“It is my determination to make the UK my starting point of spreading the African sound to the globe“.
In documenting oSHAMO’s artistic journey to where it is today, there will be a conflux of views such that while some sect of listeners will agree that the streets and his core fan base propelled him to stardom, some will also argue that he is a third generation artist who leveraged the growing impact of Tiktok as a platform for promoting music releases and hence got popular through it.
Whichever view any one holds, the confluence of both schools of thought is that oSHAMO is undeniably popular and an artist to keep tabs on as well invest in his stocks very early with so much promising signs given.
Of course, he became popular with his hit single “Why You Lying” whose sound went viral on Tiktok and garnered so many impressions on the media. Many of us are so familiar with the sped up version which earned massive airplay around the country which brought him right into the front of our nose and into the limelight.
He followed that up with another blazing single “Life Of The Party” which is already making waves in some circles, pushing him into the mainstream more as the day passes by. On the back of his new release, we connected with the singer to understand his artistic journey, space and plans.
Tell us about the music journey, how it has been since you started up till now.
I started music back in 2019. I remember being so inspired after listening to Zinoleesky’s street freestyle. It really amazed and pushed me to go on freestyling to my friends at first, and then to doing it professionally in 2022.
You grew up around two influences, Nigeria and the UK. How did both variant society helped to influence your sound?
Whilst Nigeria remains my biggest influence as most of my lyrics is from my experience and slangs I picked up from the street of Lagos, living in the UK has been a major eye opener as I’ve confirmed there is so much audience that haven’t even heard of the Afrobeat movement and its bubbling sound. Hence, it is my determination to make the UK my starting point of spreading the African sound to the globe.
You have a huge deal signed with Empawa Africa, how did such a big deal come about?
Oh, this is an interesting one. I had a viral song last year called “Why You Lying” which brought about one of my close friend on Instagram consistently sending my profile to Mr Eazi to check me out. After some time, he finally did. Then, he reached out to me with this statement “BIG FAN …WHY ARE YOU LYING”. From that point, everything changed, and yeah, here we are now.
oSHAMO, that sounds like a vector signature. what’s the inspiration behind yours?
Oh, yeah ! I’ve gotten that comment from a lot of people saying that name belongs to Vector. Although, in all honesty, I got my name from Olamide as I was and still a very big fan. There was this particular song he sang that he said o shamooo! Since then, I started saying that slang a lot in secondary school until a friend called oreva named me oshamo. The name became so popular so everyone just picked it up from there including my mom !
How would you describe your sound?
A not so rated sound on the street of Lagos. Seeing as almost everyone has that fuji/islam inflection on their song, which is also fast becoming the norm. My sound is a combination of it all but now modernized to be able to sell into the mainstream market.
Why You Lying was a huge turn in your career seeing it even got you a huge deal. How much did the song do to improve your popularity as an artist?
It gave me an upward boost from being a regular tiktoker with good content to people starting to see me as an artist rather than an internet influencer. It caused a huge shift from where I was to what I was aiming to become.
There was a little change from the sound in “Why you Lying” and “Life of the Party”. The former is calm, while the other is upbeat. What prompted the change?
I should provide clarity to this question because thousands of people still ask me till date. The truth is, I wasn’t comfortable and confident enough with the sound of “Why you lying”. It didn’t resonate with what I’ve always wanted artistically, it just happened that I kept trying to please my audience until i couldn’t anymore.
Well, you’re reaping off the boldness now. Life of the Party is doing nearly 15k streams daily on Spotify, its raving everywhere. What are your expectations with the single?
It’s going great, obviously. But, Life Of The Party still has a very long way to go in terms of acceptance, as most people are still quite shocked or unsure of what hit them because it’s come from a new artist. But one thing I can assure is with my follow up songs, they will understand and have no choice but to accept the new sound.
What are your next plans ?
It is no other than to show the world why i’m oSHAMO and i’m the first of my kind. I want people to become familiar with the brand and the music.
Where do you see yourself and your music in five years ?
In five years, I see myself and my sound making big numbers in places that an African sounds normally wouldn’t thrive. All of these, whilst i sit back and watch them learn my ethnic language so they can relate better to the music.
[LISTEN]: Life Of The Party by oSHAMO.
