Recently, a Nigerian artist, World Brownie, sampled Mzbel’s “16 Years” and is facing backlash for doing so. It’s not the fact that he sampled the song that’s a problem, but the lyrics of the song.
Song sampling has been going on for years and has been widely enjoyed. Oftentimes, there are controversies regarding a song being a poor sample of the original music, and this is the case here.
Who Is Mzbel and What Is ’16 Years’ About?
Belinda Nana Ekua Amoah, popularly known as Mzbel, is a Ghanaian music artist and songwriter. She released ’16 Years’ in 2007, and it was a song that addressed pedophilic behaviour and sexual abuse. 
When the Nigerian artist released his version, he immediately received backlash and intense criticism for it. While Mzbel’s song told a painful story about a 16-year-old girl caught in a situation of sexual exploitation, the Nigerian version took a very different lyrical direction.
Instead of addressing abuse or vulnerability, the remake leaned into suggestive and flirtatious themes. The lyrics are described as insensitive. The controversy stems from the perception that a song originally centred on underage exploitation was transformed into something that appeared to trivialise and romanticise similar themes.
Mzbel sang, “I be 16 years; I go de be like this, oh. If you touch my thing, oh, I go tell Mummy, oh,”
World Brownie sampled it with the lyrics, “Baby, you wan suck the thing. A black bullet will make you wet… You, a small pikin, your favourite style is missionary. I want you to fuck me, zaddy. Normally I hope you don’t go tell your mummy, ’16 years, and you like big pricks…'”
ALSO READ: DJ ECool’s Historic First for African DJs at the NBA Halftime Show
Reactions to the sample
Many fans of Mzbel argue that his choice of lyrics are uncomfortable. They posit that when a song carries a heavy social message, reworking it requires a level of awareness and sensitivity to the original context.
A Ghanaian replied to the video of the sample, saying, “A Ghanaian woman makes a song in the early 2000s to condemn paedophilia and sexual assault. Then, 20+ years later, a Nigerian man steals the song to change the lyrics, encouraging the very same things the original artist condemned. Delete this song from existence, please.”
What the artist probably thought of as a creative reinvention quickly turned into a cross-border debate about artistic responsibility. Beyond discomfort over the lyrics, the controversy has also taken on a cross-border tone.
On social media, some Ghanaian users have gone further, using the moment to make sweeping statements about Nigerian men and morality.
“Leave it to Nigerian men to endorse predatory behaviour over a song originally condemning it,” one user said. Another commented, “Once again, is it sawdust they breathe in Nigeria? Took a song that condemns statutory rape and sexual harassment and turned it into one that glorifies them.” Others are asking that Mzbel sue the artist.
At the heart of the debate is a larger question about responsibility in music. Artists have long used music to explore desire, rebellion, power, and taboo themes. But when a song’s foundation is rooted in a story about underage vulnerability, listeners expect a certain level of sensibility and an ability to read the room—especially with everything that has happened recently in Nigeria surrounding rape.
Sometimes, it’s not just about whether you can sample a song, but whether you should and how you choose to do it.
About The Author
Keep Up to Date with the Most Important News
