Top 10 Nigerian rappers who turned singers

Olamide

Definitely one of the most versatile musicians the Nigerian music industry has ever produced, Olamide is an awesome rapper and a great singer at the same time.

He came into the industry as a rapper, in fact as a hardcore rapper but gradually metamorphosed into a skilled singer, taking hooks for even rappers and given actual singers a run for their money on their own records.

Some of the famous songs that Olamide sang on that became huge records are,  “Bobo,” “Lagos Boys,” “Illegal,” “Melo Melo” and many more.

He has become a great singer that even the newest generation kids might never know Olamide to be a rapper.

Phyno

He is the Igbo version of his close friend and colleague, Olamide, Phyno is a rapper by birth and a fantastic one at that.

Known majorly to always rap in his indigenous language of Igbo, Phyno got noticed for his singing ability with his popular hit single; “Connect” and since then, after noticing the great reception it had, he resulted to doing singing alongside his rap.

In fact, Phyno’s biggest ever song is “Fada Fada” in which he featured Olamide.

The song from start to finish had no single rap and it was all a show of versatility as both artists sang well to put the song on a majestic status.

Ice Prince

He is one of Nigeria’s foremost rappers, stormed the industry with his hit single, “Oleku” featuring former label mate; Brymo in 2011.

Although he is widely known as a rapper, most of Ice Prince’s most loved songs are tracks in which he sang.

Tracks like “Aboki,” “Superstar” are popular tracks he exercised his singing ability.

Aside from these tracks, Ice Prince has shown his side as a great singer even on other people’s songs.

For Instance, in 2017, Ice took the hook to Major Lazer’s African hit single, “Particular” and in fact, he took it so well that it is one of the factors that made people fall so much in love with the song.

Skales

He had great potential as a rapper and even expressed his ambition to bring home a Grammy award, but as soon as it looked like the industry was fast moving away from Hip-Hop, Skales quickly re-adjusted and took to singing.

Skales is known to have several hit songs in the music industry and there is none that has him on as a rapper.

He is now a fully blown Afrobeats singer and many don’t even know he used to be a rapper. He has left no traces at all.

Dremo

A rapper with great skill and delivery is who Dremo is he made his debut in the music industry with a cover to American rapper; Designer’s “Panda,” a track that made him popular and kick-started his career at DMW.

Dremo apart from being a fantastic rapper is also a good singer, he showed a bit part of his singing ability on DJ Ecool’s record, “Kilode” where he delivered well as a singer.

Dremo’s biggest record to date is his 2018 hit song, “Kpa” with his label boss; Davido.

In this record, he didn’t rap but sang all through and it was really nice. His E.P also has several songs in which had him as a singer and they are all great songs.

Falz

Ace Nigerian singer and rapper Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz, Falz describes his style of music as “Wahzup music”.

It is the fusion of comic lyrics with contemporary hip-hop in a faux Yoruba accent.

Vector

Olanrewaju Ogunmefun, better known by his stage name Vector, is a Nigerian rapper and songwriter.

He has released three studio albums, including the State of Surprise and The Second Coming.

In anticipation of his second studio album, he released a mixtape titled Bar Racks. “Lafiaji” which was released in December 2016

Blaqbonez

Emeka Akumefule known professionally as Blaqbonez is a Nigerian rapper signed to 100 Crowns, which is an imprint of Chocolate City.

In 2019, he was profiled by The New York Times as one of the new guards of Nigerian music.

He is widely known for his controversial self-proclaimed status as the “Best Rapper In Africa” (abbreviated as “BRIA”), which became the most talked about topic in the Nigerian hip hop space between July and September 2019

Ycee

Oludemilade Martin Alejo known professionally as Ycee is a Nigerian rapper, singer, and songwriter.

He gained popularity after his single “Condo”, which features vocals by Patoranking, earned him two nominations at the 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards.

He was also nominated for Best Artist in African Pop at the 2015 All Africa Music Awards and for Next Rated at The Headies 2016.

Ycee signed a record deal with Sony Music in October 2016 but terminated his contract with the label in February 2018.

Naira Marley

Walking the line between Afrobeats and hip-hop while dropping a slew of hit records, Naira Marley is one of Nigeria’s biggest stars.

Naira Marley, whose artist name was inspired by Nigeria’s official currency (naira) and reggae legend Bob Marley, burst onto the scene in 2014 with the cheekily titled “Marry Juana.”

His 2017 single “Issa Goal” spawned a viral dance craze and became the unofficial theme song of Nigeria’s national soccer team during the run-up to the 2018 World Cup.

Marley’s passionate fans—known as Marlians—have garnered headlines for their adherence to unorthodox “rules,” such as not wearing belts or celebrating Valentine’s Day.

Although 2019’s controversial “Am I a Yahoo Boy” attracted the ire of the Nigerian government, the track landed him on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart for the first time.

An ode to self-pleasure inspired by his own brief incarceration, his 2019 hit single “Soapy” gave rise to another viral dance trend.

In 2020, he picked up four nominations for The Headies (Nigeria’s biggest music awards show), including a Song of the Year nod for “Mafo,” his collaborative 2019 single with Young John.