Olamide Adedeji is an artiste you will always admire his work ethics. The YBNL boss has worked damn hard to finally get to this point in his career and has put in even more work to sustain the momentum. You’ll already know there are no dull moments with the Bariga breed rapper. Olamide Never Sleeps!
On a personal level, he has achieved much; he has won a lot for himself in less than a decade. In fact, his rise in the last five years has can be likened to a bull trend on the stock market. With back to back hits and back to back albums; Olamide is treading the path to a legendary G.O.A.T status.
In contrast, and sadly enough, on the corporate front he has not always been a winner. As cynical as this may sound Baddo has made several failed investments as a BOSS. Oh yes, that is something you only notice on a closer scrutiny. I dare say Olamide has made some of the worst signings in the last three years, more than any record label boss.
Timeline Of Olamide’s Signings In The Past Three Years
Two artistes joined the YBNL fold in 2014; Lil Kesh and Viktoh
Olamide signs two artistes in 2015; Chinko Ekun and Xino
After “Sade” blew up, Adekunle Gold joined YBNL in 2015.
Temmie Ovwasa became the first female artiste in YBNL May 2016. In November 2016, a new rapper Davolee was signed.
In all, seven artistes have come under the umbrella of YBNL as artistes, from 2014 up to date.
One of the greatest challenges faced by a record label executive would be signing on an artiste that would bring in the cash! Record Labels are not poverty alleviation programmes. It’s business, hence the rationale for getting ROI made on an artiste in the shortest possible time.
Of all seven artistes, signed under the YBNL music imprint at different points in time only Lil Kesh and Adekunle Gold turned out to be most profitable.
Whatever happened to Xino and Chinko Ekun? They both extinguished after one or two tracks.
For Xino it’s difficult to say why the artist never made headway on the label. But last year the aggrieved artiste penned down an emotional note on Instagram on why he parted ways with Olamide’s music imprint. Xino’s words:
“Okay! This post dey uncalled for totally, but bread wey dem leave for air gaz dry. I used to be under YBNL Nation till my Boss, Mentor and Big bro left me out on the streets with no form of support but these undoubtedly wise words ‘Only the grind connects hustlers’ Real talk. But real talk no dey put records on countdown.”
From the above, the artiste definitely felt abandoned by the record label. He felt he was left outside in the cold, heat and wind without a covering. Even though the same artiste tendered an apology to Baddo and the rest of the team it shows he hasn’t been satisfied with how he was treated on the label.
Same could be said for Chinko Ekun and Viktoh who have not had the best of success with the label.
Olamide Maybe The Problem Of His Artistes.
One thing about being an artiste as well as Record Label Boss is that you’re in subtle competition with your signed artistes.
Lil Kesh and Adekunle Gold were blessed to have instant hits on their first and second singles. That may not be the case for the other artistes.
Take it or leave it, there would never be an artiste Olamide will sign that would totally outshine him. And that’s the problem. As long as the YBNL boss pushes his hustle it’s evident his personal interest would come before that of the artistes. In the past five years Olamide has been putting out an album annually. How many artistes signed were able to put out an album during the time frame of their contracts? Maybe one or two.
Lil Kesh dropped his “YAGI” album on March 16, 2016. Just a little about two weeks after Lil Kesh dropped his YAGI album, Olamide dropped “Who You Epp” on 2nd April which became a big hit during the course of the year.
Now that move definitely diverted attention from Lil Kesh’s album which was only about 2 weeks old in the market. That move was so wrong! A no no. Upcoming artistes were implored to make a remix of the buzzing track. YAGI from then on took a back seat while “Who You Epp” was trending and enjoying a lot of promo. Lil Kesh himself jumped on the track to do a remix. WTF.
‘SHEY MAN GO LOYAL TILL HIM GET HUNCHBACK.’
Once again Olamide has gotten back on his hustle. He has released fresh new tracks “Wavy Level“ and “Love No Go Die” that have nothing to do it “The Glory” album. The road to another album may have already started. Yet Davolee is very much an unknown artiste except that his profile bears he is a YBNL artiste.
It nearly six months Davolee joined the label and he is yet to achieve a personal industry recognition. So far the indigenous rapper has one one official song “Festival Bar“, which has been very mild if not dead on arrival. The other time you’ll hear of Davolee is on “Pepper Dem” on “The Glory” album. Then nothing else. However, his boss is dishing out tracks every other day like nobody’s business. Could it be Davolee hasn’t recorded anything worth putting out since “Festival Bar”? I doubt.
What is it about signing artist that have school work to deal with?
One of the perceived drawbacks for Chinko Ekun is that he was a student while grappling with his music on one hand. There’s no way he would have seen more success with YBNL when he was still actively engaged with school work.
So why would Olamide sign Temmie Ovwasa (YBNL Princess) who he recently said is still a student. Chinko should have been enough lessons for the boss.
Can Baddo Take A Chill Pill!
As much as it’s pleasant to be hardworking Baddo’s continued dance in the spotlight would leave his artistes no time to shine. A strategic break from the spotlight might do the magic as his artistes will be more in the focus.
Baddo needs to swallow a chill pill and let his artistes shine
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