Although there are designs, but then we have pop culture staples that accompany an era with the force of a power stamp, that are real and users' loyalty over that period is very impressive.
Some shirt design logo have drawn our attention in the past to the point of troubling our parent to get it for us. Personally, I have gone a step further to trouble my stomach with starvation just so I could afford these trending shirt design near me.
One
major characteristics of these designs was accessibility across
Nigerian states and locations as they are the main stock in most
Nigerian knock-off hubs. Listed below are seven products of the shirt
design labs that has caused Buzz in Nigeria over the past 20 years, this
was even evident in the recent #10yearschallenge online trend as most
Nigerian youths and today’s MCMs posted pictures of them on these shirt
design online.
All eyes on me
The first shirt design on this list is the “All eyes on me” crest on shirts. This is the album art that became a Nigerian pop culture, the age grade that had this shirt were the middle class to lower class kids born in the 90’s. If you didn’t have this pop culture resulting from legendary musician, 2 Pac’s album then, you were not cool enough. Tupac’s fourth studio album, released in 1996 “All Eyez On Me” literally became a mainstay of mainstream pop culture and became a viral sensation in Nigeria as the subject of multiple knock-offs and boutique shelves across Nigeria.
Ama Kip Kip
Ama Kip Kip is the name for a brand South African popcorn that impacted pop culture beyond borders. According to Kelo Okeke on his medium page, “Ama Kip Kip is a South African based urban fashion brand that was very popular in the mid 2000’s. Originating out of Johannesburg (Ama Kip Kip is actually “colored popcorn”, a local Jo’burg delicacy), the brand became a continental hit when the newly formed MTV Base Africa started beaming South African videos to the rest of Africa.
This trend was further aided by D’banj, and by the final quarter of 2008, “Ama Kip Kip” became mainstream usually worn atop bootlegged jeans and Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers.
This design became the toast of Nigerian knock-off producers as the demand grew and we can only imagine what the owners of that design would have made had they sold it directly to the Nigerian market.
Why Always Me
This design I can say is one of those I actually knew the origin and witnessed in real time. On October 23, 2011, Manchester City inflicted the worst home defeat since February 1955 on their close city rivals, Manchester United. The score on the day was 1-6 and one of the goalscorers was 21-year-old Italian Maverick, Mario Balotelli, who upon scoring one of his goals pulled his shirt up to reveal his undershirt bearing ‘Why Always Me.’ Although this was a partial reference to why he is always in the news, that didn’t stop Nigerian shirt design labs and companies from producing different shirt design sizes with that design text and in a matter of weeks, these shirts were flying the Nigerian streets. In fact, most of today’s MCMs bought that shirt, hoping to shine with it but had to stuff it in their wardrobes after seeing it on teens around them.
Alobam
This is the first shirt on this list that originates from Nigeria. In March 2014, Nigerian rap superstar, Phyno dropped his first studio album, “No Guts, No Glory,” which has a certain track, “Alobam” meaning “My Guy” in Igbo. Few months later, he released a video that spoke to the Nigerian ‘cool kid’ culture at the time, filled with young men dressed well, riding bicycles.
Phyno narrated his life story in a hilarious manner on the album's intro. "Alobam" is an ode to his friends who have contributed to his success but Nigerian shirt designers had other ideas.
This design was to take over Nigeria shirt design for the next 2 years, seen in major knock-off hubs and some retailers with wheelbarrows who sold theirs at an astoundingly low cost of N500. Imagine, #500 on jean and a good looking footwear was what you hit up on then!
My Money Grows Like Grass
Strange trends happen and people grow crazy about them, this shirt design’s origin still baffles me till today, “My Money Grows Like Grass” simply hit Nigerian streets and before we knew it then, it was produced in numbers and different colors, I remember a friend of mine had this shirt design in three different colors, Seems strange? This was the style of the town, you simply need to alter your “shoe Laces” to match the shirt design color, another fashion trend Nigerian youths went crazy for, that was viral sensation of 2012 through 2014.
My Oga at The Top
As I stated earlier, some fashion trends originate from controversies. As Facebook and Twitter championed this fashion era, anything trending became a pop culture, it got so bad that events from comedy skit was something for knock-off designers to pounce on. A great shout-out to Nigeria!
For the fashion newbies, this style originated from a channels TV morning program. According to Wikipedia, “(It) became very popular when Channels TV’s morning program Sunrise Daily interviewed Obafaiye Shem, the Lagos State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on the need to know the correct website of the corp to avoid misleading job seekers.
“He was asked, "What is the website of the NSCDC?" And he responded, "I cannot categorically tell you one now." He was asked again, "Do you mean that NSCDC has multiple websites?" He responded, "We can't have multiple websites but I cannot tell you one now, and “My Oga At The Top” say is another one and the one we are going to make use of will be made known by “My Oga At The Top.”
A few days later, Nigerian rapper, Skales parodied the event in a short video clip, rapping the phrase on a trap beat. In no time, the phrase was seen on shirts across Nigerian streets, with some having the image which reflects the exact gesture made during the Sunrise Daily show.
Boys Are Not Smiling
An era often regarded as “Nigerian youth poverty era” was rounded up into two of the major quips of the 2000s, “Nor look Uche face,” and “Boys Are Not Smiling,” to exemplify the seriousness of Nigerian struggle and hustle.
In 2010, Terry Tha Rapman made a song about this struggle, but its legend was sealed a year later when Nigerian rap legend, Olamide released a song of the same title and before anyone realized it, the phrases “Nor look Uche face,” and “Boys Are Not Smiling,” became a major shirt design text.
These are the 7 viral shirt designs in the past 20 years in Nigeria, am sure you have some on your mind which are not listed here, it may be a culture pop in your area, kindly state it in the comment section below.
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