "Let's say that the sound is [the song is] cool."
**
1LOVE_09, 2015
"This music is D.O.P.E
**
fasika bini, 2016
"it's dope :)"
**
Joshua Onyango, 2017
"dope"
-snip-
“Onyango” is a Kenyan [Luo] surname
-snip-
Also, here's a comment from that discussion thread that includes the word "doper". (That word isn't used by African Americans)
**
Josi Jeo El, 2014
"This video cld have been doper dan dis, he really worked hard on it but picked an inexperienced director, too many scenes to fit into a 3mins video was just a problem typical mistakes from directors who are over zealous."
-snip-
"This video cld have been doper dan dis" = "This video could have been better (more "hip") than this."
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GET DOWN
verbal phrase meaning to dance really well; to show off your best moves, similar to "to break it on down" ("Breakdown!)
Cherise Yanick, 2014
"Love the song but damn it says ah yuh shake body and the were shaking slow shoulda turned it all the way up in this video uh oh!(in my haitian voice) lol I get down to this song
**
Lisa Avery, 2017
"I think it's interesting how even modern African music unites Nigerian parents and their children (especially if the kids are born outside of Nigeria). Like you see both adults and kids get down on the dancefloor when this song comes on during our functions.
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GROOVE
noun; [in the context of the comment given below, "groove" means "a very good [music] record"
abrokenlife, 2014
"If you no jam to this groove, ah, you need help lol"
-snip-
A common practice in Nigeria is to end a sentence with the letter "o". http://ngex.com/personalities/babawilly/dictionary/pidgino.htm
"O!: Placed at the end of sentences for emphasis and effect E.g. I go broke bottle for yua head O!"
-snip-
Notice that custom in the following two comments that were written in response to abrokenlife's comment:
Reply
Mbula Enobong, 2014
"Amen-o"
-snip-
This is a good example of the combination of African American Vernacular English and Nigerian traditional language customs.
**
Reply
Shannen Tales, 2015
"Well Said o 😂😂😂😂"
-snip-
Another commenter wrote this reply to abrokenlife's comment in Nigerian [?] Pidgin English:
Sharon Lawsom, 2014
"No be lie"
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HATERS [HATING ON]
noun; people who criticize others [i.e. "hate on others"] for no real reason
chiyere1982, 2014
"Make all of you haters go make you sing your own make we hear!!!!!!! I beg im loving this song
**
[This comment was written as part of a long sub-thread that was started by commenter PE Cornal. That comment is given under the entry in this post for the word "boss".
chris maloney, 2015
"+PE Cornal leave him alone just the usual losers ... Hating...
**
james frank, 2014
"why are people still hating on this much loved song, i have traveled to three country in Africa recently, Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda and this song is hitting up in every club and the African people love the song. so please stop hating. Skales is a star and he can be better than wiz-kid and Michael Jackson if he wishes it all depends on him. #SHAKE BODY"
-SNIP-
"Hitting up" as it is used in this comment may be the same as "heating up" (getting hot, becoming very popular). "To hit up" someone means something different in African American Vernacular English and to "hit on" someone also has completely different African American Vernacular English meanings.
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HOT
adjective; very exciting, very stimulating; something that (or someone who) is great, wonderful, awesome, very popular (a hit)
Other African American Vernacular English words in the "hot"/fire" family (that have the same vernacular meaning) are "smokin", "the bomb", the now largely retired slang expression "Dynamite!", and the relatively recently coined vernacular meaning for the word "lit". Also, notice the flame pictorial icons that are found after a number of comments in this discussion thread. Those flame icons are signify that that beat is hot (The beat is on fire).
Gabriela Veizaga, 2014
"This song is HOT, I'm hispanic (From Bolivia) dance is a universal language
**
Mary Stephen, 2016
"THz beats is 2 hot and I cant sit still without dancing!"
**
sheniqueen, 2017
"Too Hot"
-snip-
The apparent popularity of the phrase "too hot" may be credited to Bruno Mars as that phrase is repeated in his popular 2014 Pop/Funk song "Uptown Funk". In that song, Bruno Mars is "braggin' on" himself. The adverb "too" in that lyrics means "very".
"Too hot" is a very strong compliment and not a complaint about the weather or otherwise.
**
Shella Stella Khalista, 2017
"Wow, the music is Hot. Love this from Atlanta Georgia!!!!!"
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FEEL YOU
verbal phrase, "I agree with you" (I understand what you are feeling). "I hear you" is an earlier form of this saying.
Sati .A, 2015
"^_^ I feel ya bro"
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FIRE [FIYAH] [definition "a"]
an exclamation indicating that something [or, less often someone] is "hot" [in the African American slang meaning of the word as given in the entry below], something (or someone) is very exciting, really stimulating
Ayodeji Marquis, 2014
This beat is "fire" !!!!
**
TdotJohn, 2014
"toronto sending love sh&ts* fire"
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment. The word love probably marks the end of one sentence and "sh&ts" the beginning of the next sentence.
Additional comments from that Skales' "Shake Body" discussion thread that include the word "sh&t" are given in Part II of this pancocojams series.
