Lagos Traffic Bad Gan
Kayode Adesiyan
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About this song
A humorous Afrobeat story about a weekend trip to a burial party in Epe and the exhausting Lagos traffic that followed. It mixes friendship, celebration, bad roads and gridlock into a distinctly Lagos experience.
Psalm 121:8
Explore the Scripture that inspired this song and listen again with the passage in mind.
Behind the song
Lagos Traffic Bad Gan tells the story of a weekend that began with good intentions and ended in a classic Lagos traffic experience. A trip to honour an old university friend’s late mother takes the travellers through Shagamu, Ilishan, Ikenne, Ijebu Ode and Epe, with bad roads slowing the journey before the party even begins. The celebration itself is warm and memorable — food, drinks, dancing and unexpected gifts — but the return through Lekki becomes another long journey through packed roads, horns and frustration. The song turns that familiar Lagos experience into humour. It is part travel diary, part social observation and part comic release for anyone who has ever spent hours moving only a few kilometres in Lagos.
Lyrics
[Intro – Spoken with Afrobeat groove]
Ah! Lagos for show o…
From Shagamu to Epe…
Party sweet, but traffic bitter!
O bad gan!
[Verse 1]
I was looking forward to a weekend bright,
My friend’s party, everything set right.
From university days, a brother to me,
But we gathered to honour his mum’s memory.
Car no dey, mechanic hold am tight,
Sister’s ride carried us through the night.
Four of us, travelling side by side,
Shagamu to Epe, it was a rough ride.
[Chorus – Call & Response]
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
Who go save Lagosians, I don’t know.
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
From Lekki to Wawa, see how we go slow.
[Chorus – Call & Response]
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
Who go save Lagosians, I don’t know.
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
Two hours plus on the bumpy way,
Ikenne, Ijebu Ode, delay delay.
Arrived one hour after it all began,
But food never serve, na Lagos plan.
The usher smiled, “Table for you,”
Reserved for bus, but na we chop too.
We ate, we drank, we danced, we cheer,
Even no aso ebi, gifts still appear.
[Chorus – Call & Response]
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
See people suffering, still they smile so.
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
Horn of lorry, frustration dey show.
[Chorus – Call & Response]
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
See people suffering, still they smile so.
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
Horn of lorry, frustration dey show.
[Instrumental Break – Talking Drum / Sax / Shekere]
Chanting softly:
Epe to Lekki… traffic no dey easy…
Ehn! Driver steady… we dey doze small-small…
[Verse 3]
By 5 o’clock we say goodbye,
Idea struck, “Let’s try Lekki side.”
Two hours later, toll gate we see,
Packed with cars and lorries, no moving free.
Driver steady, while we doze off,
Lagos road tough, still no one cough.
From Epe to Wawa, three hours gone,
Saturday evening, lorry horns dey drum.
[Bridge – Rap/Spoken]
Lekki only sounds fine for show,
But who go save Lagos, we want to know.
Too many lorries, too much delay,
Every weekend, same story replay.
O bad gan, o bad gan,
People dey smile inside the jam.
Horn dey blast like talking drum,
But Lagosians still dey carry on.
[Final Chorus – Crowd Energy]
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
See people smiling through the sorrow.
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
Lagos for show, tomorrow we go.
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
Horn dey shout but we still dey flow.
Traffic bad gan, o bad o!
Na we Lagosians, we just dey grow.
[Outro – Fade Out with Call & Response]
Driver dey drive…
Passenger dey doze…
Horn dey shout…
Lagos for show!
O bad gan… O bad o…
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