By ROTIMI AGBANA

Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade, popularly known as Mr Eazi, broke into the Nigerian music limelight mid 2016 with a unique blend of Ghana-Nigerian music called ‘Banku’ which has surprisingly sneaked Its way into the hearts of music lovers within a very short period. In this exclusive interview with Showtime Celebrity, the Leg Over crooner talks about his barely 1-year music career in Nigeria and more. Hear him:

You’re famous for being controversial, why?

Oh am I? I didn’t know I was; but I know I’m a Kubolor (a wanderer or vagabond). A Kubolor is like a gypsy who cares less about anything, that’s who I’m.

Where and how do you get inspiration for your music?

I get it everywhere, from everything and anything, life, communications with people, from everything basically.

What differentiates you from other Nigerian artistes?

Mr. Eazi

I just feel it’s the G-factor; that is the grace factor, that’s just it. I won’t lie to you I wasn’t making the best music; I’m not making the best music though I make good music. I only decided to do music July 22nd last year (2016); and if you see what we’ve done between then and now you’ll be surprised. And to be honest, we didn’t spend any crazy budget. I’ve never printed a promo CD in my life, I never played a free show in my life, it’s just the grace of God in my life.

Having achieved so much within a short time in a demanding music industry like Nigeria’s, how do you feel?

First, I’m grateful to God, I feel blessed; I take it back to the grace of God, time and chance.

What exactly gave you an edge to have achieved so much within a short time?

I feel like we came at a good time, the sound came at a good time; a lot of factors helped. A lot of people were not dropping music and we dropped music, so that gave a chance for the new sound to breathe. I think that generally people were looking for something new and we brought it to them, that’s what everybody is on right now, everybody is on that vibe, that mixture of Ghanaian & Nigerian music. It’s beautiful to know that people can look back and say that Mr. Eazi brought that new sound, even though right now they might not accept it but this is what it is.

Word on the street is that if you hadn’t been signed to Wizkid’s Star Boy Music label you wouldn’t have come this far, what’s your reaction to this?

I feel everybody has their mouth and are free to say whatever they like; anything you feel that one na for your pocket. The most important thing is that I’m where I’m now and I’m enjoying my life.

What’s your personal opinion on the ongoing supremacy battle between Wizkid and Davido?

To be honest, I’ve not spoken to either of them about it. For all you know, it might just be the media playing on something or it might just be that they want to drop a song tomorrow and they are just toying with people or they want to go on tour together. At the end of the day these things are not really known until you ask the person. Maybe when next I see Wizkid and I ask him then I’ll call you to give you exclusive inside gist which you’ll pay for, (laughs).

Do you have any surprise up your sleeve for the Nigerian music industry and your fans?

First, I won’t say I’m in the industry but in the ‘Outdustry’; the funny thing is that this is my first show in Nigeria in 2017 and it’s my own show; so you can see that I’m not in the industry. I’m not at any industry shows, no disrespect to anybody, but you don’t see me at those industry shows, you can see that I’m in the ‘Outdustry’, the ‘Gracedustry’, so I’ll just keep riding on that grace of God. There is a huge announcement I’m doing on Wednesday the 26th of July, 2017, a very huge announcement, I can’t wait for that to happen. To give you a hint, this music is going to be on that worldwide platform; it’s going to have the same thing the biggest artistes in America or in Europe have, that same level of recognition. You never know what will happen tomorrow, every day I wake up with a surprise so for now I can’t say much.

Is it true that Wizkid is grooming you to become the next biggest African artiste in the world?

To tell you the truth, I just want to come, have fun, make money, buy a few houses, set up a few businesses, feed my family, dirty myself, travel the world with other people paying for it, help people and just have fun. I never planned to be an artiste, I never woke up one day and decided I wanted to be a musician; this just happened. So whilst we’re on it, we’re just going to have fun with it. If tomorrow I wake up as the biggest artiste in Africa omo we go enjoy am now! We go do everything, we go tour, we go chop all the money and we go touch as many lives as we can.

They say you are a bit proud & snobbish, how true is this?

Mr Eazi is a dirty boy o, I’m just a free guy mehn! If you know me or anyone that knows me knows that I’m a very free kind of person. I literally almost don’t care about anything, that’s why I said I’m a Kubolor, a gypsy. If you know who gypsies are they don’t care about anything, they just drift, that’s who I’m, like I don’t care about cars, I don’t care about houses, I just have these things because of my kids and for my family, but for me as a person I don’t care. Till now even though my manager fights me I can go and buy ‘boli’ (Smoked Plantain) on the street, people see me and rush to take selfies and they don’t mob me because when they see me they know that this is their boy Mr. Eazi, so I’m just free having fun and thanking God for life.

You’ve been talking about family, how soon do you intend starting up one?

Honestly, I want to have kids; but I want to set up something that my kids will bless me for. I’ve always wanted to be a millionaire; I didn’t know it was going to come through music.

When did you make your first million?

By August 17, 2016 I was already a millionaire and I thank God because I never expected it.

What plans do you have for the remaining part of 2017?

I can’t know for now, we can never know right now.

How true is it that you smoke marijuana and drink alcohol to get fired up before going up on stage?

To be honest I feed off the energy of the crowd, that’s why I don’t perform where people are sitting down so just think about it. I’ve not performed where anybody is sitting down before; I drink water and not alcohol, it’s the energy from the crowd that gingers me. If the crowd is energetic I’ll also be energetic, if the crowd is dull then it will affect me, I’ll just vibe through the session and move on.

What’s the true story between you and Femi Otedola’s daughter, Temi Otedola?

There is this saying that goes thus “Leave matter for Matthias”, except you tell me right now that your name is Matthias, unfortunately that’s not your name, laughs.