A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF SELECTED NIGERIAN HIP HOP SONGS.

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a Critical Discourse Analysis of Selected Nigerian hip hop songs. The study examined the linguistic features, contextual components and the content of the lyrics. The analysis were base on Fairclough’s three dimensional model to Critical discourse analysis (CDA), namely: Text analysis (Description stage), Discursive practice (Interpretation stage) and Social practice (Explanation stage). The stages pave a way for easy analysis of the  data and also help in arriving at the conclusion of the study. Data used in this study were comprises seven (7) song from Boomplay and Spotify. The selected songs are “Many things” by Zinoleesky, “Doh” by Victor AD, “Peace” by Mohbadd, “Mr yakubu” and “Hypocrite” by Falz, “Another story”  and “20-10-20” by Burna Boy. The song were randomly  selected in which were analyzed with Qualitative method because of the presence of some social contexts and linguistic features such as words, sentence structures, Figurative devices etc.  in them and also how they reflect socio-political realities in Nigeria while systematically challenging the Government activities. The findings of this study exposes how linguistic features and discourse resources in songs reveal the context and content of the Nigerian society. It also exposes the power relations and lack of commitment of the Nigerian leaders to the National cause. Base on the analysis, some conclusion were made, in that, the lyrics analysed help the audience or readers understand the hidden meaning inherent in Nigerian hip hop songs.