If you have ever wondered where our hardcore hiphop artists were, well look no further: Str8buttah is one of such and gives you a new sound compared to different versions of the same beats and lyrics emerging nowadays from many Nigerian artists.
Str8Buttah, though probably not known to a lot of people, have been around for a while. The existence of this group dates back to 2000. This rap group is made up of six emcees namely Teckzilla, XYZ, R-Cube, Deck the Nexus, Enigma and Mistah Rae. As with most underground emcees, this group are influenced by the Nigerian economic situation and use their music as a medium to communicate with the youths with empowering lyrics.
Str8Buttah is a name that stuck as it was initially just the name of the group as a production company prior to evolving into a household name for these emcees. Str8 and Buttah as they explained to us are almost contradictory hip-hop slangs: the ying with the yang. Describing their audience as hip-hop enthusiasts, young and old age groups, these emcees refer to themselves as unsung superheroes with no spandex: regular, plain and simple dudes. Motivated by God, life and the love of the art which they engage in, the group has evolved since its amalgamation. They strive to remain relevant by updating their music making process, and also looking out for who is who and new acts on the scene.
As imagined, most groups typically don’t stick together as long as this group has. Hence, we posed this question to them: “How have the members of the group managed to stick together after all these years and still produce lyrically meaningful content?“. In reply, they said “The science behind this is simply called team work plus a well defined goal.Its sorta like individual robots coming together to form a much more powerful one to fight for the cause.Before music we were all friends,having fun like regular boys so it kinda comes easy.The Music and Friendship is carried hand in hand…mutual respect is the watch word!!“.
Though they have released 4 other albums, their album titled “Str8 4rm da art” which was released August 2009 is actually their debut album. Recently, the group grabbed an award for the SMVA best hip-hop video and they described the accompanying feeling as such: “Great,the feeling was just wonderful..a step in the right direction that is!this only goes to show that people are actually listening.To be frank recognition is the best reward besides huge sums of money!”
We had to ask what their formula for staying together this long was and asked them to offer their advice to upcoming artists and groups and here’s what they had to say: “Drop the egos and face the music, the Music and Friendship is always first…put away everything else”
Though the members of the group have worked with quite a few artists like MoCheddah, Kel, Mode9, Illbliss, Lord of Ajasa amongst others, they hope to one day work with Asa. You can purchase their album on their site at str8buttah.com and some outlets in Lagos and Port Harcourt. Despite the fact that they haven’t been nominated for more awards since their winning, we can expect them to be around for a while and hopefully rack up more awards. In the future, we have been told that you can expect more albums, mixtapes, videos and of course, show stopping performances! We will certainly be on the look-out for this group!
I Rep Str8Buttah!
Listen to “Showtime” ft. Kel
Listen to “Fire”
Listen to “Last Stand”
To learn more information about Str8Buttah, visit the following pages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Str8Buttah
Been bumping this boys for a while and yall need to pay attention to them.Ill,this is real Naija hiphop
Finally, I can scream SHANGAIIIIII …… The realer r on the way. By d way when you guys finally blow, try hook a niggurrh Up….
What do i think? I think it’s Super COOL.. my Guy Teck… like the group picture thou.. looks like the new school Jacksons. Great work guys..
4gerrit! this my crew! even my wifey sef dey jealous of dem…but seriously, these dudes are not just hiphop at its best but Music at its realest.
Str8buttah? now dats a crew i wanna hear more of…on Radio, On TV, on the internet…it’s like a breath of fresh air 4me & their lyrics, their instrumentals, their hiphop, their essence. it’s all awesome. Still avnt gotten over their Fire Video…dats wut i’d like to see on Tv. And dat album is a Hiphop Classic! and its world acclaimed…am not speaking locally.dnt care wut anybody says…even MI or Mode9 can’t touch it.
I got sum white dudes over here in boro dat still cant bliv it dat such Music/Hiphop can come outta Naija. They still telling me to reveal Str8 Buttah’s real nationality (They say they sure they 4rm New York or sumthing…Can u imagine.Lol
Recommended to everybody.1 dosage per day.
Am usually a critic but i got 2 bow for this collective. Am overwhelmed…
Dat’s was up,it’s time some real rap artists come out from naija. one love
Feelin dat shabang fire…str8buttah baby.
