#Lord of Ajasa says HE deserve an award for pioneering indigenious rap music in Nigeria

In an interview with Punch this week, indigenous rap artiste, Olusegun Osaniyi popularly known as Lord of Ajasa, who was quite popular in the early/mid 2000s, says he deserves an award for pioneering indigenous rap music in Nigeria. He said the new generation of indigenous artists sing 'nonsense' and still get endorsement, while they have been forgotten. Below is what he said...

"I pioneered indigenous rap music and today it has become lucrative and fashionable. Yet, these young musicians shy away from that fact. They try to hide it. If I don’t blow my trumpet, nobody will do it. But I deserve an award, recognition and endorsement because a lot of people look up to me as their mentor. Look at Eedris Abdulkareem and 9ice, for instance. I’m saying they should take care of the pioneers, but what impact have these new artistes really made in the society to deserve all the endorsements they are getting? I mean, they sing nonsense songs while we (pioneers) do evergreen and clean music. Yet they keep discouraging us. 2face is an exception I am okay with his brand of music, because his endorsements are well-deserved.”

Lord of Ajasa, who shot to stardom in 2005 with his single Otiya, blamed his down slide in the music industry to some decisions he took

"I left the music scene after I got married in 2009 to delve into other businesses. I started this movement long before these small boys emerged on the scene and I paved the way for many of them. When I began, I didn’t know anything about music and entertainment. I was simply making music for the love of it, while 9ice and Olamide were following my footsteps. Whenever I made a mistake, they learned from it and got better. I was just a naïve village boy who came down to Lagos from Ondo State with no guidance. I never knew the big names in Nigerian entertainment at the time,” he says.