Olamide The YBNL Boss To Retire From Music
YBNL boss Olamide, is undoubtedly on a roll. He just hit a major landmark as a label boss to the fastest rising Afrobeats act at the moment.
After a decade long struggle to cement his legacy in the world of African music, he’s making an extended play for international glory with his prodigy Fireboy and equally extending the reach of his self-owned record label, thanks to a joint venture with Empire, one of the biggest distribution and label services company on the planet.
It is not surprising to see Olamide taste success like this, the past decade has been dedicated to not only slugging it out as one of the most consistent artists locally, dropping a record one album each year till date while also providing a platform for young superstars such as Lil Kesh, Chinko EKUN, Adekunle Gold, Lyta, Fireboy DML, and a bunch of others to kick off their career.
It may have taken well over a decade and the genius of a newer bred Afro pop artist, but Olamide is definitely making his in way into the class of the biggest songs in the world in his YBNL catalogue, and equally still slugging it out in the studio how he knows best.
One of the major things Olamide deserves huge credit for is his quest for knowledge. Gone are the days when he drops full album projects without as much as mix and mastering one single song to delivering a totally genre-bending classic Carpe Diem in 2020.
A complete reinvention, with ten years in the game and OG status has only been achieved by a select few in the Afrobeats industry, not to mention combining that with running one of the largest record labels in Africa. Gone are the days when Olamide just wanted to get in the booth and slap anything called a record in our faces. These days we see him going through a refined process to get the best out of his musicianship.
Given the current state of things, aside the possibilities of cracking the billboard hot 100 himself, there’s a chance that Olamide might just go down as one of the most innovative young people in the music industry, considering the amount of people that he gives an in-road into the industry. He seems to have a knack for not only crafting monster hits but also discovering hidden talents from the core streets.
With just one feature each in the past two months, Olamide has helped to cement the status of three upcoming acts, eventually opting to sign only one of them.
Baddo’s progress and transition is unprecedented and it’s quite clear that he still has a very long way to go. Although a lot of people, including I, do not accept that this will definitively be his last album considering the joint venture deal he just signed with Empire a couple of years ago.
This deal has produced just 3 major projects, Fireboy’s Apollo, Olamide’s Carpe Diem and UY SCUTI. All of which are incredible projects in their own rights. It is also a major propellant to Fireboy snagging an Ed Sheeran collaboration, a No. 1 UK Entry, and the fastest Billboard Hot 100 crack in the history of Afrobeats.
Indeed, things are beginning to look up for the acclaimed Local rapper and his new team of elite players who’ve been finally motivated to make a play for legacy extension in the face of Afrobeats to the world. Everyone has witnessed the success of albums like African Giant, Made in Lagos, Twice as Tall, and they all want their own pound of flesh from the Grammy and Billboard Hot 100 which have both eluded us for years.
Here’s a new prediction for the YBNL fans, following the success of our last prediction that Fireboy will crack the Billboard Hot 100 and make an entry into the UK and Europe.
“There’s an American version of Peru in the works with a western heavyweight, and with this new collaboration heralding the arrival of the first Trifecta album in Afrobeats, FireboyDML will make a play for the 2023 Grammy nominations.”
Comment: Huge congratulations to Olamide, FireboyDML, Empire, Mr Kareem and the rest of the team. It’s a new dawn for Afrobeats.
Written by AfrobeatsMerije.
Bisi-Taiwo Chukwumerije is a blood-bound Nigerian music journalist & A&R in his early 20s. He goes by the pseudonym ‘AfrobeatsMerije’, and considers himself one of the greatest psyche in Afrobeats.
Tweet your favourite songs, EPs, LPs, Albums, & music projects at him; @AfrobeatsMerije.
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