Rapper, Ruggedman does not shy away from controversies. And it doesn’t appear he’s about to start now.
A few weeks after his arch-rival Mode 9, dropped a single Talking to you, a dis song, on which he appears to be referring to Rugged, the 33 year-old rapper has answered back with vengeance.
Rugged, who dissed his way to fame in 2001 (on the historic industry-redefining Ehen Pt 1), made no attempts on his new single banging to mask the fact that he is throwing punches at Mode 9.
With lyrics laced on infectious beats and a pleasantly catchy chorus, Ruggedman’s message was clear, ‘‘Stop trying to diss me/to tempt me. You are no where near me to match/ but if you ever make it to where I am/I’ll let you see why I am the man.’’
Disappointingly, he fails to ‘‘name names’’ as he is known to do. On the 2001 Ehen pt 1, he named his victims – Eedris Abdulkareem, Black Reverendz, Maintain and Rasqui – without caring whose ox is gored.
But, apparently, he didn’t need to mention any name on Banging. There is no single iota of doubt the subject of his venom this time is Mode 9.
He takes it further on another verse, ‘‘A lot trying to diss/fools still dissing me. Some will diss indirectly/ and still miss him…/ they point like a blind nurse/a patient/and her needle…’’
On Talking to you Mode 9 convinced us all he was referring to Ruggedman when he spat: ‘‘this baba/that baba/ if I dis a baba/ it’s not Ethiopia.’’
And Rugged goes on Banging: ‘‘I am on top of my game/your dissing attempts need crutches/cos/they are so lame…/ I make money from my Naija hip hop. You are broke and your album is flip flop.’’
Though he boasts of an incredible street credibility and a huge followership, Mode 9 is yet to achieve commercial success. He is yet to make the A list, and, unlike Ruggedman, is rarely on the most wanted list of promoters.
Determined to beat his rival to a pulp, he goes further, saying his ‘‘situation’’ is ‘‘drastic/condition critical and it’s gonna take a miracle for you to survive for Naija’’. And, in the cash-rule-everything-around-me attitude which the likes of Mode 9 overtly frown at, Rugged boasts ‘‘I wont relent ‘till I get me enough cash to last a lifetime/ I don’t intend being broke…’’
The rapper has told friends and fans his upcoming third album will be his last.
