I create, therefore I am | A STORYTELLER
Joined December 2011
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33 MOMENTS BEFORE 33
DAY 19/33
My NYSC Years
I started my NYSC journey in 2017, and I was genuinely looking forward to it.
I was posted to Lagos camp, a place I already had memories of from when I won a phone there. But this time, I wasn’t going as a visitor. I was going as a corps member, ready to experience camp for myself.
And honestly, camp was an experience.
I was pretty chilled, but I still found my way into a few things. I led my platoon during the march past, calling the commands and learning how to march properly. I joined one of the language classes, performed at a Beat FM event, and even won a rap competition organised by Indomie. Before long, people in camp were getting to know me for the music.
Around that same period, I was also participating in the MTV Base Lip Sync Battle challenge, where I made the top ten finalists. I had to get permission to leave camp for the finalists’ event, which I think was held at Quilox. That was where I met Pinkie Debbie and Jand. Looking back, it’s interesting how many different experiences were happening at once.
By the time I completed NYSC in 2018, I was stepping towards another chapter. Around that period, I met Jackson Fierce, who would eventually sign me. I couldn’t have known exactly what was coming next, but I was moving forward, carrying everything that experience had taught me.
When I look back at my NYSC years, I remember the fun, the performances, the people I met, the work, and the opportunities that came my way. I also remember how much I was dealing with behind the scenes. It was a year of highs and lows, and somehow, I made it through.
After camp, I began my Place of Primary Assignment at Best Man Games Limited, a company that created games like Monopoly and jigsaw puzzles. My work involved creating games and liaising with the outlets that sold them. The company was owned by Mrs. Nimi Akinkungbe, Nigerian former ambassador to Greece. I spent about two months there before moving to the Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, where I worked as a personal assistant to a director in the HR department.
Those days, I travelled from my godmother’s house to Alausa for work. Life was moving, and I was figuring things out, just as everyone else was.
But away from the activities, the competitions and the new experiences, that period was also difficult for me personally. I lost my dad in 2017, and around that same time, my mum was dealing with an illness of her own. There was a lot happening at once, and trying to navigate everything wasn’t easy.
Still, life kept moving.
33 MOMENTS BEFORE 33
Day 18/33
University Graduation
Late 2016, I completed university. Early 2017, we gathered to celebrate.
Graduation was about more than the certificate. It was about the friendships, the memories, the people who shared that chapter with me, and the excitement of figuring out what came next. NYSC was already on everybody’s mind.
Looking back, I’m grateful for the people I got to share that moment with. Because some memories become even more special when you get to celebrate them together.
And when it’s time to celebrate the moments that bring us together, there’s 33 Export, the taste that unites.
Cheers 🍻 @33ExportNigeria
#33MomentsBefore33 #33ExportLager #TasteThatUnites
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Bars upon bars, truly only one of you @itsLaycon
33 MOMENTS BEFORE 33
DAY 17/33
The Church Memories
Between finishing secondary school and eventually getting into university, church became a huge part of my life.
My brother, Alake, was the one who started going first. Eventually, I joined him at Jesus Assembly, RCCG, in Dalemo, Alakuko.
But what really made me stay was music.
I started learning different instruments. Ola taught me drums, and Segun Alake taught me guitar and bass guitar. Then there was Segun SAT, who became my mentor in church. He could play practically anything: drums, keyboard, guitar, saxophone. I learnt a lot from being around him.
Before long, I joined the teens’ choir and eventually the main choir. I learnt to read musical notes, score music and rehearse properly. I was in church almost every other day: Tuesday and Thursday services, choir rehearsals on Saturdays and Sundays, and sometimes night vigils that lasted till morning.
Eventually, I became the music director for the teens’ church and later the district headquarters. I led the teenagers’ choir, took them to competitions and represented the Lagos Province 29 teens choir too. I remember one competition in Gbagada where we went to perform with LP 29, and I rapped. Trust me, It was a blast.
