Ibadanonline Honors Rapper Da Grin On His 29th Posthumous Birthday

If you don’t who Da Grin was Ibadanonline.com will take you down the memory lane. Oladapo Olaitan Olaonipekun also known as Dagrin from Ogu...

If you don’t who Da Grin was Ibadanonline.com will take you down the memory lane. Oladapo Olaitan Olaonipekun also known as Dagrin from Ogun State was an award winning Nigerian rapper at the top of his craft before he sadly died via a tragic motor accident. His method of rap incorporated ghetto and gangster life style in a whole; using Yoruba, English and Pidgin English.

Da Grin was really good at Rap and it was no surprise he was nominated in 2010 on the Nigerian Entertainment Awards for Best Album (C.E.O.), Hottest Single “Pon Pon Pon”, Best Rap Act and Best Collaboration with vocals. Subsequently, his album C.E.O. (Chief executive Omota English: Chief Executive Gangster) won the Hip Hop World Award 2010 for best rap album. Da Grin was also ardently patriotic to his country, Nigeria. In one of his hit song “Pon Pon Pon”, the ‘Lyrical Werre’, as he referred to himself, said: Omo 9ja ni mi/ Naija lo bi mi si/ Naija mo ti bere si ni ka ABC/ Omo naija, mo le feyin si Pepsi/ Awa naija, won n gbo wa lori BBC/ (I am A Nigerian/ Nigeria is my place of birth/ I started learning ABC in Nigeria/ A proud Nigerian and i can celebrate it with a bottle of Pepsi/) The song “Pon Pon Pon” is a case study on its own. In the typical Da Grin style, he rapped about the rugged life style in Lagos, Agege, Ifewara, Mushin, Ikeja, Surulere, Isale Eko, and many other parts of south western Nigeria where the hard life in the slums are in contrast with the aristocrat lifestyle in the affluent cities in Lagos, most notably Lekki, Victoria Island among others.

In the video of the song, young ghetto boys were seen proudly displaying their tribal marks- This feat is in retrospect of the old Yoruba empire of Ile-Ife. On April 22, at a young age of 22, Da Grin was involved in a ghastly motor accident in front of Alakara Police Station, off Agege Motor Road, Mushin, Lagos. He died eight days later from his injuries while in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH). Some of Da Grin songs include: “Pon Pon Pon”, “Idi-Nla”, “Ghetto Dream”, “If I Die”,“E E Soro”, “Thank God”, “Kondo”. He worked with various Nigerian artists such as- Konga, Y.Q, 9ice, Omobaba, terry g, Timmycode, Omowumi, Cudy k, Bigiano among others. RIP Da Grin…

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