Barrel Price

Traces how Iran's Strait of Hormuz crisis rippled across everyday African life — the barrel price spike that raised bus fares in Lagos, cooking gas in Nairobi, and generator fuel across the continent. The lyrics connect a geopolitical chokepoint to a grandmother choosing between kerosene and dinner. Every verse follows a different commodity chain: crude oil to plastic to medicine packaging. The Afrobeats groove carries an irony — people dancing through a crisis they didn't create, in countries that produce oil but can't refine it.

[verse 1] Radio say war dey for the Gulf again Somewhere far away but we go feel the pain Strait of Hormuz choking like a tightened fist And the ripple hit the pump, now we catching it Lagos fuel queue stretching round the block Danfo driver sleeping, engine off, stuck Mama selling rice but the transport double now How she gon' feed four children, tell me how One hundred dollar barrel, that's the global rate But for the common man it seal his fate Kerosene for cooking now a luxury Darkness in the evening, no electricity They fighting wars we never asked to join But every missile launched is flipping our coin American and Iran playing chess with fire And Africa just burning on their funeral pyre [chorus] Barrel price go up again Pocket empty, suffering no end Barrel price go up again Rich man war, poor man pain Barrel price go up again From the Gulf to the streets of our terrain Barrel price go up again When go this madness ever end [verse 2] Nairobi matatu fare done double up Working man can't even fill his cup Boda boda rider counting every drop One more shilling on the petrol and his business stop Ghana, Senegal, the whole coast feel it raw Importing what we should be refining on our shore But the refinery they promised never came So we dependent on a world that don't know our name Market woman raising prices just to stay alive Customer is angry but they both just trying to survive The politician on the TV saying patience please But patience don't put dinner on the table with ease Small boy pushing wheelbarrow in the sun Hauling jerry cans when the pipeline gone This the real cost of a war we didn't start Barrel price go up and break an African heart [chorus] Barrel price go up again Pocket empty, suffering no end Barrel price go up again Rich man war, poor man pain Barrel price go up again From the Gulf to the streets of our terrain Barrel price go up again When go this madness ever end [bridge] We no send for your geopolitics oh We just want to cook our rice and fish oh We no send for your barrel and your crude Just leave the common people with their food But the world is one big chain, you see War in the East means hunger in the street [chorus] Barrel price go up again Pocket empty, suffering no end Barrel price go up again Rich man war, poor man pain Barrel price go up again From the Gulf to the streets of our terrain Barrel price go up again When go this madness ever end [outro] Barrel price go up again Barrel price go up again And we the ones who pay Barrel price go up again