Olamide, a popular musician from Nigeria, explains the motivation for his label Yahoo Boy No Laptop (YBNL).
For more than ten years, Olamide has dominated the Nigerian music industry. His talent has changed the commercialization of local rap and street music in Nigeria, making him one of the most well-known musicians on the continent.
Olamide, who just dropped his eagerly awaited tenth album, “Unruly,” on Apple Music Africa Now Radio, spoke with Nandi Madiba about his wish to resume touring.
“I think the last time I was on stage was probably last year at Mr. Money’s concert in London, but this year in December, if you’re going to Ghana just stop by Nigeria! I’m going to be having my concert in Nigeria. Right after that, I’m going on tour next summer – US tour, Europe and all that – I’m gonna be back on the road man.”
Baddo admitted that his fans, who have been pleading with him to go on tour, are also driving him to want to hit the road again. He also mentioned that he put off going back on the tour while he worked hard to catch up with the current Afrobeats international ascent.
“My fans, they’ve been hollering ‘Yo come outside! Come play!’ Now I’m ready. I’ve been on the ground, trying to put in work and get my stuff together because the new wave is so crazy right now and you just have to figure a way to be in tune with time, which is not easy so I’ve been working on that for so long. That’s why it took me so long.”
Asides from being a successful musician, Olamide also runs YBNL which he created in 2012 after leaving ID Cabasa’s Coded Tunes.
The label has churned out several stars including Adekunle Gold, Lil Kesh, Fireboy producers Pheelz and Young Jonn, and more recently Asake.
According to Olamide, he created YBNL as a way to reinvest in his passion instead of spending his fortunes on balling.
“The world is in love with my stuff, [and] I’m grateful for it but now it’s time to make sure I reinvest in that same thing that’s making you love and appreciate me. It used to be just passion but it’s high time I step up, reinvest and make this a proper business. I set up my own label, and started signing artists because I didn’t want all that money to just go wasted on ballin’ and all that! All that money had to go back into the grind, man. That’s how the whole thing started.”
On August 9th, 2023, Olamide’s historic tenth album ‘Unruly’ was released, which was preceded by the singles ‘Trumpet‘ featuring CKay and ‘New Religion‘ featuring Asake.
According to Olamide, the album is likely to be his final, and it provides fans with a bittersweet experience as they reflect on the iconic artist’s career.