Original Story Published by: Frankie Dunn for i-d.vice
Photo Source: Santi
Let your new fave musician and huge horror fan Santi give you nightmares.
Santi, a key player in the game-changing new wave of Nigerian artists, makes dancehall with a difference. Fusing influences as diverse as cable TV cartoons, Nollywood VHS tapes and goth-rock ballads, the singer and director describes his sound as being “made up of my imaginations, memories and most importantly, feels”. His latest single, Freaky, is a reimagining of Nigerian hip-hop veteran Ikechukwu’s 2008 classic Shoobeedoo, reworked by Monster Boys producer Genio with vocals by himself, Toronto-based R&B artist Nonso Amadi and Nigerian rapper BRIDGE.
The accompanying music video takes direct inspiration from the Nigerian horror films Santi was raised on. Starring alongside his guest vocalists as an exorcist, the self-directed visual is an overly-dramatic and grainy ode to the genre — creepy trees, burning candles and soul-devouring women included. “Being raised in a Nigerian household, watching movies was one of our main pastimes and over the years I started to develop a certain passion for horror flicks,” Santi told us over email. “When the classics came out on VHS, our older siblings or people who worked around our parents had these releases, and if you were in the living room on a Sunday before school, you were sure to catch them.”
"There was a period of time in Nigeria where people were kidnapped for blood money and rituals, which made these films even scarier."
So how does Nollywood horror differ to its Hollywood counterpart? Aside from the lo-fi aesthetics, it seems that it’s all in the message. American horror, according to Santi, tends to let it all ride on the scary characters, while Nigerian horror movies taught viewers that evil was real and around. Nice. “Every horror movie had to do with witches and the lengths people will go to to be rich — all which seemed to be completely conceivable and happening in the real world,” Santi explains. “In the late 90s and early 2000s, there was a period of time in Nigeria where people were kidnapped for blood money and rituals, which made these films even scarier. At the end of some films the credits even began with the warning: BEWARE. MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL.”
This is Santi’s brilliant Freaky. Apt title, huh? Much possession. Very crucifix. But what else is on the recipe card for a wholesome Nigerian horror? We’ll let the young musician break down his favourite genre for you. First up — 5 essential tropes:
1. Jealousy
“This is the emotional premise for most Nigerian horror films. A man desperate for a way out of his poverty-stricken lifestyle happens to meet a childhood friend who is doing very well. He gets offered a chance to be rich beyond his wildest dreams if he will just sacrifice a family member (see: The Billionaires Club and Raging Storm). Films like Witches, End of the Wicked and Highway to the Grave commonly depicted jealousy as the singular motive for the protagonist being hell bent on ruining the lives of family members for simply having more money or having produced children.”
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