See Top 9 Nigerian Music Influenced Slangs & Their Meanings

8.Mugu

Asides, the synonymity with Maga, it has a different conceptual information and deeper meaning. Although, it could be offensive to some folks but what’s the fun in using slangs if it throws you off your seat? Mugu means ‘fool’ or ‘of a dumb person’. Love songs written or sang in pidgin contain this slang. Listen to Wizkid and Psquare songs from 2010.

7.Jonse/Jonze

Nigerians use this frequently. It means ‘to fail’ or ‘hit a stumbling block’ in pursuit of an endeavour. It is really funny when used in the right moment, especially in the midst of cliques. It originated from ‘Jonzing world’, a song by Mavin artiste, D’Prince which featured Wizkid and Jesse Jagz. Ever since, the coined version ‘jonze/jonse’ has been in use.

6.Legbegbe

‘Legbegbe’ was one of the songs that ushered us into the shaku-shaku rub era. Though, it was inspired from Seun Egbegbe’s iphone theft case of 2017, the record ended up as one of the greatest records ever from Nigeria. Legbegbe (Egbe egbe) is a yoruba word that means ‘side by side’. Legbegbe is a street banger by Mr. Real and it featured Idowest, Obadice and Kelvin Chuks. On the hook, Real self goes ‘Oya e fun won Legbegbe,iphone 1, iphone 2……’ .

5.Shepeteri

Another word that got birthed from the Shaku shaku era was ‘Shepeteri’ (from record ‘Omo shepeteri’). Omo shepteri means ‘a bad child’, especially when deviation from morals/moral decadence is involved. Omo Shepeteri belongs to Idowest and Slimcase.

4.Science student

Science students got attention from the W.H.O, Nigerian Government and even the broadcasting body, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). Olamide did not enjoy those few weeks of pressure and blames lashed on him (Blame it on the way he delivers his songs, all for the sake of creativity). ‘Science student’ is associated with illegal drugs – cannabis, raphenol, codeine, falcka e.t.c .

3.Owu

Owu has different origins, especially the one from a Nigerian Literature book ‘Women of Owu’. Owu has been violated by our artistes and occasionally used in their contents. Burna Boy used in his song ‘Check and balance’; Olamide also used it in his rap song ‘Owo blow’. Owu means ‘state being broke’

2.Omo Wobe

Olamide, once again is pointed at again for pioneering one of the Nigerian slangs. His influence in the streets is as credible as his hits songs. Omo wobe has a controversial meaning – ‘folks that smoke marijuana’. In his popular tune ‘Bobo’, Olamide could be heard on the intro calling, ‘Eyin Omo wobe(wobe), won gbo informaion……’. He even made the sishing smoking sounds.

1.Osha pra pra

A large chunk of the credit might have gotten to Yovi but we should not leave out the other artistes that infused ‘osha pra pra’ in their songs. ‘Osha pra pra’ means ‘fresh’, ‘clean’ or ‘to look good’. Ask any Lagos folk.