Rapper Odumodublvck Calls out Concentrated Power, Reflects on Black Struggles
Nigerian rapper Odumodublvck has taken aim at the country’s political architecture and offered his perspectives on the state of Black communities in the United States.
In a recent interview with BET, Odumodublvck criticised how Nigerians frequently fault the President for national issues while overlooking the roles of state and local officials. “You have a local government, you have your councillor, you have your senator, the people directly in charge of you, but when anything happens, they say ‘ah, Tinubu’,” he said. “You’re a small fish to the president. The guy who is supposed to take care of you is the one opposite you. But that’s what you get when you use that kind of policy to govern a people, when everybody’s sovereignty is in the hands of one man.”
He warned that placing too much power in a single individual opens the system to manipulation and corruption. “If he’s a good man, they can take away your liberty by threatening him. What if he’s a man who waited 20 years for a child, becomes a governor, and they tell him, ‘If you don’t do this corruption, we’ll harm your daughter?’ Even if he wants to help the people, he doesn’t have a choice,” he added.
Turning to international issues, Odumodublvck acknowledged the suffering of Black people in America but urged a move away from a victim mentality. He noted that while Black Americans have faced significant adversity, progress has been made, and opportunities now exist: “We now have Black-owned businesses, a former Black president, people doing well in sports, now is the time to fly.”
He went further to compare this with the African experience, stating that Black people in Africa have endured even greater hardships, including “suffering at the hands of their own people.”