Falz has stated that even though he knew his 'This is Nigeria' video will generate controversy, he didn't anticipate the extent of the reaction received.
Falz has been in the news a lot since the release of his 'This is Nigeria' video and the rapper admits that he could not have anticipated the reactions that has trailed the viral video.
In an interview with BBC, Falz opened up on the inspiration behind the viral video, 'This is Nigeria' and how he feels his critics have missed the point of the video by shooting the messenger while ignoring the message.
''The video has been very well received, even initially when I was releasing it, I didn't sort of anticipate the magnitude of reaction... I thought there will be some form of reaction and conversation but I didn't know how largely it will be received''. he says
On his reasons for deciding to shoot the video, Falz admits, ''It was important, first of all I was inspired by the original, This is America by Childish Gambino, I thought it was a very artistic and creative way to tell the American story and I thought it will be amazing to tell the Nigerian story in a similar fashion...
It was very important to stir up a heightened level of political and social consciousness out here...''
Responding to the criticisms and backlash that has trailed the video, the rapper states;
''Majority of what I have been facing, in terms of backlash is just a matter of people that are trying to shoot the messenger so that they miss the message, but at the end of the day, the message is really clear and everyone knows that the message is the truth.
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Reactions to Falz's ''This is Nigeria'' video
The release of the video has been met with mixed reactions, as while some Nigerians celebrated his courage and described the visuals as a mirror of happenings in our society, with American rap mogul, Diddy joining in the act, others criticised it for reasons varying from poor execution to tribal stereotyping.
The video was the number one trending video on YouTube the weekend it was released, and currently has over 3.9M views and counting.
However, the biggest reaction surfaced on Tuesday, June 5 in the form of the Muslims Right Concern (MURIC), a religious body who issued a seven day ultimatum to the rapper to take down the video and apologise for what they tagged a ''hate video''.
Falz through his manager however informed Pulse that they were yet to receive an official complaint from any institution and have no plans to remove the video.