Nigerian singer and songwriter, Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade popularly known as Mr Eazi has recalled how he got sidelined by friends and colleagues for saying Ghana influenced Nigerian music.
On 11 January 2017, Mr Eazi faced heavy backlash and threats for tweeting that present-day Nigerian sound was influenced by Ghanaian music.
Reacting to this on a recent episode of the Afrobeats Intelligence Podcast, the pioneer of Banku music lamented that some of his friends joined in the ‘hate’ instead of speaking to him in private.
“And I said it many years ago. If that is the reason you hate me, then you hate me for something else. It’s deeper than that. And realizing that just makes me feel free. That’s the lens through which I look at everything. Because I was seeing guys I was saying ‘Hello’ to, coming out to say, ‘F*ck Mr Eazi.’ And I was like, ‘Bro, you could have called me and say Eazi, I just saw this interview, and you shouldn’t have said that. This is what I advise you to do.’ But it just became a thing of let’s all band together. And that’s why in my song ‘We Dey’, I said, ‘Twitter fingers steady showing fake love.’ Because it’s crowd mentality. It’s trendy to hate you, and now it’s like for clicks” he said.
Mr. Eazi added that, the people still use that issue as a guise to hate him.
“When the whole issue with me being canceled, even till tomorrow, I see people come on my [social media] profile and still throw hate. They said, ‘Oh, yeah, you said that.’ I’m like, ‘Fam? This energy take it to your local politician wey dey run you street.’ You feel me? I didn’t kill anybody. I said what I said.”
“There are people making art and nobody is caring about their life whether they jump or sit. It’s like they are invisible. Love and hate is acknowledgment of your existence, I’m even blessed to be able to invoke something” he added.
