For this 20-year-old Nigerian-Russian DJ/producer, EDM was not love at first sight. It was more of a ‘hi let’s get to know each other’ process. He fell in love with the complexities of the sound and didn’t let his earlier unsuccessful attempts stop him.
He spoke with Netng over the phone and we got to see a little more about how he started and what drives his passion.
How did you start making Electronic Dance Music?
“I started out making EDM first in 2016 for a short while, didn’t really make anything real or so, but just got interested in it and learnt a few things back then. Then I got distracted for a while with school and all for about 2 years until I started again in December 2018 when I released my first single on SoundCloud titled ‘Poiseless’. It didn’t really do well, I mean, I just started as a person, didn’t even have a permanent alias, just put it out for people to listen to.”
When was the first time you heard EDM? And how did it make you feel?
“Heard EDM first in 2012 when David Guetta’s Titanium made waves. Honestly, I was obsessed with the track and started enjoying anything that sounded like that, although there was little to no resources to make research then, so it was just normal music to me. Until 2015 when I came across Black Coast’s Trndstrr, that was what really drew me towards EDM fully. Started looking for the genre type and heard other tracks that sounded like it. And then tried to start playing their melodies on my guitar (laughs), couldn’t just get the melodies out of my head.”
How difficult was adapting to EDM style, given the environment of Nigerian music?
“Honestly, it was really difficult. One of the major reasons I left it behind in 2016. Everything I made sounded shitty (to me at least), I even started out making EDM on my phone. I was good with melodies, but due to how strange the type of music was to me, I didn’t really know the rules and principles behind the whole genre. It got easier with time, when I kept on learning, watching YouTube videos, and listened to more tracks. Then I started trying to recreate songs I liked, it really helped me a lot, especially in discovering sounds and all.”
What motivates you to keep on with this genre despite the challenges as a Nigerian EDM artist?
“My motivation, hmm, I wouldn’t really say anything particularly motivates me to stay in this genre, although there was a time I almost gave up until Stélouse (a popular EDM/Alternative artiste in the US) commended one of my tracks and made me know I’ve got potentials that I just had to keep learning, apart from that, I enjoy it like now I can say EDM is a part of me, whatever I do, I just find myself humming new ideas out, and when I get the chance I make the idea a reality. Also, over the years, things have been positive and growing even though it’s slow but still, there’s always a peep of light to tell that something better would come. Done a lot of collaborations too, which brought a lot of positive reviews both locally and internationally.”
In your opinion, what do you suggest can be done to make EDM bigger in Nigeria?
“Personally, I believe EDM would make a stand here in Nigeria in various ways, one of them is support from the already made artistes in the industry. They can support by giving us the chance to release official remixes for their tracks or even remix E.Ps whereby they get several remixes for just one track. That would help both parties, but also really help EDM grow here because it would most likely expose more people towards the genre, and I’m very sure people would enjoy it. It’s funny how I tell most people I make EDM and they don’t even know what EDM is, meaning the word isn’t out there yet, so we must get the word out. Also, support from blogs and influencers too would make a great deal, let the people hear it, and I believe from there, we would grow to become a standard genre here in the country. Then lastly, festivals and concerts. EDM all over the world is known for its concerts and festivals where people from all over the world travel to attend. Festivals like Ultra Music, Tomorrowland etc. So if we can at least, for a start, get a section for EDM acts in already established music festivals here in Nigeria like Gidi fest. That would allow us to put out the music style to the crowd, and at the same time, get their reaction towards it. That’s what would help us work towards our own in the future.”
