New kid on the Hip-hop block who simply refers to himself as Mojo, was born with the thirst for music. It was to be an ever present phenomenon in his earlier years growing up in Lagos, as well as while pursuing higher education in Europe. Rearing to go, he has set things all up to burst loose back in Lagos:-

I find your name rather interesting. Where does it come from?

My name is actually Mojola and that’s where Mojo comes from. It’s not what everybody thinks it means.

What do people think it means?

The blue films and what not. “ah ha, your name is Mojo?!”

Did you arrive at that  name to draw attention?

No, I was actually a kid when they started to call me Mojo. The name just got stuck. In Sweden when I was doing music I was called Mojeed by my fans. When I came back, I reverted to Mojo again.

Mojo

What is your musical philosophy?

Music is a lifestyle. For me music is almost everything. I have songs I can play when I’m down that just changes my mood.

So you just want to make people feel better?

Feel good about themselves. The things I talk about in the song, maybe they can relate to it so people know they are not the only ones going through these kind of things.

To what length would you go to do that? Are you the sort of person that would go out of his way to do something just to touch people?

Sometimes I do it without knowing. If someone tells me they need help with something and I can’t do it at that moment and I say no; I might do it later without even knowing I am doing it. That’s just how I am as a person. As for my music, I really want it to touch people. I make party music as well.

Who are you focusing on mostly?

Mostly, I would love to reach out to everyone; people who have gone through the kind of things I’ve gone through. To put the youths on the right track with the kind of things I’ve put in the songs. To make it better.

What kind of things have you gone through?

Moving to a place like Sweden when your family is in Nigeria. You are going to school over there, things are tough so you actually have to look out for yourself in a different kind of country. It’s not like England. If it were in London or England you have friends, cousins, relations; but when you go somewhere where you are basically all alone without your family, to be able to stand firm, keep moving on and do the right thing is not easy.

Is that where your interest in music came from?

No, it started from here. I’ve been doing music as long as I can remember.

What do you mean by doing music? Playing any instruments?

No, just recording, singing, rapping, things like that. I think I started rapping from Michael Jackson (Beat It) days, before rap was allowed in our houses. Most of the time, my friends in school were not allowed to listen to rap when I used to rap.

Really? You were listening to Sound of Music?

We were listening to Michael Jackson or Motown. I remember- I think it was ’93, when they actually brought the decoder- Criss-cross was already on TV. When the guy came to service the decoder and tune the channels, it was MTV that was on and it was Criss-cross. This was before 2Pac, Biggie, I just fell in love with the lifestyle . I liked the way they were standing on the cars, you know.

You sound so nostalgic. If you had your way, would you have postponed your education for the music?

Since I was young, they were always telling me to put the music aside and study, because in my head music was more important all the time. My mum, my dad, kept telling me all the time to go and read my books instead of all this music. “you can do the music later, or take a break and come back to it”.

Do you regret it?

No, I think it’s a balance. It’s very difficult to get the balance. I would actually finish school first.

Why is that?

Because there is time.

What of all your contemporaries that did not go to school and have spent the time on music, perfected their art?

There’s still time to perfect the art and still study. There are holidays when everyone just hangs around. You can perfect your talent then. School is actually very important.

Do you feel intimidated by your mom(Teni Aofiyebi); do you feel you have to prove a point or do you feel she’s done her bit, and you’ll do yours?

It was good for me, her being involved in media, so she’ll understand when I say one day, “this is what I want to do”. She was not doing music. I don’t think of it like that

Who are the artistes both local and international that have affected your music the most?

Dagrin, Naeto C, MI, Fela.

Those are different musicians.

Yes. All of them have influenced me in one way or the other. Fela has influenced me because of being a Nigerian having so much to say. You have a right to say whatever you want to say. Without people like that, I wouldn’t have known that was possible. Seriously.

Dagrin has influenced you in what way?

Being the first to do something is very influential. And the way he did it- doing what I was already doing, but in Yoruba. Saying the kind of things he was saying at that age as well. He was reminding me of Tupac, and Tupac influenced me as well.

Do you think he ought to be immortalized?

There are many seeds of him now. A lot of guys are doing what he was doing. Without him, they would not have been born. The Olamide and the other guys who are Yoruba rappers. He is like their father.

What are your fans to look forward to with regard to your work?

New and exciting music for your cars and parties. We have a bunch of songs waiting to be produced. My producer Femi Nuga has worked with Davido.