CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.0       INTRODUCTION
            English language is the official language in Nigeria as a tool that facilitates cultural and linguistic unity in the country. Part of the area in which English language is used peculiarly in the country is music. R&B music originated from traditional Rhythm and Blues music. Today, the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of Africa American music originating after the demise of disco in the 1980s. Nigerian R&B culture started spreading in the 1990s with the likes of Plantashun Boiz, The Remedies etc. When the country witnessed proliferation of computer and cheap music editing software in the 21th century, Nigeria R&B artistes started achieving higher quality recordings that rapidly won over the Nigerian audience.
            English language has been adopted as the language of the Nigerian R&B music. In spite of the fact that most Nigerian R&B singers use English language, they still try to identify with their indigenous languages. Nigerian R&B singers use their music as a medium of informing their listeners of the current event and liberation strategies, using alternate language understood only by those within the cultural network. Through the years, many of the words and phrases become integrated and used by listeners who had figured out the context and definitions of these words.
1.1       ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NIGERIA
            English is a heritage left behind in Nigeria by the British at the end of the colonial administration. However, it is now the language of government, business, commerce, education, literature, arts, the mass media, internal and external communication in Nigeria. In practice therefore, English is the only effective medium of communication among Nigerians from different linguistic backgrounds. Although English is the official language of Nigeria, it has not succeeded in replacing any of the indigenous languages. Three of the hundreds of Nigerian local languages (Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo) are often referred to as the major languages of the country; but few people speak more than one of the local languages.
            The multilingual nature of the Nigerian society leads to many regional variations in their use of English because local languages have their accents directly or indirectly transferred to English language. So, we have the majority speaking the Nigerian English (NE) as it can be tagged, with different accents. The term “Nigerian English” has come to be recognised and accepted is referring to the legitimate subtype of English, which is peculiar to Nigeria.