In an interview with BBC, Falz opened up on the inspiration behind the viral video, 'This is Nigeria' and how he feels his critics have missed the point of the video by shooting the messenger while ignoring the message.
''The video has been very well received, even initially when I was releasing it, I didn't sort of anticipate the magnitude of reaction... I thought there will be some form of reaction and conversation but I didn't know how largely it will be received''. he says
"People are trying to shoot the messenger" - we spoke to @falzthebahdguy about the controversy surrounding #ThisIsNigeria.
On his reasons for deciding to shoot the video, Falz admits, ''It was important, first of all I was inspired by the original, This is America by Childish Gambino, I thought it was a very artistic and creative way to tell the American story and I thought it will be amazing to tell the Nigerian story in a similar fashion...
It was very important to stir up a heightened level of political and social consciousness out here...''
Responding to the criticisms and backlash that has trailed the video, the rapper states;
''Majority of what I have been facing, in terms of backlash is just a matter of people that are trying to shoot the messenger so that they miss the message, but at the end of the day, the message is really clear and everyone knows that the message is the truth.
Reactions to Falz's ''This is Nigeria'' video
playMuric has issued Falz a seven day ultimatum to take down his 'This is Nigeria' video (NigerianHerald)
playMuric has issued Falz a seven day ultimatum to take down his 'This is Nigeria' video (NigerianHerald)
The release of the video has been met with mixed reactions, as while some Nigerians celebrated his courage and described the visuals as a mirror of happenings in our society, with American rap mogul, Diddy joining in the act, others criticized it for reasons varying from poor execution to tribal stereotyping.
The video was the number one trending video on YouTube the weekend it was released, and currently has over 3.9M views and counting.
However, the biggest reaction surfaced on Tuesday, June 5 in the form of the Muslims Right Concern (MURIC), a religious body who issued a seven day ultimatum to the rapper to take down the video and apologize for what they tagged a ''hate video''. But Falz have revealed through his manager that he is yet to receive any official complains from any institution as regards the claim.
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