**
DJ Trinivibes, 2015
"this tune is FIRE!!!! even would make the dead get up and DANCE. blessings from DJ TRINIVIBES"
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Speechiegirl1, 2015
This song is a straight shot of hot fire!
**
FIRE [FIYAH] [definition "b"]
noun; meaning energy, intensity, passion [in a pure, non-sexual sense]
Read the comment written by oke eva, 2014 in the entry for "dope" for an example of this usage.
Additional comments that include the word "fire" are given in comments that are featured in Part II of this pancocojams series.
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HELLA
adverb; an intensifier that is formed by clipping the phrase "a hell of a lot of"; used to mean "very"
Ghizlane Z, 2016
"lol the beat is so north African. I hear this beat at Moroccan weddings often, but this is more sped up and more autotune to it. STILL HELLA NICE THO
-snip-
For the folkloric record, here's one reply to that comment:
JoStylin, 2015
"+Ghizlane ZThe instrument you are hearing is called the Goje and is only found in West Africa. The reason why you think its North African is because of the Tuareg tribe and Gnawa people who have transported traditional West African music to North Africa, particularly Morocco"
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JAM
[in the context of this discussion thread] noun; song, [music] recording, music instrumental composition
Bryan i Braimah, 2014
This jam is a hit, We are jamming to it in San Francisco. Everyone loves it.
-snip-
I think that the word "jamming" [which in the context of the above comment means enjoying music and/or dancing] is of Caribbean (probably Jamaican) origin.
**
African Barbie, 2015
"My workout jam I love it
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Cece Christian, 2016
"my favorite zumba jam
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mma mmarecon, 2016
"Lovely jam!"
-snip-
The standard English word “lovely” isn't usually used with the vernacular English word "jam".
**
Victor Aganoke, 2016
If you no shake body to this jam, your spirit go help you shake the body.
**
Darlene X, 2016
this is the jam!!!!!! Love it
-snip-
"This is my jam" means that this is your favorite song or one of your favorite songs.
I believe "jamming" is of Jamaican origin and not African American origin. As such, this compilation doesn't purposely include any examples of "jamming" from that discussion thread.
**
Emmanuella Niamke, 2017
"i beg that moment where you going to the bathroom and the dj decides to play this jam .i even forgot about bathroom #Nigerians you guys rock I love your music can't help but dance well done
-snip-
"This is my jam" is another way of saying "This is my song. Here's that comment from that discussion thread for Skales' "Body Shake" official video:
kplunkett00021, 2017
"This is my song!!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥
-snip_
Notice the flame icons that follow this comment. Those icons are the same as saying "This beat is on fire". Read the entries for "fire" that are given above.
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KILLA
noun; an unquestionable winner; something that kills (vanquishes) any other competition; Read the definition of "killin'" below.
Frank Lafavela, 2014
"''them wan hold me 4 randsom cuz im #young n im #rich and im #handsome'' #OYASHAKEBODY this beat is a killa
bigup 4rm Kamerun!
-snip-
Them wan hold me for ransom cause I'm young, rich, and handsome" and "oya shake body" are the most quoted lyrics from Skales' "Shake Body" song.
"Big up" is a widely used Jamaican phrase on Afrobeat music video's discussion threads. It doesn't appear to be used that often by African Americans. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-term-big-up-in-youtube-discussion.html for the pancocojams post "The Term "Big Up" In The YouTube Discussion Thread For The South African Music Video "Xigubu" by DJ Ganyani ft FB (Fiesta Black)."
"Kamerun" is a contemporary colloquial spelling for the nation of Cameroon, West Africa.
****
KILLIN' ["KILLING"]; [KILLED IT"]
verb; doing something very well; without question vanquishing any competitor; Other AAVE words with the same meaning are "murdered" and "slaughtered". Read those entries in Part II of this series.
Abraham Aklilu, 2016
NAIJA boys "killing" it!
-snip-
"Naija" is a contemporary informal term for "Nigeria".
**
JuiceHarris, 2016
"Just was in Jamaica and they're killin this song! That's how I discovered it. Love it!!"
-snip-
"Killin" here means that they are really loving this song [more than any other song.]
**
Yonis Ahmed, 2017
"lam a young a rich and awesome damn he killed l like that papa."
-snip-
"Papa" here is a term of respect for another man.
In contrast, when a man calls another man "son", it might be an insult.
**
Dat Bih, 2017
"lmaooo chris brown was killing this song in ny"
-snip-
Chris Brown is a contemporary Hip Hop star who is widely noted for his dancing skills.
Another commenter on that Skales "Shake Body" discussion thread wrote:
Oldies, 2016
Oh My God!!! This song is a pain killer.
-end of quote-
This isn’t the original African American vernacular meaning of the word “killin' ["killing"]
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/06/what-killing-it-means-how-it-got-those.html "African American Vernacular English: What "Killing It" Means & How It Got Those Slang Meanings" for one of pancocojams' posts on the AAVE term "killin'.
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This concludes Part I of this series.
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