Folarin Falana, better known by his stage name Falz, is a Nigerian hip hop artist, songwriter and actor. He is well-known by his collaborated acts with the Nigerian star, Yemi Alade.
The video above is Falz’s song entitled “La fete”. In this song, he incorporates different languages including: Yoruba, French, Swahili, and the Nigerian dialect “Pidgin English”. In this song, he uses these different languages whenever he felt the need of explaining different things in a unique, interactive and understandable way.
For example: In his song he states:
“Have you ever been to Lagos?
Have you been with a guy from my city?
Hakuna Matata, I like your matter, ko ma titi
You can do a magic, e fi mi le, je vous duansi
Ehh, tous e mami fik
Mo like style e gan, on seanti, madamme massel”
In these lyrics, he used the Swahili language “Hakuna Matata” which means “No worries”, to explain how a guy from his city is. Then moves on to speak French (the language of love) to sweeten his tongue when speaking to the “woman” that he is referencing at this point.
Although Falz began his song by using Yoruba which is his native tongue, he also felt the need to incorporate these other languages to emphasize his point a bit further.
He then went on with the following lyrics:
“Se wa je ireke, I’ll give you?
Ques que jues di le je? little
B’on se n twerk, mo ti daze, skilful
Onkur repeti, for me, baby hu huu
Lala, move a little closer”
“Celo momo, lo momo de fek La Fête
Celo momo, lo momo de fek La Fête
Oya hold your neighbour gbe sunmo k’o magnet
Celo momo, lo momo de fek La Fête
Oya show them oya oya show them”
Here, Falz uses slant rhyming with the use of French and pidgin English to make his song a bit more engaging. He also makes sure to connect his lyrics with exactly what message he’s trying to send across to his listener in order for it to sound versatile.
This song allows Falz to be seen on a more global spectrum as using these languages will allow listeners from all over the world to be able to relate, listen and understand what he is trying to set forth with this song.