Olamide was holding a box of popcorn when he spoke at the private screening of Ose Dudu at The Pod by Nile Luxury Cinemas in Lagos on November 3. He wore a patchwork adire two-piece in yellow, red and green. He said almost all of it in English, save for one line in Yoruba.
“Our culture and tradition is not diabolical and it is not to be demonized,” he told the room. “And we’re proud of who we are, where we’re coming from and everything about our heritage, tradition and culture.”
The Yoruba line was about the film’s title: “Omo Yoruba lemi, t’eba fun emi gan ni Ose Dudu malo,” which comes out as “I’m Yoruba, and if you give me black soap, I’ll use it.”
Ose Dudu means black soap, and The Black Soap is the film’s English title. Tayo Sobola, the actress and producer known online as Sotayo Gaga, made it through her company Sotee Entertainment, with Bimbo Akintola, Fatai Odua and Ayo Ewebiyi in the cast. It has been on her Sotayo Gaga TV YouTube channel since October 23 and had passed three million views by this afternoon. By midday, “Omo Yoruba” was trending on Nigerian X off the back of his clip.
Olamide has been making that case on record for 15 years. His debut album, Rapsodi, came out in 2011 with “Eni Duro” on it, Yoruba raps from Bariga that drew comparisons to the late DaGrin. Baddest Guy Ever Liveth followed in 2013, and in January 2015 he joined Reminisce and Phyno on “Local Rappers,” whose hook, “Streets ti takeover, punchline o ja’wo mo” (the streets have taken over, punchlines don’t cut it anymore), was aimed at anyone who said rapping in your own language wasn’t real rap. Later that year Eyan Mayweather gave him “Bobo.” At OVO Arena Wembley last November, he told the London crowd to take their jackets off because tungba had started.
His next album, Time and Space, is out November 16, with “Burukutu” as its lead single. Four months later, on March 25, 2027, he headlines The O2 in London.
The English part of his speech is what people have been quoting all day. The Yoruba part is the one he can be held to the next time someone hands him a bar of soap.