Popular rapper Tobechukwu Melvin Ejiofor, better known as IllBliss, has opened up about the deep struggles facing the country’s youth, blaming economic hardship and government failure for pushing many into desperate actions just to survive.
Speaking on The Real Shareholders podcast, IllBliss shared a troubling story of a young man who told him he had no choice but to commit fraud to afford medicine for his mother, who has cancer.
“Somebody was telling me this this morning at my office my mama get cancer now all this by salary do you know how much chemotherapy cost and i know go press you understand so you look at just where the young people are mentally they’re defeated they’re tired they’re just doing grasping every kind of straw that they can put together” he said.
He explained that many young people today feel mentally drained and abandoned by the system, saying: “I know boys that are telling me, ‘Oga boss, we dey street, we dey press because government no send.’ That’s their reality.”
Describing the widespread frustration and helplessness among Nigerians, IllBliss added: “It’s a tough time being a young person in Nigeria. It’s a tough time aging in Nigeria. It’s a tough time being born in Nigeria.”
The rapper also spoke against the growing acceptance of mediocrity and laziness in society, saying: “This generation celebrates not just mediocrity but also lack of decision. Everything is ‘cool.’ So, under the cool theory people are allowed to overdose on drugs, they are allowed to live their lives the way they want to. They are allowed to not work and be entitled.”
IllBliss didn’t stop at just social behaviour. He also criticised how the Nigerian government handles voices of truth, especially in music. He said that conscious music is now being silenced and removed from radio.
“Before Country, I released songs like A Different Kind Of War and National Cake. But OAPs always say they can’t play those kinds of songs — they could get fined,” he explained.
He said this silence is no longer limited to radio, but has now spread to digital platforms, where artists are attacked online for speaking up. “Every now and then, you drop a record and 100+ tweets come at you like: ‘Why are you mocking the country? It’s not that bad.’ You just know it’s artificial. That kind of organized pushback is digital propaganda,” he said.
According to IllBliss, even social media platforms that once gave young people power to speak up are now being used by the government to promote fake praise and distraction.
“Propagandists can now have podcasts just to say the government is doing great. And you’ll see young people, with their faces showing, saying, ‘This government has created jobs. You can tell,’” he added.
IllBliss, known for his socially conscious songs, warned that Nigeria is in a dangerous place where people are discouraged from speaking the truth, and artists are no longer free to reflect the true situation in their work.
“Nigeria is a hugely hypocritical society. The guys in the music industry have failed to understand that the music, the art must reflect the times,” he said.
