CDQ’s releases Ibile Mugabe album

Hip-pop artiste and songwriter, Sodiq Abubakar Yusuf whose stage name is CDQ has released a 17-track album titled Ibile Mugabe. Signed to his record label, No struggle No Success, CDQ says the album describes his personality and his resilience to achieve success.

For him, “I picked the title because it goes with who I am, Ibile means root and we know that the name Mugabe symbolises stubbornness. The title of my album has to do with a boy that came from the root but has the stubborn mindset to be successful.”

The versatile rapper featured a number of artisites in his album including, Wizkid, Davido, Kiss Daniels, Mr. Eazi, Tiwa Savage and a Mozambique singer. This he did to give variation to the songs. “I believe there is more one can achieve when two heads come together. When you try to embrace other artistes and do music that will be appealing to their own fans, it makes your album more marketable.”

While noting that he is grateful for where music has taken him to, CDQ said, “things have improved for me and I thank God for it. I travel a lot now and when you travel, you are exposed and you get to know what people want. I feel good looking at where I started. The truth is that a top manager has turned me down; he told me my style was too local and not sellable, but I believed in myself and I kept working hard. When you know your strength, you just dwell on it.

On what his views are on songs banned by the National Broadcasting Commsiion (NBC), he said, “for me, I do music not for the street only, my song, Flex, has been out for over a month and NBC doesn’t have a problem with it. Also, Nowo E Soke featuring Wizkid wasn’t banned when I released it. I know how to make music without conflicting with NBC. But you cannot edit inspiration; I sing how the inspiration comes. Before your music goes out, you still need to edit it and know the fan base you are targeting. You don’t need to use vulgar words in all songs.