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Nigerian artist, Kolawole Ojeleke Olayinka, popularly known as Zion Century, has talked about how lessons he learnt from his mother influenced his musical career positively.

The Makoko born artist who described himself as a musicologist in a chat with Vanguard, Zion Century also highlighted how his background, growing up in Makoko pushed him further to improve himself in the game.

He recently released a new single titled ‘Party Hard’ on the 8th of January. It is produced by Teezybeatz, and available on all music streaming platforms.

According to him, growing up in Makoko community was tough for me, but as a child, I enjoyed things he saw around him.

“There was a large body of water behind our house where we normally went fishing. Makoko is a community built on water with attraction of being a fishing community where men are responsible for catching fish, whilst women are responsible for smoking and selling fish which I experienced as a child.

“Although, such persists till date, the people inhabiting Makoko are mainly from the Ijaw, Ilaje, Egun and Yoruba ethnic groups giving Makoko a colourful rainbow of ethnicities co-habiting peacefully and purposefully,” Zion Century said.

While responding further on his background, he stated that his mother would always say, “Remember the child of whom you are.”

This according to him has kept him focused and well-behaved, as such he has been able to avoid distractions. “Focus and sacrifice are priceless values I got from my family,” he said.

On his musical career, he said: “Music has always been part of my life. My mother used to be a chorister in the church while my dad was an instrumentalist in the same church, so I grew up listening to and getting used to music.

“I  became a chorister in my church, and at a point I decided to join a musical group called, Boys In Christ (B.I.C) and we would go from church to church to perform, sometimes we got paid for it, sometimes they gave us foods for our beautiful performances and we participated in various events as a group.

“I will not describe myself as a musician but rather as a musicologist, before I delved into music, I attended a music school in South Africa, where I was honoured with a certificate in musicology, which qualified me as a musicologist.

“I used to own a studio in Cape Town South Africa, where I produced and mastered many songs for well-known and upcoming artistes. When I got back to Nigeria in 2012, I registered my company being   Zion Century Records Limited and I started as artiste manager and showbiz organizer.

“You know, it’s kind of tough and fun at the same time when you’re moving fast and growing big in life. For someone like me who started as an artiste manager, some of my new friends and people who have no idea what my story is like, are finding it hard to understand how I became a singer.

“I have worked with many artistes, the likes of Zlanta Ibile, Dremo, Ichaba, Wale Turner and many more, but my experience with Ichaba was great as a co-producer of the song, titled Overload. I have recorded many songs but my official first single was Overload ft Jaykey& Ichaba ”