The 5th season of Africa’s largest reality show BBNaija premiered on Sunday, July 19. This new season aptly named BBNaija Lockdown introduced 20 new housemates for the ten week duration that the show will air.
The housemates this year, as usual, are a collective of Nigerians from different walks of life. And one of them is Olamilekan “Laycon” Agbelesha, who strut onto the Big Brother Naija stage in a lit up shirt that seemed to have its own supply of electricity and got everyone asking, “who is Laycon?”
Olamilekan, who goes by the stage name Laycon, is a music artiste from Lagos. In April 2019, he got signed to the Fierce Nation record label and soon released his first EP, Any Given Monday.
Early in 2020, the artiste dropped his second EP “Who Is Laycon”, the eight track EP contained single, Fierce, which featured Reminisce and Chinko Ekun. Fierce was on MTV Base Afro HipHop Top Ten chart for six months.
He was one of ten artistes chosen to perform for Unilag at the 2014 Coke Studio Unilag event and a top ten finalist of the 2017 MTV Base LSB challenge amongst others. Laycon is also a graduate of the University of Lagos, with a B.A. in Philosophy.
Celebrity artists like Reminisce, Dotun, Vector and Oxlade have come out to show support for the fast-rising artist.
#TeamLaycon Battery charger ⚡️
Ibile United
— Do2dtun Energy gAD (@iamDo2dtun) July 20, 2020
@Itslaycon is in the house… I don’t watch a lot of tv but we go try keep up for am.
— T.E.S.L.I.M (@VectorThaViper) July 20, 2020
Laycon!! Go Kid!!!!!!!!
— #VIBES & INSHA ALLAH. #JULY29TH (@IamReminisce) July 19, 2020
This is a Laycon Stan account✊🏿
— ᴏxʏ (@oxladeofficial) July 19, 2020
Laycon is a member of WeTalkSound, an influential and growing music community in Nigeria with a history of rallying social media support for its members. The collective is already throwing its weight behind the artiste and it will be interesting to see how far that helps Laycon in the house.
Yesterday, Laycon's EP wasn't on the Apple Music charts at all.
This morning, it's the number 3 album in the country on there.
If this isn't wild impact, I don't know what is.
— Dolapo Amusat (@theGeekyMidget) July 20, 2020
Following his entrance into the BBNaija house, Laycon’s EP “Who is Laycon” now ranks 3rd on the Apple Music Charts.
Historically, celebrity endorsement has been instrumental to the success of housemates in the Big Brother Naija house, it will be interesting to see how this affects Laycon’s chances. The artist’s Twitter following has increased by tenfold from about 1,500 on Sunday night to more than 20,000 followers on Monday morning.
Laycon started out as the underdog in the house, seeming to find it difficult to connect with the other housemates. But the situation is different now with Laycon leading several conversations and the housemates overcoming their initial awkwardness. The game is officially on.