Olamide: The Life Of Nigeria’s King Baddo As He Looks To The Future

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When Olamide released his debut album in 2011, many felt the country now had the rightful successor to Dagrin. The death of Dagrin a year earlier had robbed the country of one of its most creative artists.

Why the comparison between Olamide and David? Both of them were hip hop artists who used the Yoruba language as a medium for rhyming.

However, it is wrong to think of Olamide as trying to plug a Dagrin-sized hole. Olamide was able to carve a name for himself.

It is a testament to his roaring success that people don’t mention Dagrin in the same sentence with Olamide anymore.

Olamide the musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, and artiste is now a king in his own genre of music. And it took him less than 3 years since his debut album in 2011.

BIOGRAPHY AND EARLY LIFE

Olamide, whose real name is Olamide Adedeji, was born on March 5th, 1989 in Bariga, Lagos State.

The musician, also popularly known as Olamide Baddo, is a graduate of the Tai Solarin University of Education in Ogun state. He studied mass communication there.

However, both his primary and secondary education were completed in his native Lagos state.

The first Olamide single was released in 2010 when he was 21 years old. It was released by ID Cabasa’s Coded Tunes label under which the budding star was signed on.

The single titled ‘Eni Duro’ went on to become a smashing hit. It signaled the arrival of Olamide as a talented artiste who would go on to dominate the music industry.

And the following year, he released his first album title ‘Rapsodi’ under the Coded Tunes label. It was a 16 tracker that featured several hit songs like the hit single ‘Eni Duro’, ‘Soundtrack of my Life’, ‘Jara on Top‘, ‘Gapa‘, ‘I’m Going in‘, amongst others.

The following year, Olamide released the follow-up album titled YNBL. With this album, Olamide announced to the world that he was in the business for the long haul.

The 20 track album featured several artists and was released under his own label known as YNBL Nation.

A simmering feud between Code Tunes’ owner ID Cabasa and Olamide had reached a boiling point. This led to Olamide dumping Coded Tunes in the middle of 2012 to establish his own record label, YNBL Nation.

OLAMIDE ALBUMS AND SONGS

Since the release of the first single back in 2010, Olamide has been one of the most consistent artiste in the country.

Like a perfect Swiss clock, he has been dropping an album every single year. The albums are:

• ‘Rapsodi’ (2011)
• YBNL (2012)
• Baddest Guy Ever Liveth (2013)
• Street OT (2014)
• Eyan Mayweather (2015)
• The Glory (2016)

COLLABORATIONS

Olamide’s best-known collaboration was the compilation album, ‘2 Kings‘, he released with fellow musician, Phyno. The collabo is a 40-minute long album comprising songs written by Olamide and Phyno.

2 Kings also featured artists like Wizkid, Lil Kesh, and Storm Rex and producers like Major Bangz, B Banks, Young John and Pheelz.

He has also featured several artists such as Tiwa Savage, Dammy Krane, Dbanj, 9ice, Davido, Samklef, Don Jazzy, Viktoh, etc.

For upcoming artists, featuring in an Olamide song is one of the surest paths to success.

OLAMIDE MUSIC VIDEOS

Since he exploded onto the music scene 7 years ago, fans are always looking forward to the latest Olamide music video. It is even said there is even a scramble by producers to have the privilege of shooting and producing the videos.

The video to his single ‘Bobo’ now has over 18 million views on YouTube since it was released two years ago.

Meanwhile, the music video of recently released single ‘Wo!!‘ has almost 2.5 million views on YouTube after just 3 weeks.

His music videos apart from being fun to watch are made with an attention to detail. They are simply works of arts.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Due to his amazing rise to the top, top brands and individuals all want to be associated with the new king on the block.

In 2013, he became the first Nigerian to sign an endorsement deal with Ciroc, the French multinational company. He was also signed on by companies such as Etisalat, Guineas and Sterling Bank all in Nigeria.

As for awards, chances are he has stopped counting; here are just some of them:

NIGERIAN ENTERTAINMENT AWARDS

• 2013 Best Indigenous Artiste
• 2013 Best Collabo for Ghost Mode with Phyno
• 2013 Album of the Year for YNBL
• 2014 Best Rap Act of the Year
• 2016 Album of the Year for Eyan Mayweather

HEADIES

• 2013 Album of the Year for YNBL 
• 2013 Best Rap Album for YNBL
• 2014 Best Rap Album
• 2014 Album of the Year for Baddest Guy Ever Liveth
• 2015 Artiste of the Year
• 2015 Best Street-Hop Artiste
• 2015 Rap Artist of the Year

NIGERIA MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS

• 2013 Best Street Hip-Hop Artiste
• 2013 Best Afro Hip Hop Video for ‘Durosoke‘

CHANNEL O MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS

• 2014 Most Gifted West for ‘Turn up’

TOOXCLUSIVE AWARDS 2015

• Album of the Year for ‘Street OT‘
• Mixtape of the Year for ‘2 Kings‘
• Best Hip-Hop Track for ‘Local Rappers’
• Male Artiste of the Year
• Artiste of the Year
• Video Wonder of the Year for ‘Melo Melo‘
• Certified Banger of the Year for ‘Shakiti Bobo‘

CITY PEOPLE ENTERTAINMENT AWARDS

• 2015 Rap Artist of the Year

PERSONAL LIFE

As an ‘A’ list megastar in Nigeria, Olamide Baddo is surrounded by beautiful girls wherever he goes. But over the years, he has remained faithful to his long-time girlfriend.

The beautiful lady, Adebukunmi Suleiman, is the mother of his son who was born about 3 three years ago in Lagos.

After over 7 years of being together with her, it won’t be surprising to anybody if he finally decided to tie the knot with her.