Ever squeezed your face at the lyrics of a song?
I spent about 2 hours at a shop, and to kill time, I had to shift my focus from my phone, whose battery was already screaming for life, to the flat-screen TV meant to entertain visitors. On an average day, I would enjoy whatever was on, especially if the TV was tuned to a sports channel or music channel.
"Nigerian afrobeat is just beat and nothing else."
I have never debated this quote, but today, I was assaulted with song upon song, and quite unluckily for me today, I had the presence of mind to sit and really watch the music videos
Scene upon scene in each music video, a nearly naked lady was presented to my senses. I made the mistake of taking into account the words rolling off the lips of the artistes. God! If the rate of illicit sex needs to find a nesting home, Nigerian afrobeat would gladly breed it. Line after line of sexual glorification was churned out to the minds of unsuspecting listeners.
I spent close to 3 hours due to delays beyond my control, and there were only about 3 decent songs aired. Unsurprisingly, various customers and workers bobbed their heads to the different tunes while some sang the lyrics one by one.
Don't get me wrong, I love a good secular song, and I am a sucker for quality rap, but when the lyrics of your music border on obscene and advocate for a life without sexual rules, I draw the line.
How does this affect how the mind works?
Simple, the more something resounds in your mind, the more it conditions the way you react to situations. Ponder on sex enough, and your decisions are skewed towards it.
It is not newfound knowledge that what you feed your mind with eventually forms how you think. Your beliefs are centered on what you spend your time listening to.
Eventually, you become what you spend time listening to. Listen to songs about illegal money-making, and eventually, you begin to rationalize selling drugs or other illegal ventures. The more you listen to songs glorifying illicit sex, the more you become open to the idea. The more you listen to songs on how bad a system is, the more you see the flaws in that system.
What to do
Pick what you listen to. Be deliberate about your music. Be intentional with what you feed your mind. Understand that music influences the masses, and you definitely don't want to be with the present crop of the masses.
