When Adekunle Gold, now the celebrated Afrobeats sensation fondly called AG Baby, recalls his path to fame, he doesn’t shy away from the truth: his journey to the global stage started with a heartbreak disguised as a blessing.
In a candid chat with NandoLeaks, the Fuji crooner opened up about how losing his day job became the turning point of his life.
The singer, who was then known more for his graphic design skills than for his music, revealed that his exit from paid employment wasn’t exactly planned.
According to him, “2014. I left my job. I was told to go. You know what, they fired me. That’s what happened,” he said frankly.
He went on to explain that it wasn’t personal — just a matter of business. “I feel like the company wasn’t growing the way they wanted it to be, so I just had to go.”
For most people, that kind of news would sting. But for Adekunle Gold, it became the push he didn’t know he needed. “And it just felt that was the push I needed,” he said, reflecting on how that sudden setback forced him to chase what truly mattered.
Before fame came calling, Adekunle Gold was quietly making a name for himself behind the scenes. He designed brand logos and even album artworks for musicians — including the logo for one of Nigeria’s biggest labels, YBNL Nation. Music, at that point, was just a side passion.
But when his 9-to-5 ended, he made a bold decision. “So I said before I go to find another job, let me try. Let me give this music thing a shot,” he recalled. His initial goal was simple — to record a small four-track EP.
That experiment led to his breakout moment. The song that introduced Adekunle Gold to the world, Sade, was a creative reinterpretation of a British pop hit. “The first song I wrote was ‘Sade’. And Sade was a cover of One Direction’s ‘Story of My Life’.”
He took the global boy band’s emotional tune, infused it with Yoruba lyrics, Afro-juju rhythms, and the heart of Highlife creating something refreshingly local yet universally appealing. When Sade dropped in late 2014, it spread like wildfire across the internet.
Soon after, fate came full circle. The same Olamide whose label logo he once designed took notice. “Olamide obviously heard the song. I designed the logo for his label YBNL,” Adekunle Gold revealed. Impressed by the song’s originality and growing buzz, the YBNL boss signed him in 2015.
And from that moment, the man who once lost his job found a new purpose — one that turned him into a household name and one of the brightest voices in modern Nigerian music.