9 April 2019
The other day, two B-list female African musicians (one Kenyan and one Nigerian) went very hard on Tiwa Savage in a savage attack that was sustained for days. They blamed her for using dirty antics behind the scene to cause their decline and frustrate them out of the local music industry. They also went ahead to call her all sort of names.
Even though I may not agree with the low levels they went, I am on their side. I’ve noticed a trend with black female A-list celebs —they can’t stand competition and usually deploy this suppression technique to frustrate other upcoming, budding female celebrities.
Even after dominating the female rap scene for close to a decade, American rapper Nicki Minaj did all she could to stop Cardi B from rising up even though that was to no avail as Cardi’s star was too bright. Ironically, when the same Nicki popped into the scene around 2010, she was billed to perform as the opening act in a Rihanna concert. I remember Rihanna fought the organizers in a bid to prevent Minaj from being on her show. Same Nicki eventually blew and developed a similar attitude. I remember as an American Idol judge, she and co-judge Mariah Carey couldn’t stand each other. The animosity was so intense that one of them had to be dropped. Something similar also happened when Keris Hilson was beginning to make waves and somehow as we heard, Beyoncé wasn’t comfortable with that and got her blackballed(blacklisted). This led to her decline. Oprah Winfrey also did same to black American comedienne and show hostess, Monique. The list is long and the cycle is endless.
Black female celebrities seem to be their own worst enemies. There’s enough space in the air for every high flying bird to fly.
Simon is a social commentator
