Mr Eazi is different, and no it is not because he is a rarity, a Ghana-Naija pop hybrid.
Beyond the steady supply of hits, performing to large audiences outside of Nigeria and performing on a late-night show in America, the singer Oluwatosin Ajibade doubles as a music business exec pushing Afrobeats to the world.
Most of his contemporaries have their eyes locked on securing the new bag, but Eazi wants to be the person making the bag.
On a hot afternoon in July, I ask Mr Eazi why he is angling himself as a music tycoon and not just an artist out of West Africa riding on the wave of Afrobeats in Europe and North America.
"It's from the background I've come from," says Eazi, "I remember the first time I was at Pulse, it was for a business. I had gotten funding for a business, and I was trying to push the business, so that's what I am."
Fate would have bigger plans for Oluwatosin Ajibade, more than just selling phones. During the period when he was the CEO of Phone Trader NG, he recorded and released the sultry single 'Skin Tight' featuring Efya.
The record took off, and now Eazi is selling music and not phones. "Music just happens to be the product I'm selling now" he admits. With his background in business (promoting parties, booking acts for shows and selling phones), music is more than an artistic endeavour, it is a hustle.
"Of course, I have to merge (both worlds). If I were just doing music, just singing and touring, I would have been bored out of my head. This is just me doing me" he confesses.
And what Mr Eazi is doing is helping upcoming music acts in Africa become successful on their own terms via his incubator program known as emPawa.
The talent incubation initiative was launched in January 2019. And in its first phase, 100 selected acts received $3,000 each to produce a music video.
A notable beneficiary of emPawa is JoeBoy, a 21-year-old singer whose single 'Baby' is one of the biggest hit records out of Nigeria in 2019.
"They (emPawa) helped with knowledge, platform, and how we can promote our music through our phones - like the easiest way through social media; how to promote yourself...it actually really helped and they’re still supporting with knowledge, back up and connect" JoeBoy told Pulse in an exclusive interview in July.
The partner he is speaking about is YouTube Music. In July, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, Lyor Cohen, during a fireside chat with Mr Eazi at Google for Nigeria Week announced the partnership.
Most notably, YouTube Music will partner with the initiative "to provide support for the 10 Nigerian artists" involved in #emPawa30.
"I like the fact that he is having the imagination to create excitement around him and help bring new artists, that's entrepreneurial. He's not satisfied just with himself, but he wants to create an organization that helps bring new artists that's what attracted us to him" says Cohen about Mr Eazi.
This marks the second time Eazi and YouTube would be working together. The first time was during the UK launch of his third mixtape 'Life is Eazi, Vol. 2 - Lagos to London.'
"I'm building an ecosystem within Africa where you do not need to even go out" states the singer.
He further says "if there's no ecosystem, someone will build the ecosystem at a cost and sell it to us back at a premium. And I wouldn't like that. I would like to build that ecosystem. And of course, it will be fairer, you know, 10% 15% 20% 5%, whatever it is. And it will be authentic, which is like, most important."
For someone who has a tangible fan base outside of Africa, Mr Eazi wants to create an ecosystem where artists don't necessarily have to go abroad to be successful. He is also keen on Africans owning the Afrobeats narrative as the West continues its gold rush for West African pop music.
Mr Eazi strikes me as someone who can head a music label pretty soon. "Definitely like why not?" he says on the possibility of switching to a full-time executive.
2019 has been a busy year for Mr Eazi, whether overseeing emPawa, touring overseas or globetrotting with his billionaire heiress girlfriend, or recording more songs, he has had little time to meet one of his idols JAY-Z.
"My manager, my stylist, my DJ, my producer were like hanging out with Jay Z having dinner. I was pissed because I was in New York and I didn't even know. I remember my producer calling me and I was recording" he reveals.
Mr Eazi is on Beyonce's 'Lion King: The Gift' album, but he is not stopping at that. He is on a mission to push Afrobeats to a global audience and carry others along.
He borrows a JAY-Z line as his mantra "go harder, go further. If not, why bother?"
SOURCE: Pulse.ng
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