THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF YOUTUBE COMMENTS ON A CONTROVERSIAL NIGERIAN HIP-HOP MUSIC VIDEO: USING OPEN DATA TO BALANCE SOFT POWER WITH CONCERNS ABOUT DRUGS IN MUSIC

Abstract

Background: Music is a potential source of soft power for emerging economies, but musical content can also influence health-risk behaviors. Olamide's "Science Student" was a hip-hop song that was banned in Nigeria for the glamorization of substance use. However, the song and music video remained available online, which can provide valuable insights into how music videos influence audiences and how viewers respond to controversial content. Objective: To describe themes found in the comment section of Olamide’s "Science Student" official video on YouTube. Methods: We extracted the top comments of a video titled "Olamide-Science Student (Official Video)", available on YouTube, manually in October 2023 using KoboToolbox. Two investigators independently assigned themes and sub-themes before comparing answers and reaching a consensus. One investigator then cleaned the data and allowed only two themes, each with one sub-theme, in the final data set. We then presented the findings with example quotes and descriptive statistics of the extracted comments' characteristics. Results: We were able to extract a total of 171 comments. The most common themes of the comments seem to be the admiration of the artist, the choreography, and the video. The choreography aspect seemed to be particularly prominent. We did not identify any comment as having a negative tone. The comments regarding the message in the video mostly interpreted the video as being against substance use and that the video turned the negativity amidst the public outcry into a positive creation. There were non-English comments, mostly in French and Portuguese, as well as comments in English by individuals who self-reported being from outside of Nigeria, mainly to express admiration for the song and the Nigerian people. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the music video was received positively online and viewers generally interpreted the message as anti-drug. However, potential selection bias due to the effect of the algorithms and the context of commenting on online contents, as well as issues related to generalizability, should be considered as potential limitations in the interpretation of the study findings.