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Mayorkun: I’ll rather keep riding hit waves 

Adewale Emmanuel, better known as Mayorkun, has continued to amass chart-topping hits, often by singing about trends – a style he has often be criticized for. The 26-year-old singer has now replied critics, saying that it is a profitable game plan and one he is not quitting anytime soon.  “For me, when I first came…

Adewale Emmanuel, better known as Mayorkun, has continued to amass chart-topping hits, often by singing about trends – a style he has often be criticized for. The 26-year-old singer has now replied critics, saying that it is a profitable game plan and one he is not quitting anytime soon. 

“For me, when I first came into the industry, people used to ask me this question: ‘How do you intend on staying (relevant).’ This is as real as I can get, ‘If riding waves is going to make people pay attention to me and listen to the real me, I am going to ride waves. 

“I feel like there’s a level of star power that you attain and you would know that you no longer need to follow the trend. I have been watching this thing (the Nigerian music scape) for a while. Most people that come newly, that is what they do (follow the trends). I cannot lie; it is very hard to catch people’s attention in this country. I would not have done ‘Geng’ when I first came out. If I tried it when I came out, I would have been on my way back to Osun State,” he told Afrobeats Intelligence. 

The award-winning singer expressed his confidence in his largely Pop-heavy, catchy sound-style, adding that negative critiques do not affect his musical choices. 

“Before, I used to feel bad about so many things, but when I learnt that it won’t stop (the critiques) on my head, I just let it slide. I have seen so many things before I came (into the industry); some things I replaced. So, when you attack me, I am very sure you attacked the guy that did it at the first time, so, I don’t care.” 

A former member of the popular Davido Music Worldwide (DMW) Community, he noted that, like his musical godfather, Davido, he believes that growing and maintaining a musical community is vital to the growth of an artiste. 

“It drives the music. They (communal fans) are the ones that would push, even though you don’t do anything. If I don’t have those set of people – people backing my music up – I would just look alone.

People like Wizkid are the ones that registered this community thing. Wizkid has this core of people that started with him from way back – People like my guys that don’t know him, know him (personally), but they can die for him. Anything wey Wizkid do e right; anything wey Davido do e right… Those type of people, you need that fellowship to push your market.” 

Davido, discovered Mayorkun on Twitter in 2016, when he uploaded a cover of The Money, which instantly went viral. According to the singer, who narrated that the upload was a stroke of luck, as he “nearly deleted the video to free up storage space” on his phone, was signed to DMW Records, that same year.  

His first single, dubbed Eleko, an Afro Pop/RnB ode to the role of motherhood, gained him widespread acceptance in the Nigerian music scene. He has continued to release chart-topping hits such as Mama, Bobo, Che and others. In 2018, he released his debut album, titled Mayor of Lagos, his newly fond moniker.

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