Folarin ‘Falz’ Falana is an allround entertainer who has won awards as a rapper, actor and is winning accolades as a social activist. At the listening party for his recently released socially-conscious album, ‘Moral Instruction’, his mother, Funmi Falana expressed concern over the state of his religious life.
The wife of popular SAN and activist, Femi Falana, said “Folarin, you don’t go to church and I am bothered. I hope you would start going to church this year.”
Falz, in an interview with Punch Newspaper, has however clarified on his decision to avoid church despite being a Christian. He said, “The most important thing is spirituality and your personal connection with God. The reason I haven’t attended a church service in a long while is because I went to a few churches and during sermons, I was put under undue pressure. There was a time that a pastor called me to the altar just to acknowledge my presence for being in church.
“In my mind, I felt that the service was not about me. I felt that everybody was there to worship God, yet they were putting undue pressure on me. The pastor gave me the microphone to address the congregation and I was puzzled; what did he expect me to say to the congregation? These are some of the issues. I just want to go to church and worship God like a regular member of the congregation. I do not want that kind of attention. I was hoping that I would go to church on a Sunday and it would not be like any other day I’m at a public place or doing a show,”
Falz added that spirituality is more concerned with one’s relationship with God rather than church attendance, hence he is not less for a Christian for avoiding church services.
Speaking further, Falz addressed his much talked about ‘Moral Instruction’ album where he addresses a range of societal ills and particularly made a pointed reaction to the Muslim Rights Concern’s (MURIC) lawsuit he received in 2018.
He said, “I did not mock MURIC in the song – Talk am – I just said that ‘Broda Muri shout finish, we no see am for court’. Whoever the shoe fits should wear it. What I said was, ‘Broda Muri’, I did not mention anybody’s name; I could have been talking about anybody.
“It took me a while to make this socially conscious album. I have been working on this project since 2017. We had the idea to produce the album, which was to talk about the social vices in the country, but we were waiting for the right mood and time to release it. This year, everything just worked perfectly for us and I think it is very necessary we do this now”.