At some point, I had become good enough at playing guitar that another church offered to pay me to play for them. I kept doing that until I got into university. One time I scored the bass line in “My Praise” song so perfectly that during the performance, Ollyray was so impressed he came and stashed 5 new 500 naira notes in my pocket. And I also had other boys coming to meet me to give them guitar lessons.
But church wasn’t just music and rehearsals. I encountered a lot of people who made those years special. I remember Anjola, Collins, Mayowa Adenekan, Mojoyin, Debola, Deroju, Dami, Temitope Alofe, and LG. Those were some of the people who were part of my church experience, and there are memories attached to those names.
And then there was my first proper girlfriend.
Kareemah. There was a little stationery shop opposite our church, and that’s where I met her. Sometimes, I’d go to church and stay around, waiting for her to close the shop in the evening. Then we’d walk together, and I’d accompany her almost all the way home. Looking back now, those little moments were an experience of their own.
That was also the period when many of us were trying to get into university. Every year, some teenagers would leave because they’d gained admission, new ones would come in, and the cycle continued.
I remember telling my mum I wanted to sit for WAEC again because I wasn’t entirely confident about my earlier results, even though I already had WAEC and GCE results. I took the exam again, and this time, I passed with flying colours.
When I look back, those years were beautiful. I was learning music, leading people, falling in love, working towards university admission and figuring life out, all at the same time.
And somehow, all of it became part of the person I was becoming.
33 MOMENTS BEFORE 33
DAY 16/33
Secondary School, Part 3: Final Chapter
When I got to SS2E, things were pretty chilled. I had finally made a decision for myself, and I wasn’t really trying to impress anybody. I was just settling in this new class and doing my thing.
Music was still a big part of my life. In fact, because of Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girls, people started calling me “Suicidal.” That was one of the names I carried around in that class.
I had my people, too. Latif, Eleshinla, Mohammed Abubakar, Ibrahim, Abogunloko Oriyomi, Bisola, Seun Sogunro, Tomisin Mebude, and Yetunde Shabi, who, by the way, was also my crush.
My favourite subjects were Literature in English, Government and History. I loved the poems, the literary devices, the storybooks. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, all of that. And somewhere along the way, I went from being the goalkeeper to actually playing outfield because my football had improved.
Then came SS3.
I started keeping more to myself. Everybody was thinking about what came next, and I was no different. WAEC, NECO, JAMB, life after secondary school, and, of course, music. I was trying to figure out how everything would work out, while also dealing with life outside school. And I was still quite young, trying to make sense of it all.
Eventually, we wrote our exams and graduated.
But the beautiful thing is that the friendships didn’t end with school. Some of my friends even came all the way to my house in Otta to see me after we graduated. That’s the picture I’m sharing today.
Looking back, secondary school gave me more than an education. It gave me people, experiences, and memories that followed me long after I left those classrooms.
And just like that, my secondary school chapter came to an end.
33 MOMENTS BEFORE 33
DAY 15/33
The Day I Announced Myself to UNILAG
In 2013, all it took was a friend who believed I could rap, a stage, and one opportunity. I walked away with a ticket to see Vector, discovered music I would fall in love with, and somehow ended the night sleeping in a boat outside Ember Creek.
Funny how the nights that don’t go according to plan become the stories you tell for years.
Shout-out to Rastogi, Larry Foreman, Vector, and the security guard who looked out for me that night.
Some stories deserve to be revisited over a cold 33 Export. 🍻
Cheers 🍻 @33ExportNigeria
#33MomentsBefore33 #33ExportLager #TasteThatUnites
33 MOMENTS BEFORE 33
DAY 14/33
October 20, 2020.
October 2020 will always be one of those periods I can never forget.
I had just come out of Big Brother Naija, and everything was moving so fast. I was adjusting to life outside the house, trying to process everything that had happened, and navigating a completely new chapter of my life.
But while all of that was happening, Nigeria was going through something of its own.
The #EndSARS protests were happening. People were speaking out against police brutality, demanding change and calling for an end to the abuse.
I remember going to Ikeja Alausa to join the protests. We walked through Ikeja, protesting and making our voices heard.
Big s/o to @BlaqBonez too.
I also remember travelling to Ogun State and visiting the Commissioner of Police. We had a conversation about police brutality and the need to put an end to it.
