If you’re a fan of Cameroonian entertainment, then You must have come across either a video, or several posts, talking about the 80-20 campaign and you’ve probably been wondering what the trend is all about.
To fill you in, it is a movement by some Cameroonian entertainers, aimed at encouraging Cameroonians to consume 80 percent of Cameroonian content, and 20 percent of foreign content.
If you’ve been keen enough during the last few years, you would admit that the campaign has only intensified, even if it has continued to raise eyebrows and questions as to whether it is just a fight against Nigeria or truly a cause to make Cameroonians consume more of their own content and less of foreign? It clearly moved from urging Cameroonian DJs to play more of Cameroonian music, to advocating against the invitation of Nigerian entertainers to Cameroon.
If you’ve been wondering if it’s a fight against Nigeria, so are we and we can’t help but advance reasons why we believe it could be.
Firstly, there’s absolutely no doubt that Nigerian entertainers have cashed out massively from the Cameroonian entertainment industry, and they’re not the only ones from Africa who cash out from Cameroon if we must be honest. Artists from other countries like Fally Ipupa, Tayc, Dadjou, and Diamond Platnumz to name few, don’t often get the same backlash that most Nigerian entertainers get from Cameroonians and you begin to wonder why it is so.
Secondly, 80-20 protagonists, have held strongly in the past, and still do, that Nigerians are “selfish” and don’t reciprocate the love Cameroonians show them. This is because many believe that Nigerian artists are booked massively for shows in Cameroon but Nigerians never return the favor.
In most cases, some have used the scenarios, of some Cameroonian artists who’d moved to Nigeria and even collaborated with Nigerians after paying huge sums of money, but have never been given the attention and the push that most Nigerians receive whenever they’re in Cameroon.
For instance, Cameroonian artist Wax Dey’s collaboration with Nigerian artist Yemi Alade and D’Banj.
Cameroonian artist, Stanley Enow collaborated with Davido in 2017 and Salatiel with Teni in 2020 for his Africa Represented album.
Then there is Mr. Leo who featured Flavour in his Jamais Jamais remix released in April 2018. Given that Mr. Leo is considered to be one of Cameroon’s top singers, and that you can’t name Nigeria’s top 10 artists without mentioning Flavour, having only 1.8 million views on Youtube for this remix after six years of its release is quite disappointing as we all know Flavour alone gets 1 million views to any new song he releases within an hour.
All these collaborations didn’t really yield expected fruit. Some artists even disappeared therein like Xcellente, Zinnia, and many more who tried to settle in Nigeria.
However, the aforementioned Cameroonian artists have collaborated with artists from other African countries and the collaborations have seemingly paid off in one way or the other from either a “wider audience gain”, “monetary” or “networking” perspective more than the Nigerian linkups.
The unimpressive statistics of working with Nigerians make many Cameroonians to believe that there is something Nigerians are keeping away from others that they don’t want to share to help them blow up and be as successful as they are or maybe it’s high time these artists (who have collaborated with Nigerians) exploit other areas and just admit that Nigeria isn’t the right market for them.
HAS ANYTHING CHANGED SO FAR?
To be fair, not so much has changed. Many popular Cameroonian artists are still not known or recognized in Nigeria despite many years of putting in work and collaborating with some of Nigeria’s most popular artists.
Cameroonian singer and rapper Kocee who did a song with Beninese artist Fanicko, which became a hit in Central Africa, has done a couple of collaborations in the past with artists like Falz, and Victor. AD, however these collaborations have never paid off.
Recently, he featured another Nigerian artist, Patoranking, in his latest single “Credit Alert” which has been banging by the way. The reception hasn’t been the same. He’s getting more exposure, and making many connects with the big names out there.
The support Kocee has gotten from Nigerians, has been mind-blowing, one that we’ve not witnessed before. In as much as Kocee is getting the support and love he’s getting from both Cameroonians and Nigerians, many still can’t wrap their heads around the fact, as they continue to wonder why Kocee is getting more love but not other artists who’ve been there before him nev? What is he doing differently or more special besides paying for collaboration? Remember many artists even got bullied for doing the same thing he’s doing.
…even bloggers, and the media as a whole, seem to be giving him more support than they’ve given others in the past. What is Ko-c’s secret ? Or all this is thanks to a good promo strategy employed that others didn’t?
Looking at Kocee’s sudden breakthrough in Nigeria, 80-20 protagonists don’t even seem to be loving it, as the artist has been under serious criticism since his song dropped. I thought it made sense advocating for reciprocity from other industries, so what’s the problem now that the sacrifice seems to be paying off if at all that was the mantra? Do you now see that the 80-20 agenda might just be a selective fight against Nigeria and truly not against other countries?
We might console ourselves with Kocee trending in Nigeria now, but there’s need to settle for the truth which is that, most collaborations with Nigerians haven’t really paid off and instead of pumping money that might never be recouped, it’s rather good that most Cameroonian artists focus on doing collaborations with artists from other countries. Those have somewhat paid off.
Take the case of Salatiel featuring Haitian musical sensation Rutshell Gillaume in his 2020 hit song Good Girl off his Africa Represented album. The collaboration didn’t only pay off, but saw Salatiel establish a huge fan base in Haiti as well, broadening his audience to the Caribbean country.
There are other collaborations by other Cameroonian artists that we can go on and on, mentioning; succesful ones with artists from other Industries, not Nigeria.
So judging from all the available statistics, these artists who don’t sometimes have the financial means to fund their careers could do reality check and stop the unprofitable madrush to Nigeria.
