I have so much to say to you but so little time so let me start by saying this, The idea of AFRO POP had existed since Nov 2017.
I felt like I had stepped into other people’s idea of me and was really looking for an avenue for me to express myself limitlessly. So, Niyi and I came up with this idea to create a small EP of 4-6 songs which she genius-ly named Afro Pop. Off I went with the charge to create this experimental body of work which turned out to be so much fun. I went from 4 songs to 6 songs, to 12 songs to uncountable…
I should say this, even before you heard About 30, my next 2 albums were already in the works. Currently, My 5th album is in ideation.
I don’t say this to brag about my work ethic or process, in fact, my team have a love/hate relationship with my process because I am quite exasperating to the people around me as I’m always off to the next idea. I digress…
Where was I? yes! So we had the delightful body of work that was no longer than 4 songs and we began shopping it around to any ear that would listen, designing pitches and presentations day after day, flight after flight, meeting after meeting, no one seemed to get it. I was met with a lot of “yeah, this is cool but…” “Yeah, this is interesting world music” “yeah I like your style, let’s speak again”. There were days where I would walk out of said meetings feeling smaller than a mouse.
The denial was torture even though the goal wasn’t really a record deal, the goal was to be seen and supported. There is a difference and someday I will explain.
As 2018 was wrapping up, it felt like things were starting to look up. “Before you wake up” was recorded and upon its release, the temperature was warmer. It was like people were starting to get it. I had 5 deals lined up. Yes! I was finally going to get the support I needed. I started organizing listenings and refreshing the tracklist; Unfortunately, one by one, the deals fell through. As though that wasn’t bad enough, I suffered the most devastating loss of my life.
If you had asked me then what was going on, I could have sworn there was a hex on me because it did not make sense. I was working hard, I was pumping my personal finances senselessly into everything and yet the dreams I had for myself were not manifesting.
I suffered a bout of misery for a bit. I was angry, miserable and inconsolable. That anger was what gave you “Kelegbe Megbe”, “AG Baby” was already a thing in my inner circle but the first time the public heard it in a song was in “Kelegbe Megbe”
I decided I was not going to wait for anyone to see me how I saw myself and how I was evolving. So, I experimented again and released Young Love. Not too long after, I collaborated with KIZZ who had the coolest intro of “Jore”… I was like “hmmm I need my cool intro” and that’s how “AG Baby is your baby” was born.
You see, Lagos has mango trees in every corner. They are often ignored as they grow because…no one really pays attention to a tree growing. It’s a long ting. Guess what though, the wind that ruffles it’s leaves know it’s a tree, the water sucked in by its roots know it’s a tree, the people who enjoy the coolness of its shade on a hot sunny day know it’s a tree. I like to think that only the tree remembers it’s a Mango tree, it’s just not in its season. The rest of us could care less about all that it is until we see the fruit.
I say all this to tell you that you think you know who you are and who you are meant to be and so does that mango tree, but you will be ignored till you are ready, you will take shit till you are ready, you will be scorned, rejected, turned down, misunderstood and frustrated till you are ready.
Afro-Pop might have been ready in 2017, AG Baby wasn’t. And now that AG Baby is ready, Afro Pop is now sounding like its original intention, and the original intention was for me to express myself without giving a F***. I finally am completely fearless and free.
I know that delayed hope makes the heartache but the antidote to that is patience. You see, patience is a fertilizer, a shitty one, but the more shit you take, the more you grow.
Let patience do its work in moulding you, thickening your skin, revealing parts of you you didn’t know existed and preparing parts of you that are undercooked. Let Patience block your ears to people who don’t know what keeps you up at night and block your ears to the people who don’t know what God says about you. Let patience remind you that you are enough and yet, you are more. Let patience do its work of increasing your capacity to keep pushing till you actualize your dreams. I promise you, patience is hard construction worker the building is beautiful when it’s done.
Thanks to patience, AFRO POP VOL. 1 is out on the 21st of August 2020. It is sexy, evolved, delicious and has a home with my new family at EMI.
My hope is that you make it even more worthwhile by biting into the very ripe fruit of my labour and I pray to God I someday partake in yours.
Be patient…
Love you and thank you for your support to date.
Adekunle Gold. aka AG Baby.
