Nigerian popstar Mr Eazi’s latest release, the infectious ‘Oh My Gawd’, featuring Nicki Minaj and Major Lazer, is a huge reflection of the ways his music has evolved since he burst onto the scene.
His first hit, the Efya-assisted ‘Skin Tight’ propelled him into the mainstream in 2015. But it was his distinctive “Banku” sound, a lively fusion of Ghanaian highlife and Nigerian Afrobeats, that garnered him a huge following worldwide – including in countries as far-flung as Chile – and inspired a new generation of artists on the African continent
“If you ask me to describe the sound of my music- it’s tough, it’s just an expression of myself,” Mr Eazi told Arise News.
“Obviously I started making music in Ghana and then the UK and then blew up in Nigeria as well so I’ve just been travelling. Late last year I started doing a lot of stuff with Spanish artists and I feel like I just absorb my environment and it comes out in the music.
“My latest release, Oh My Gawd, you can’t say it’s Afrobeats. It’s more Dancehall. And that just expresses where my head is at,” Mr Eazi tells Arise News.
“I feel like, as an artist, it’s beautiful when you can put out music and not be afraid…what if my fans don’t like it and I’ve been blessed with fans that just come with me on the journey.”
Since his meteoric rise in 2015, Mr Eazi has not been taking it easy. At one point, he says he was doing several shows a week, sometimes two shows a day and “trying to cut them short.” He began to question his love for music.
“I was beginning to feel like: is it that I’m not enjoying it anymore?”
So when the coronavirus pandemic shut down activities in the entertainment industry and much of the world, he saw it as a “blessing in disguise,”- an opportunity to recuperate.
“For me I was coming to the point where I felt like I needed to have a pause. I’ve been doing the same thing since late 2015 to 2016. For me, it’s a blessing in disguise because towards the end of last year, I was seeing myself doing two shows and instead of doing the full set, I was trying to cut it short.”
“Now, just pausing, I realized that I just needed a break.”
Rita Osakwe
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