And just a few days before October 20, I remember being at the Lekki Toll Gate.
Then came October 20.
There was a curfew. I remember going to sleep, and sometime in the middle of the night, my brother came to wake me up.
He told me that people had been shot at the toll gate.
I woke up, and that was it.
Everything changed.
It was a lot to take in. We were still coming out of the COVID-19 lockdown, I was right in the middle of the whirlwind that followed Big Brother, and then the country was experiencing something that would stay with so many of us for years to come.
When I look back at October 2020, I remember the excitement of a new chapter in my life, I saw Nigerians rally together to vote for me, to support me, and to make their voices count. Then I saw those same kinds of collective energy and solidarity in people coming together to demand justice for themselves.
For me, those moments are connected by something I witnessed firsthand: the power of people coming together because they believe things can be different.
Some moments become part of your story because of what happened to you personally. Others stay with you because of what happened to everyone around you.
October 2020 was both.
33 MOMENTS BEFORE 33
DAY 13/33
My Secondary School Moments Part 2: Finding My Voice
If Part 1 was about how I found my feet in secondary school, Part 2 was about how I slowly started finding myself.
By SS1, I was in SS1C, the Applied Science class.
Now, there were two reasons I chose Science. My dad wanted me to become an engineer, and my guy Daniel Akandu was also in Science.
My mum, on the other hand, wanted me to become a lawyer.
So, somehow, I found myself in a science class, studying Physics, Chemistry and Technical Drawing. Did I enjoy these subjects? Not particularly. But I knew I had to pass, so I read to pass. Simple.
Meanwhile, music was becoming a bigger part of my life.
Daniel and I were still at it, and the music we were listening to then? T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Akon, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Young Jeezy. Back home, we had 2Baba, P-Square, D’banj and the rest.
Those were the sounds of that period, and music was becoming more than just something I listened to. It was something I was beginning to see myself doing.
Football was also still very much part of my life. I was keeping goal for SS2 and SS3 students, and I considered myself one of the best goalkeepers in the school.
But SS1 came with some other memories too.
I think that was when I had my first fight in school. And it was also the year I got into trouble over Chemistry practicals. We brought alcohol for the practical, and somehow, I drank some. Before I knew it, the matter had reached the headmaster, and I was told to bring my parents to school.
Let’s just say I was learning lessons both inside and outside the classroom.
I also remember the change from the old paper naira notes to the new polymer notes. Funny how certain memories stay with you, even when you can’t remember every detail of the school year.
Then came the transition to SS2.
By this time, I knew I didn’t want to continue with Science. I wanted to move to Arts. I told my mum I wanted to become a lawyer, but the truth was that I wanted to pursue music. Science wasn’t where my heart was.
The school didn’t want to let me go because I was doing well academically. They felt I was a good science student and should stay.
My mum eventually had to come to school and convince them that my parents wanted me moved.
And that’s how I found myself in SS2E.
Looking back, I remember the people who made those years special: Bisi, Mide, Daniel, Phatoke, Shola, Awizie, Bashiru Lawal, BibiFash, Tosin Oganla, and Onyeka, my SS1 crush, who eventually left the school too.
It’s funny how you can be doing well at something and still know, somewhere inside you, that it’s not what you really want.
At the time, I was just a secondary school boy trying to figure things out. I didn’t have all the answers. I just knew that music kept calling.
And eventually, I had to listen.
But moving to SS2E was the beginning of another chapter entirely. New classmates, new experiences, new memories, and more stories that helped shape the person I would eventually become.
And trust me, we’re not done with secondary school yet.
33 MOMENTS BEFORE 33
DAY 12/33
The First Time I won something for Music
Sometimes, one small win is all it takes for people to start believing in your dream.
This was the first time I won something for my music, and it meant more than just winning a phone. It was the beginning of my parents seeing that maybe, just maybe, this music thing was worth believing in.
S/O @EmmaOhMaGod
Cheers 🍻 @33ExportNigeria
#33MomentsBefore33 #33ExportLager #TasteThatUnites
