After spending almost 4 years as an A&R personnel for one of Africa’s leading record labels – MAVIN Records and helping to raise some of the biggest music stars and hit songs that we have today, one of Nigeria’s finest music executives – Mobolaji Abikoye has launched the next step in his fledging career with the launch of ‘Retroblaak’, an artiste management, publishing and Licensing company.

Mobolaji Abikoye, a graduate of BioChemistry from Covenant University, has been in and around the music industry for over 7 years and with core skills in Artist Development, Talent Management, A&R, Music Distribution and Publishing, helping in the growth of superstars like Crayon, Ladipoe, Congolese artist – Juliet Ariel, London & Ozedikus to mention a few.

He served as the release manager for MAVIN in 2017 before working his way to becoming an A&R Executive & still retained his position as the Radio/TV promotions manager for the label, resulting in him later being involved in the process of refining talents under Mavin Records.

One of Mobolaji’s most notable works apart from inking a Publishing deal with Sony Publishing France & BlueSky Publishing France for two of Nigeria’s top producers, is his involvement in ‘Feeling’, the 2021 hit record by Ladipoe featuring Buju, a project he is grateful to be a part. On ‘Feeling’, he pays homage to Show Dem Camp for helping see the potential of a Buju feature which he later presented to Ladipoe and the rest they say is history.

Mobolaji’s venture – Retroblaak, has been in existence since 2013 and the company has close ties with several local and foreign establishments in the music distribution, publishing/licensing space. He has formed a formidable partnership with renowned Legal Practitioners – Uxbridge LP and with their help, he was able to strike a publishing deal for budding producer London and with the help of Whitestone Solicitors struck a publishing deal for Ozedikus who are both affiliates to Mavin Records.

A very popular man in the music industry, Mobolaji aka Noni or The Govn, has an impressive roaster of young and promising talents he has impacted upon, they include Crayon, Ruger, Ayra Starr, Magixx, Yazidxo, Austin Boss, to mention a few. His experience and technical knowhow has made him sought after for talent management in Nigeria and he boasts that he’s just getting started.

We asked Mobolaji to predict the next big talents out of Nigeria and he had this to say –

“I have been around incredibly talented Nigerian talents and i can assure anyone who is worried that the future of Afrobeats in Nigeria is very safe with them. I know for a fact that producers like P Prime, Ojahbee, Chech, Bond, Tempoe, Spax, Cracker Mallo, Fresh VDM, Ozedikus, London, WalahiSteph, Andre Vibes, Loudaa are the new generation who are going to outdo what the current crop are doing. I can also assure you that Artistes like DaiVerse, Yazidxo, Oosha, P Ray, Braynnonly, Brume, Kaysnap, J-Weezy, Jackmillz are the future and we should watch out for them.

One thing is certain, Mobolaji knows his onions and is firmly placed as a force to reckon with in the talent management and music publishing/licensing space of the Music industry. His Mission is to shine more light on several budding musical talents here in Nigeria and take their artistry from local to international.