Florence – na who be your daddy- Ifeoluwa Otedola, can afford an exquisite breakfast at a posh restaurant in London before flying to France to have lunch then jet off to Italy in the evening for dinner.
But she decided to have a huge full meal of Jollof rice on her private jet, thereby stimulating discourse on the desirability of eating ‘classless’ while travelling class.
Why didn’t Florence, better known as DJ Cuppy, wait till she gets to her destination before offloading any three course meal of her choice?
Well, that is what she claims she did in her latest work, but she gives no reason, either in the video or in the lyrics of the song.
Since the answer is not blowing in the wind, a close look at the persona of the 27-year-old may provide a glimpse as to what may be her reason for having Jollof on the jet.
Cuppy is a DJ, who mixes and synthesises sounds to provide rhythm for dance and entertainment. Just like the mix in the discography, Jollof is a mixture of condiments aimed at refreshing the taste bud.
Having it on a jet comes with its paroxyms but it would seem that Cuppy prefers such confluence of differences to express her thoughts.
Take this: Though from a rich background and who can afford all the entertainment the world offers, she prefers to do the entertaining herself.
In that bid, the scale weighs up against her trying to show off her wealth or showcasing her talent.
She took the risk and arrived in Italy with a chocolate mix of what she called Gelato.
It’s the kind of beat Nigerians are not used to.
The Aje butter vocals pulsating in infant like tone against the practiced ghetto voice of Zhlatan portrays her as a novice in need of direction in that first outing.
Music aficionados didn’t take her seriously as she sang the Gelato with ice creams dripping all over the set.
The audience response was that of suspicion. Does she want to sing or she wants to play?
There is a classic example of how many of her fans(?) responded to her song.
When she tweeted her disappointment with Arsenal Football Club, someone commented that if Nigerians could tolerate her music, then she should also learn to tolerate Arsenal’s poor performance.
It got the young artist. “This one enter sha,” she responded.
But many music fans forgave her shortcoming with the compelling picturesque video accompanying the release. It was one of the most colourful music shoots and is a cut between binge cartoon and live recording.
The title of the song derived from the Italian chocolate cream ‘Gelato’ is not farfetched.
The Otedola family are said to fly all the way to Milan from any part of the world, just to have ice cream.
Little wonder the aje butter song drips with what to many could be only a fantasy:
“I go take you to Italy,
I go take you to America,
Take you to London,
I go bring you come Nigeria,
Just to have some Gelato (Gelato)
But this time, DJ Cuppy would not be having a Gelato. The wave of sensation she created with a foreign cuisine and the video accompanying the song which saw her leaking the stuff that many Nigerian girls have not tasted is bound to evoke envy.
Probably due to this consideration, the daughter of the dollar billionaire, who just had a Ferrari added to her fleet, decided to come down to the level of the ordinary Nigerian and decided to have the second most popular delicacy after Gari, Jollof rice.
Jollof made the headlines during the visit of CNN’s Jonathan Mann to Nigeria, when he wanted to know which country makes the best Jollof and the Nigerian information minister, Lai Mohammed said it was Senegal! (Many say he in that instance told the truth for the first time).
Cuppy may have decided to cue in from there and sell Jollof as purely a Nigerian brand.
But if the purpose of having jollof is because she wants to come down to the level of the common man, then why have it on a jet?
Why not on a train or even a bus?
But the oversight can be excused given the perspective of the artist.
Unlike someone who grew up in Ajegunle, knowing only the jigi-jaga locomotive that makes the loudest noise with its horn and air-poluting black smoke while moving on a single lane track that looks like it is about to tip over, for Cuppy, who has lived in London from age 13, the contrast between a train and jet may not be that striking.
Whether she travels first class on a London train or decides to to fly to Italy to buy her favourite Gelato on a hot afternoon in one of her father’s private jets, the luxury is almost the same.
The Jollof on the Jet like most works of today’s artists has no political undertone or hidden meaning. It’s a feel good mix that dwells on the scene.
The issue is mainly in the title. The departure from Gelato to Jolof is a mésalliance but the lyric and rhythm are almost the same.
Many predict that if history is anything to go by, the daughter of one of the richest men in Nigeria may decide to have fufu on Keke Napep in her next outing. Or so we had hoped, until Daddy bought her a Ferrari!
