Music is one of the greatest forms of entertainment, and at the same time, it can be one of the most effective ways to address societal issues. Popular Nigerian singer, Dibine Ikubor known as Rema has proven this in the newly released video for his song ‘Are You There.’
Over the years, we have seen musicians come and go who criticized the government with their songs, and the creative storytelling in their videos. A couple of them are rappers like Eedris Abdulkareem, Falz, and African China among many others.
The young REMA just joined the league of those who speak truth to power with the work of art and there are messages deeply placed in the music video directed by the popular Boy Director.
Let’s talk about some of the messages that are strongly present in the music video of ‘Are You There’ that are also very much prevalent in present-day Nigeria.
Shortage of petrol in Nigeria
A couple of weeks ago, the whole country was thrown into a frenzy over the shortage of petrol. This started from filling stations selling diluted petrol to people that were reported to cause damage to light generators and car engines.
In the video of ‘Are You There’ Rema symbolizes the situation with a picture of people struggling to get fuel. You can see a scene where an ‘okada rider’ has galloons of petrol stacked on his bike and riding with it.
This vividly paints the struggle Nigerians had to go through during the short period that incident happened and it was a message well passed.
Politicians looting money and living a lavish lifestyle
This is not a new thing anymore in the country as it has become a norm for everyone going into politics to aim for the ‘national cake’ as the proceeds of illegal money looted in government offices are called.
In the video of ‘Are You There’ Rema was able to paint a picture of the situation with some politicians in a room filled with women and money living a lavish lifestyle. In the same scene, news came up on their screen of youths protesting but instead of acting on it, they shut the television off.
This passes the meaning that politicians really don’t care about the masses.
Youths protesting for different reasons
Over the last couple of years, youths have one thing or another to protest about. If it is not a strike caused by non-payment for university staff, it is unjust harassment from security agencies, among many others.
In the video of ‘Are You There’ youths were pictured carrying placards in protest. Some of the signs were in protest against the strike while some were about police harassment.
Rema was able to tell the story of the current ongoing strike on Nigerian universities with this scene as well as the End Sars protest.
Police being used as a tool of oppression
The phrase ‘police is your friend’ does not mean what it says to the average Nigerian because the Nigerian Police Force is perceived as a tool of oppression against the Nigerian youth. It’s either the police threatening to shoot a young person or firing tear gas at peaceful protesters. Either way, the police are never friendly to the masses.
Rema was able to paint a picture of this towards the end of the video while arguing with the police.
Conclusion
The music video for ‘Are You There’ is a top-notch video with great storytelling. The creativity in it is an interesting thing to watch and it is safe to say Rema went really hard on it.
Talking about directing, Boy Director snapped.