Born Okafor Golden Chinedu, Xbusta’s golden attribute and power lies in his ability to do music. Born in the suburbs of the busy but bubbling Lagos, but hailing from the eastern part of the country—Orlu, Imo State to be precise.
The vibrant act has been dabbling in music for close to a decade but didn’t hold it by the scuffle of the neck until the turn of the decade via a scintillating debut EP “Discovery” that showed Xbusta was no rookie as he lined up mega stars including Peruzzi, Skiibii, Verchi and Singah.
Dropping music independently is no easy feat but Xbusta is up to the task as he continued to consistently drop singles and hone his musical prowess. A journey that has seen him continue to search for his sound and what genre he perfectly fits in. With his new debut album “Xuper Xtar Xtatus (XXX)”, he offers the answer—Afrobeats.
Read Our Review of Xbusta’s “Xuper Xtar Xtatus (XXX)” here
We got a chance to have a chat with the Lagos-bred singer, rapper and songwriter out of his busy schedule as he continues to roll-out his new debut album, layer-by-layer.
Q: Hello Xbusta, for your potential new fans, officially introduce us to Xbusta. How long have you been doing music?
X: I’ve been doing music for as long as I can remember. I started music at a very tender age. I started listening to the likes of Jay-Z. I enjoyed old school music when I was very young. I listened to Nas, a little bit of JaRule and 50 Cent and DMX.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your Background, how it shaped who you are now
X: I was brought up in a Christian home, I had 5 siblings. My dad is a music lover, listening to the likes of Oliver De Coque. I listened to music when he was and that was how i fell in love with music. That helped shape me. I also joined a group of friends in secondary school that enjoyed music.
Q: Why Afrobeats?
X: Why Afrobeats?? Well because I am African and that’s our genre. I formerly was a rapper and then fell in love with singing and Afrobeats.
Q: Who would you say you draw Musical influences from?
X: Growing up, i already mentioned the acts that i listened to. Right now i draw influences from everyone making good music. Everyone inspires me. All types of genres.
Read Our Review of Xbusta’s “Xuper Xtar Xtatus (XXX)” here
Q: Your debut album “Xuper Xtar Xtatus” has been out for a while now with incredible roll-out. How did the whole album come about?
X: Firstly I started recording just for fun. I didn’t have it in mind that i was gonna have an album. Just recording, not sure if i was going to put out a single or a project. So at a point I recorded about 80 songs. So i had a meeting with my manager and he said “Okay you’ve got a lot of songs recorded. Why don’t we just pick some songs and drop an album”. I was like okay, yes. Let’s do it. So I recorded like 10 more which made it a total of about 90 or 90 something songs. We ended up picking 13 songs, not necessarily because they were the best songs but because we wanted to touch different aspects of life and I wanted to tell my story and at that moment, the songs told my story.
Q: It includes a host of top rated features including Duncan Mighty, Jaywillz, Lyta, Majeeed and more. How did you make the decision of picking these artistes to be on the Album.
X: I sent messages on IG to my artiste friends and the artistes I would love to work with that I am not so close to. Just random DMs to people I imagined working with. I had the songs completely recorded before any feature thoughts. So after doing that, some responded. Because I had like two weeks to put the album on stores and it had been lingering for a while. So the acts that replied within that time space, I linked up with them in the studio and we worked. Like Majeeed, he’s my very good friend, so I didn’t have to DM him. Just sent it out to his manager and team and I got my Majeeed verse the next day. Majority of the artistes I featured are like family to me so they gave me no problems.
Read Our Review of Xbusta’s “Xuper Xtar Xtatus (XXX)” here
Q: How has the reception off “XXX” been?
X: It has been amazing. The reception has been amazing. It is getting streams worldwide and I’m grateful to God that i put out this album.
Q: What’s your favorite track off it?
X: I love all the tracks so I wouldn’t say i have a favorite. It just depends on the mood. When i started recording, it was ‘Every Girl’s Boyfriend’ and then at a time it was ‘1 Billi’ so the album has different moods so i love all the songs.
Q: Are we getting any visuals?? What is the next agenda in the plan
X: Yes we are. I am putting out ‘1 Billi’ video first and I am going to shoot a lot of videos. I am looking at putting out a video for ‘More Money’. This year is going to be fire all round.
Listen to Xbusta’s “Xuper Xtar Xtatus (XXX)” album
