Is Oladips going to be like Chinko Ekun?
What’s Chinko’s story? The boy got signed by big artist (Olamide), boy does some singles, boy didn’t blow, the boy leaves the label after a while, and last year, the boy made a big hit. Now the boy is doing well. The boy is Chinko, of course.
That timeline as simple as it may sound did have it’s up and downs, though. It wasn’t easy, for sure. But was there a role of “luck” too? Hypothetically speaking, yes. But let’s sum up the facts, with the right timing; anyone can pull what Chinko Ekun pulled with “Able God”, last summer.
Now, what if that anyone is Oladips? Under his current circumstances, does he have the chances of making a smash hit, like Chinko Ekun did, even after years of trial and error?
Before fame, Oladips was just anther underground rapper, who wanted to be like Dagrin. Though, it doesn’t look like anyone is going to ever be like the late rapper, who took Yoruba hip-hop to a commercially viable level, about a decade ago. He was an advocate for real hip-hop, and he thought rappers who were chasing the dough in the way of making commercial hits were letting Dagrin down. (He will later come to realize letting Dagrin down was a way to survive in this industry.)
Then, D’banj released “The King is Here” and started a competition for it, the best verse wins. Oladips out of nowhere came and won the contest. And then, he was officially on the market? Who didn’t want a guy that talented? Reminisce wasted no time and signed him to his LRR imprint. Not a bad deal for a newbie.
Oladips’ first single, “Bounce” became a thing, and the streets were loving his vibes, yeah. He followed up with some other singles but they simply weren’t what anyone expected. “Champagne” which later got a remix with Lil Kesh, was his best shot at a hit, but that slid under the table, just wasn’t good enough.
Soon, months went by, he didn’t really catch up. Some compared him to Ycee, who came to limelight about the same time as him. Dremo even got signed to DMW, about a year after him. Looked like everyone else in the industry was doing better than him. Not long after, he went ‘rogue.’
His ‘rebellion’ paid off as he finally got a street hit with “LaLakukulala” featuring Reminisce, a song that exploited the shaku-shaku wave and some bunch of trending nonsense. It was somewhat a hit. Was it enough? No. A lot of people were even left disappointed in their Dagrin reincarnation, who they used to believe in. They called bluff on him.
“O’Sure” featured Olamide and they were bursting bars, but what could that really do anyway? I’ll help with that, nothing.
So when 2019 came and Oladips was angry, left LRR with N23K, and did a song “Maybe” questioning God and blaming his former boss, Reminisce for his failure, nobody was surprised. It was inevitable. He failed.
He wouldn’t be the first promising guy to fail, yes? But his new single and the way he’s going about it got us thinking “if Chinko could rise up from the ashes and do Able God that made him wonder, why the hell can’t Ola do the same?”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1UcvganCMs/
The new single, “Twenty Tiri K”, taps from both his street cred and his lyrical and storytelling ability. Think of the Yoruba version of 2Pac and Biggie, together. He had a great concept, inspired by his claims of leaving LRR with only N23,000. The song is crisp if you ask.
Is this really going to be like “Able God” for Oladips? Most likely not. But with his known consistency, and his head finally in place, he may just be on his way to make something great out of himself. Like Davido once said, “my brother did it, I’m about to do it.” That should give us a bit of hope that, at least, success is replicable.