The rise of Nneka

She was born in the oil city of Warri in 1980 and had her primary and secondary education there. But at the age of 18, she travelled to Hamburg, Germany to pursue a degree in anthropology and a career in music. Since 2003, Nneka has been going about with her guitar, performing at small events […]

She was born in the oil city of Warri in 1980 and had her primary and secondary education there. But at the age of 18, she travelled to Hamburg, Germany to pursue a degree in anthropology and a career in music.

Since 2003, Nneka has been going about with her guitar, performing at small events and concerts. Her breakthrough came in 2004 when she performed as an opening act at a Hamburg concert for American dancehall reggae top shot Sean Paul.

The critical acclaim saw her bag a record deal and a year later, she dropped her first EP, The Uncomfortable Truth and in 2005 she was off on a European tour.

But success did not come easy for Nneka, who now shares her time between Nigeria and Germany.

“I had challenges with acknowledgement in Nigeria. I have always stuck to my origin in Africa. Trying to push my music in Nigeria was a very big challenge in the beginning until I won the MOBO award, until I was on CNN. It was then Nigerians started taking me serious,” she said.

And of course, being the ambassador of telecom giants Starcomms put her face on huge billboards on several cities across the country. Nneka thinks that has contributed to her growing fame.

“That exposure has supported me a lot to push my music in the last 10 months,” she said.

Music and concerns

Nneka is socially conscious. This is evident in the contents of her music, most of which focuses on her experiences growing up, capitalism and the challenges of living. Though principally a hip hop artists, Nneka has been influenced by the likes of Fela and Bob Marley, Lauryn Hill a as well as rap artistes Mos Def and Talib Kweli.

“My history inspires the music,” she said. “Growing up in Warri and being of two cultures, experiencing negative and positive aspects of my childhood. Of course, the conflicting Warri, the tribalism, seeing other people, how they live their lives, what they encountered, their challenges, the issues of corruption, and of course everything in Nigeria inspires my music. There is also the movement of people, their chaos, the peace within the chaos, the sanity inside the madness, the contradictions, Nigeria being a very religious country and at the same time the country that harbours the most horrible voodoo or juju practitioners of the world. All these inspire my music. So I am part of the system and that makes me what I am.”

All these factors have inspired Nneka to some several albums; Victims of Truth, and No Longer at Ease, her second, was inspired by Chinua Achebe’s masterpiece with the same title.

“I read the book back in the days but I had forgotten the contents and after I had composed the song and the title, I still went back to read the book. And surprisingly, the story fits into my songs. In fact, the album recreates the scenario created in the book. Most of my songs are very political and also personal,” she said.

Her latest album, The Soul is Heavy is also political, Nneka says, and touches on contemporary issues in the country.

“It is also political and it is about the things that have happened in Nigeria in the last three to four years. My return to Nigeria, my movement to Lagos, the situation with Boko Haram , a lot of kidnappings and many others,” she said.

Nneka has had to deal with racial issues while studying in Germany. Her case was made a bit more difficult beacsue she was singing then to sponsor her education and didn’t allow the racial remarks of a professor put her down. Now she is waxing stronger and the world is taking note.