7 lessons from Nigeria’s hottest rapper on how to become your own boss

It’s 2013 and a lot of things have
changed; what we can tell you is that
Olamide’s career would have gone down
the drain after his debut release if he
hadn’t made power moves – the kind of
moves only a boss (or a boss in the
making) would make. Nigerian
Entertainment Today details all these in a
few points below…
1. GET YOURSELF A KICK ASS MANAGER
First thing Olamide did was fire Toni Payne
whom he felt wasn’t doing much for his
career right after his debut album release.
The two parted ways controversially when
Payne reportedly accused Olamide of
performing and collecting performance fees
without her knowledge. Olamide was then
managed by 2Phat of CODED Tunes. After
parting ways with ID Cabasa , he hired the
services of Tony Nwakolor . Nwakolo, a
very popular 30 something-year-old
manager had failed with a now defunct
Yes Records years back but in the process
gained a lot of experience. Olamide is
currently being managed by Nwkolo’s
1805 Entertainment.
2. AVIOD BEEF AND CONTROVERSY
Even when Olamide parted with Toni
Payne and eventually CODED Tunes, he
kept his thoughts on the matter on the
low, never speaking to the press about it.
He also didn’t discuss his partying ways
or throw disses at them on his songs. He
also has united with other Yoruba
speaking rappers especially Reminisce
(who seems to be his toughest
competition), Base One and others. No
stories of getting drunk, knocking any girl
up or being photographed while sleeping
with a university student. And oh yea, he
stopped dissing 9ice too.
3. BUILD YOUR OWN EMPIRE
Olamide is currently building his empire –
starting with setting up his own label –
YBNL ( Yahoo Boy, No Laptop which
relates to a hustler, whose work ethics
matches that of an internet fraudster),
merging forces with rappers Kida Kudz
(winner of the Peak Talent Show, season
2) and 2Kriss . He has also got for himself
a new producer Mr Pheelz who is credited
with giving him the new sound on his
‘YBNL’ album.
4. DO IT BIG
Why buy a 9mm gun to kill a 20 feet giant
when you could buy a rocket launcher?
Olamide didn’t leave any stone unturned
when recording his sophomore album
YBNL – sticking with a little known
producer Mr Pheelz (with some help from
big brother Samklef ), Olamide tightened
his guest appearance list, featuring the
likes of A-List acts Tiwa Savage, Davido,
B-List acts Kayswitch, Dammy Krane and
street-appealing acts rappers Reminisce,
BaseOne, Minus and Aduke.
5. APPEAL TO THE STREETS
Since Dagrin’s death in 2010, there’s not
been a rapper who has appealed to the
public with street music, more than
Olamide and Reminisce (mega props to
Illbliss, Vector, Erigga and Seriki). With
street appealing songs like ‘First of all’,
‘Ilefo Illuminati , ‘Voice of the Streets ’ and
‘Young Erikina’, Badoo has won the hearts
of the streets again.
6. APPEAL TO THE FEMALE FAN BASE
We can’t leave the ladies out. Olamide
also knows this, so with tracks like ‘ Unite’
and ‘Stupid love’, he keeps gaining their
attention as the DJ and radio stations
keep spinning those singles.
7. WORK OVERTIME
Truth be told – Nigerian rappers are very
lazy, or how would you explain a popular
rapper releasing only two singles in a
whole year? (Although A&Rs would explain
he/she is trying to push and penetrate the
market). Olamide is going the old
fashioned way (and most secure route), by
working his ass off (like 2pac, Notorious
BIG, Lil Wayne, Drake, 50 Cent ), recording
and releasing multiple materials. A week
after dropping his successful YBNL album,
Olamide dropped a new song ‘Rayban
Abacha ’, announcing the release of his
new mixtape ‘Still on Streets ’ dropping in
2013 . He has gone on to drop two other
singles.