Olamide recounts his sad rags to riches story

Top Nigerian rapper and YBNL founder, Olamide Adedeji, popularly known as Olamide, has shared how he went through hell trying to make it as a young artiste and that’s why he is passionate about supporting up-and-coming entertainers.

During a recent interview with Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio, the Durosoke rapper said, “I took it as a personal thing, like, ‘Bro, I went through hell before I got here. Now, I’m here’. If I have any opportunity to bring up anyone that I know, then I would do anything to make sure that person makes it.”

Sharing on the reception that his latest album, UY Scuti has enjoyed, he stated, “It has been amazing. It’s like I just started my career all over again and trust me, if I knew that it would have been this big, I would have been doing this for a very long time.”

“I feel like if there was no older version of Olamide, who had been through the street struggle, there wouldn’t be this version of Olamide that does ‘chilled’ music. But, in a way, it still appeals to street people.”

The creative artist also noted that his music was like a bridge between different sets of people. He added, “I feel like I’m one of, if not the number one person in Nigeria or Africa, whose music can bridge the gap between the old and the young, and the rich and the poor.”

On which African artistes he would like to collaborate with, the YBNL boss said, “I really like Cassper Nyovest. I like his music. I also like Black Coffee and Master KG, as well as Sauti Sol from Kenya. I love their music.”

Olamide started his career when he released the debut single, “Eni Duro,” in 2010. In the same year, he performed at The Hip Hop World Awards. He studied mass communication at Tai Solarin University but dropped out due to financial problems.

Adedeji is married to Adebukunmi Aisha Suleiman.They have two boys together, Maximilian Boluwatife and Tunrepin Myles. Olamide allegedly had a love child with Maria Okanrende,who was then working with Beat F.M.The name of the child is Asaiah Monife Maria.

He was signed to ID Cabasa’s Coded Tunes record label and was managed by Toni Payne In 2012, he left Coded Tunes and started his own record label YBNL Nation.