It’s Ya Boy Eazi, Zagadat!

Feb 22 2018

Published by Chris

Written By: Christopher Luciani

Early Life

Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade, better known as Mr Eazi, is a 26 year old musician from Nigeria. Born in Port Harcourt, the largest city and capital of Rivers State, Nigeria, his parents encouraged him to pursue an education at a university in Ghana. Mr Eazi relocated to Kumasi and studied mechanical engineering at the world class Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). This is where his passion for music began as he started recording music in his final year.

One of the interesting things about Mr Eazi is his national identity. He describes himself as Nigerian by birth, but Ghanaian by heart. That is all he is usually willing to say in interviews and tries not to talk about it any further because he believes that a distinction of where he is from does not determine his style of music. Mr Eazi is taking over the music industry by storm in not only Ghana and Nigeria, but in the entire world, with his YouTube channel having a combined 76 million views in the last 5 years.

Mr Eazi’s Style

Mr Eazi was introduced to me in 2016 through a family member who worked for a music company at the time. Ajibade’s music style is unique when compared to other musicians in the region. Mr Eazi pioneered “Banku Music” (named after the popular local Ghanaian meal), which is described by him in an article by Evatese Blog as a fusion between “Ghanaian bounces, Ghanaian highlife, Nigerian chord progressions, and Nigerian patterns. The essence of Banku music is a mixture of Nigeria and Ghana.”

Just by listening to how Mr Eazi fuses these two genres of music together, you can see how important globalization and migration is in his music producing process. Mr Eazi says in an interview with Google that who he is today is a product of living and spending time in both countries and being influenced by both cultures. Also, in this interview, he mentions that he grew up listening to Bob Marley because of his father but listened to artists like Jay Z and Lil Wayne while studying at University. With every song he writes, there is a different part of each influence in his music style that can only be created by him and his experiences. He states that “although every song I write has iconic African drums and an African feel to them, it draws influences from all genres of music.” It is also very apparent that his lyrics are written in half English and half Hausa, one of the many languages spoken in Nigeria, proving that his music is not only made for people in African countries.

Accra to Lagos

His album Accra to Lagos represents how his music style changed from an Accra (capital of Ghana) style to a Lagos (Nigeria’s largest city) style. One of Mr Eazi’s songs on this album, also called “Accra to Lagos,” introduces us to the struggles he has with his family over his music. He tells us his mother gets no sleep due to her constant concern and praying for her son: “My mummy she dey gimme prayer, Every night she no dey sleep, She dey send me blessings eh eh eh”; his father forced him to study at University but Ajibade had a passion for music: “And my poppi e dey gimme ginger, E no dey mind, E send me to school, I turn to singer oh oh oh;” and he tells us that his sister is his bigger hater and criticizes his music, but still loves him: “And my sister she be my biggest hater, Ah! She criticize my music, But she be my biggest lover oh oh oh.” Listen Here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xRzHDi204Y

The music video for another song on his album Accra to Lagos, called “Tilapia,” depicts a love relationship between a couple living in a desert village on a river bank whose livelihood appears to rely on fishing. Mr Eazi compares his significant other to the wire he uses to catch fish. He sings, “My baby the wire, baby na, baby na,” as a fishing net is being casted into the river from a boat. This music video also portrays the urban conditions and environment people living on riverbanks in specific African countries grow up in. The music video depicts cultural aspects of villages in Africa such as the kind of houses they would live in, how they weave their own baskets, what kind of animals they would have around, what clothes they would wear, etc. Watch Here:

Mr Eazi’s Social Media

Mr Eazi uses YouTube as an online platform to discover who his main listeners are, where they are from, their age range, and more. This is what he uses to schedule his tour locations and dates. He also uses social media platforms, like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, to connect to his fans and consumers of his music. Part of his marketing strategy is to respond “Zagadat” (his signature catchphrase meaning ‘confirm,’ ‘correct,’ ‘roger that’) to every single tweet that included “Mr Eazi.” This was so more people would look him up after hearing from their friends about a celebrity responding to their tweet. This shows how greatly globalization is working in favor of artists such as Mr Eazi today and how easy it is for anyone to become famous.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSytDzPOmj1YV4_ctQOIdhg

Bibliography

http://www.evatese.com/meet-mr-eazi-banku-music-singer-celeb-week/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfgAu8H1eME

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AkaSljObAI&t=910s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xRzHDi204Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ5BMEjuKSg