I dey feel this guys but abeg which track them do with ajasa. that sounds like an interesting combo
Str8buttah’s da bomb! i knw music…believe dat.
Meeeennnnn!!! Am feeling these cats like nuthing else. Enuff crap on radio and tv. They bringing the music in hiphop back.word!
Hiphop! Hiphop! I know MI be doin his thing, Some other cats too, no doubt abt dat. But Str8buttah, they got this sound dat can’t be touched…absolutely different.There’s dis vintage feeling of the golden era. not many people can bring u dat feeling. Just a chosen few.
I love you guys Str8 buttah…go go go!!!
yes o, go go go…We luv u Str8buttah!!!
Rcube directed a video for Lord of Ajasa. The actual media item is what I don’t know but I’ll find out and get back to you!!!
These guys are just tryin to bring back the golden era, but it will never come back. They had better get used to what is going on in the industry today or they’ll sooner than later just fade away.
True is the fact that the industry is different from the “golden” era but it has to be known that nowadays, it’s getting hard to find a really unique person as everyone is coming forth with the same sound, beat and even sometimes lyrics. That being said, depending on their strategy they may be here longer than imagined. Collaborating with the artists of the industry nowadays is one way to ensure they aren’t forgotten and as long as they keep giving the audience what they want, they should be good. Believe it or not, not everyone is all for the music nowadays and you probably know people like that. So only time will tell what their fate is but given they’ve been together for years, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see them rocking the stage years from now!
Str8buttah is the truth..These guys have been holding it down for years now..They deserve props and some dough too
Str8 Buttah are d essence, they represent art and music 4 dat matter and even if they fade away, like some people think they might.they wud av shown we the true fans of the artform that this kind of material dat can compete in d states or anywhere in d world actually exists right ere in naija. It’s just sick 2 knw dat people actually wnt u 2 compromise craft 4 sumthing else. just like it’s happened 2 a lot of my hiphop heroes and guess wut? it got worse 4 instead of 4 d better…
Str8buttah and nothing else, keep it coming.
@ Omo Boi, Dude u need to understand the science of what u r saying! Trying to bring the golden era back? Dude they started it in 9ja! It’s about doing what u feel from ur soul. Music is an art form, let them practice what they have on the inside. If u don’t love that, at least repect their right to make their choice, just like u have a right not to listen! Str8… keep it locked n st8!
@ Raphani, its just a comment, piece of advice … cuz i have seen so-called great HEADS who do this real rap thingy (or used to do it) and believe me they got nowhere with it, frustration got the best of them. Im just curious to see the outcome of the game, because its bad enuff(in Nigeria) that an artist’s genre is Rap music even if its trendy like the MI’s and Ruggedmen, what will you expect of Str8butah?… too foreign and somewhat dated.
Altho MI seems to be having a ball, methinks it momentary. But he’s here now.
@ Omo Boi Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion anyways.I just hope they do what their hearts tell ‘em.Really?seems everyone doing commercial music is making it big too then??? it goes both ways my friend,their are a million of commercial rappers in Naija who might not get that far with all the club/bling in their songs just a handful of lucky ones might but hey there is nothing wrong in trying something different for a change. At the end of the day all join..do you and don’t bother about the next man’s hustle
I tire o’…Abeg wetin sef! Is making music about pleasing every1…how abt doin wut comes str8 4rm ur heart, that’s 1 of d most difficult things 4 an artist 2 do. u got every1 breathing down ur neck to do dis n dat.dnt think any1 is tryn 2 bring d golden era back…oh’ excuse me, but they can join d bandwagon and try 2 copy d Lil’ dis Lil’ dat of nowadays abi.
Abeg Str8 Buttah,do u jare. fire burn dem haterz jo’…saw dem dudes in d nu suspect vid last nite…they closed d show, as veterans now…Lol
yeah, if to say i get money ehn’…i 4 don sign these guys te te…i dont knw why people don’t recognise pure & untampered talent. imagine wut we cud achieve 2geda…4get! we’ll take over the Continent. Dem dudes are hiphop in its entirety.Not just nu guy say so…me and a lot of dudes were still talkin abt dis a while ago. 1
you guys are my best rap duo, i just love ur lyrics and i try to learn from them because am thinking of making a mixtape, so i take every opportunity to listen to ur lyrics and visualize it, keep it up