When you hear the tag “Ololade Mi Asake” in the intro of a song, this informs you that the newest Golden Boy of the Nigerian music industry, Asake is about to take you for a ride.
Until a while back, Asake was just another underdog in the Nigerian music industry, so how was he able to successfully stamp his name in the minds of music lovers across the country?
In the highly competitive industry, just being able to sing isn’t enough and while it might get you an audience among family and friends, getting mainstream attraction is a different ball game entirely.
For Asake, it took years of practice, jumping from stage to stage and putting what he learned as a theatre art student from OAU into his performances to bring him to the stage where he is now.
More than that, it took making the one song and getting the right feature for it to gain notoriety mainstream.
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Finding Fame
“Omo Ope” might be the catalyst to Asake’s fame but before the Olamide-featured song was a series of underdog songs that saw him horn his talents over the years.
While his first song is not known, a deep dive on his youtube page shows that the first song he uploaded to the streaming site was a song called “Thankful,” a solemn smooth song that sees him show his gratitude to God for his life and maybe his current reality.
While he released several other songs, he didn’t start gaining mainstream attention until 2020 when he released the upbeat song, “Mr Money“.
The song gained street popularity thanks to its infamous lyrics, “Me I No Dey Cap, Me I no dey Form, My Energy is High WTF.”
Unlike artists like Omah Lay, Bella Shmurda, and BNXN (Buju) who were able to soar through the ranks during the pandemic ravaged 2020, Asake withdrew to the background after dropping “Mr Money“.
While many people knew the song, they didn’t know his name or his face. A Problem that many upcoming artists face and if not rectified will cause them to be one-hit wonders.
However, all hope wasn’t lost as in January of 2022, he released his major breakthrough record, “Omo Ope” which featured Olamide and from there, it has been a success all through.
“Omo Ope” caught on like wildfire spreading through every airwave, if it wasn’t playing from a radio station’s early morning playlist, it was ringing out from shops on the streets or the phones of music lovers.
Weeks later, Olamide announced his signing to the YBNL family, a move that has also helped him in positioning him for the success he is currently enjoying.
Then there came his debut EP, Ololade Asake which housed four singles including “Omo Ope.”
With the release of the EP, fans quickly discovered that “Omo Ope” was just the icing on the cake when it came to the vast talent Asake possessed.
“Sungba” which was the second song on the project was another fans’ favourite as it began to climb its way to playlists across the nation.
Being the smart person he was, Asake released a video and shortly followed with a remix which featured Burna Boy.
A video snippet of the remix was released on social media and immediately made numbers as fans praised the collaboration and Burna Boy’s iconic dance moves.
Then what followed was songs like his feature on DJ Spinall’s “Pallazzo” whose fast and challenging lyrics has become one of its attractions and latest release “Peace Be Unto You (PBUY)”.
Asake: The person and before the fame
Real name Ahmed Ololade, Asake was born to Yoruba parents in Lagos, Nigeria, in the late 1990s.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Obafemi Awolowo University’s Department of Theatre and Performing Arts in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
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He rose to notoriety in 2020 after his freestyle performance of “Lady” went viral and drew rave reviews from a number of well-known internet influencers, including Broda Shaggi, Sydney Talker, NastyBlaq, and others.
His foray into music was entirely accidental; he started out as a dancer and worked with numerous theatrical groups and dance ensembles in high school before experimenting with music.
Asake also worked as a background singer and if you keenly watch Broda Shaggi’s famous online live performance, you could spot Asake acting as both background singer and hypeman.