For a while now, life with Lagbaja, the masked man has been so terrible. The advent of hip-hop in Nigeria actually led to his musical misfortune. When he started out, not many people were disposed to his kind of song then but due to the fact that the competition was not stiff, Lagbaja was reigning supreme until hip hop came him through the Remedies etc.
Despite all kinds of stunts displayed by him in his videos etc, his relevance was dropping by the day as the global acceptability of hip hop forced him to leave for America, yet it didn't get it right unlike before and life, we learnt, became so unbearable for him. Today, Lagbaja, the Afro-beat singer, song writer, instrumentalist that was been inspiring minds with his powerful style of music since 1993 “finally reveals the face behind the mask.”
According to Lagbaja, his mask is used as an icon of man’s facelessness. Lagbaja is a Yoruba word that means “nobody in particular”. It depicts the anonymity of the so-called “common man”. The mask and the name symbolize the faceless, the voiceless in the society, particularly in Africa.
He is also known as “Omo baba mu’ko mu’ko” Often his music is purely instrumental- an interplay between traditional Yoruba percussion, drums, chants, western instruments, and especially the saxophone.
When there are lyrics, they are primarily sung in Yoruba, English or a blend of the two as is colloquially spoken in Yoruba cities. Many of his songs dwell on serious social issues, while others simply entertain. If truly this is “Omo baba mu’ko mu’ko”
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