Ojuelegba Bridge Nights Before an Afrobeats Hit

Oxlade, whose full name is Ikuforiji Olaitan Abdulrahman, is a Nigerian singer who first drew attention when Blaqbonez released the song Mamiwota, and who later reached an international audience with Ku Lo Sa. Before that, he went through a stretch of uncertainty in Lagos, which he has talked about in a number of interviews.

His family wanted him to take a regular job. He said his father and relatives pushed him to find a nine-to-five, telling him that music was not a path he could rely on. Wanting to keep going with his music, he left home and set out on his own, and the sources do not give exact years for this period.

He said that some nights he slept under the Ojuelegba bridge in Lagos, and on others he stayed with friends for around three days at a time. He explained that he made sure the local traders knew he was there, so that no one would take him for an intruder. To get by, he sold bus tickets to passengers on the BRT service, served food to customers at a plaza, and took other small jobs.

Looking back, he said leaving home changed his life, because it was then that he learned what the word hustle really means. He admitted there were moments when he felt overwhelmed and wanted to go back, and he said he got through them by staying close to driven, good people. Soon afterwards he put out his first hit. He has since built a career that includes Ku Lo Sa, which the article calls his most popular international song.