In 2005, when the rapper known as Sauce Kid released ‘Yebariba’, a cover of the Remy Ma hit ‘Conceited’, it seemed he was destined for the big league and become a superstar.
12 years later, it hasn’t quite worked out for him like that. Instead of the fast cars, bitches and weed lifestyle he liked to rap about; he’s a jailbird in the US, remanded on at least three occasions for charges of theft.
Sinzu was-is a rare talent. His ability to weave complex American style rap around Nigerian slangs made him a quick contender for one of Naija’s finest. He moved to the US after his secondary school education in Lagos, Nigeria.
While there, he met up with a certain T Billion (Tee Billz eventually) and formed a record label called Q Beats.
READ: Nigerian rapper Sinzu remanded in US jail since July 2016
His first official track was a remix of Mike Okri‘s ‘Omoge Wa’ in 2005. It wasn’t until ‘Yebariba’ came out later that he was bonafide in Nigeria. His foray into music at that time placed him at a vantage position to take over the rap genre.
Lyrically, he was doper than the likes of Ruggedman who had commanded the airwaves before then. In the same vein, he possessed the witty local wordplay that an otherwise purist like Modenine didn’t favour. And this was before M.I Abaga got on the scene.
But this was a time that Nigerian music was enjoying a meteoric rise: Naija songs were starting to be preferred to foreign ones that were the rage a decade before.
Together with artistes like D’banj, who had just returned to Nigeria to start a music career, Sauce Kid had everything required to be a successful musician.
He released a mixtape titled Money Long. He repeatedly announced his forthcoming album, African American – a body of work that was supposed to show him as a rounded artiste, influenced by his Nigerian-ness and adopted Americanism.
After a three-year back and forth between Lagos and LA, he secured a record deal with Storm Records. In 2010, the album finally came out. Although it didn’t have the anticipated shock wave, it was well accepted.
So unlike D’banj, who later became Africa’s biggest artiste, what happened to Sauce Kid? What informed his decision to exchange his ‘star’ for the mugshot of the American legal system?
A combination of misplaced pride, dodgy dealings and, weirdly enough, bad timing.
#shoeboxmoney droppin soon pic.twitter.com/2Eb8ZdHTDl
— SinzuSMG (@SinzuSMG) April 13, 2016
Around 2011, he caught a brain wave and decided on a name change – no longer was Sauce Kid a thing, the artiste would henceforth be known as Sinzu.
His career with Storm Records was quite short and even though there was no public spat, it was quite surprising to see that the label that had helped Naeto C and Ikechukwu become legit couldn’t do the same for Sinzu.
While he took several breaks, the Nigerian music scene had welcomed several other starlets – Wizkid had become, well, Wizkid. Davido, with whom he did a collabo was no longer just a ‘Daddy’s Boy’.
D’banj and Don Jazzy had made history and gone separate ways. Banky W had become a successful R&B star and label CEO.
The list of those who usurped Sinzu’s place is long and nothing he did seemed to work. In time, he became a fond memory, not a constant presence in the mind of music fans.
He would later explain on ‘Exit Strategy’, a diss song he made for his erstwhile buddy, Godwon in 2013: ‘Left the industry, I’ve been in the streets ever since/ I wasn’t making no dollars I had to use common sense…’
Going by his social media pages, it looks like he’s certainly making a lot of money. His photos are the standard hustler’s fare: trips to strip clubs, shiny cars and jewellery and somewhere in between photos of him smoking and a twerking woman, he slots in one of his daughter too.
But the money he claims to be making, is it for real? While one is not naive to imagine he’s involved in some sort of criminal enterprise, the charges for which he’s been arrested for on at least three occasions do not point to the fact that he’s indeed balling like so.
He was forced to issue a denial three years ago when an image said to be him was featured on an American news channel showing a theft in process.
The individual was said to have fraudulently cashed $300 from a supermarket ATM. He blamed it on Godwon who had also been arrested for burglary. However he stayed mum on the mugshot that were floating on the internet.
In the most recent rap sheet of his, the charge was same as before: grand theft. In the American penal code, grand theft is used to describe theft in large quantity, ranging from $1,000 to $500,000.
The timing of the mugshot coincided with his long absence from Twitter where he had been active before, leading many people to believe he was still locked up.
A late post on his Instagram page however seemed to dismiss the report. ‘My family, friends and fans are the last people I want to disappoint right now so I kept things on a need to know basis’, it said.
Indeed family, friends and fans are disappointed that a talent of his calibre is going to waste over a criminal lifestyle.
ALSO: SMG or SMH? Sinzu to make music comeback after 8 months
Most rappers start out as criminally minded hustlers but switch lanes to the straight and narrow when the music starts to pay. Failed artistes abandon their music, like Sinzu has done and make crime their main career.
Although no individual is beyond redemption – Sinzu may eventually forsake his thieving – it would be sadly inadequate to make up for what could have been a successful rap career.
He could be selling out shows and signing endorsement deals if the music had worked out. He could have won all the accolades available. Instead, fans are left to wonder what could have been, if Saucekid had taken the music career as serious as he takes his stunting. If only…
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