In 2016, I wanted to buy fuel for my generator and I quickly went to E-Kelly’s (the producer) house. Because E-Kelly’s house had a filling station (nearby) that was selling petrol cheaper. Whilst my

boy rushed to the petrol station, I was with E-Kelly and he was playing some beats and I quickly recorded a song that I didn’t even take seriously. By the end of 2016, that song became Leg Over, one

of the biggest songs of my career.

Dancehall makes you wanna gyrate, which influenced “Work” a lot. This was 2015… I was making a lot hip-hop music and sometimes you just get burnt out and you’re like “you know what… I missed

listening to Sean Paul, I missed listening to Beenie Man”. I used to go to house parties sometimes when I was a teenager and they’d play reggae music and people would be banging on the walls. I’m

like I miss that energy because we didn’t have that energy. So a couple of producers of mine and myself were just messing around with dancehall sounding beats and just having fun. I ended up giving

that beat to PARTYNEXTDOOR. He had said “hey I’m in the studio with Rihanna right now, we’re working on records, I need something fun”. At the time, nobody was really making anything with that kind

of bop and that rhythm… sending that to him for Rihanna who… her last biggest song was “Diamonds”. Sending that personally was a risk… but they ended up working on the song and when I heard it, I

knew immediately, this is outta here.

When I linked up with Olamide to do the record, Olamide already killed it and then I already mumbled my melodies on the record but it just didn’t sound… I didn’t have it at the time. So it took me

like six months to write it. I would go for shows… kill shows and I’ll go back to the record and be like “yo okay, what do I write here that’s crazy?”. Then I just gathered momentum, I got it after

one show, I ran to Kel-P (the producer), I recorded it and I knew it was a hit. I sent it to Olamide, and Olamide was like “okay… are you sure?” I was like yes I’m sure, this is my jam. I knew it was

going to jam (blow up).

I was just literally freestyling a lot of that stuff. “Soh Soh” doesn’t actually mean anything but “So So” in Nigeria if you’re Igbo means “small small” or something like that. As I was in Nigeria

when I made it and that was like the first thing that came to my mind and I just dun it. When I came back to add the lyrics, the producers (PD & Randay) were like “wait wait don’t add no lyrics to

that”. I was like nah you’re right, let’s leave it and then, that was it.

Music is the way I relieve my feelings, I don’t really talk much to people. But everything I feel, comes out in my music. With “Mr Rebel”, that’s exactly how I felt in the situation I was in. I was

really frustrated about where I was, and I just thought about what was making me feel sad, depressed. I realised I was challenging things… a series of event, a whole period in my life. I was

basically standing up to my fears. And I just let it all out. When I freestyle, it just kinda comes out. The people (producers) that I did find, kept on sending me like Afrobeats sound. I got

frustrated. So when I got back to school, I watched Youtube videos, and I started trying my hands on making small beats… I started growing. Even now, I am still learning. Mr Rebel is my core. But

it’s just one part of me. I have other songs that kind of show the different parts of me.

I don’t let my troubles get the best of me. I was always in the studio channeling positive energy into my music. Two weeks before my U.S tour, I went to Del-B’s (the producer) house and in the studio

there we made the idea, the drums, the percussions of the song. Del-B worked on the main part of the beat and I did the flute. Most times, I play a part (of the beat) and record on it. It’s always

easier for me to record on a part than on the actual (complete) beat. I started with the melodies first then wrote the lyrics. Then T-Spize (additional producer) played the guitar. In the beat, we

were looking at something between Highlife and R&B. It has Ghana Highlife percussions with R&B pads and strings on it. So it has this soul to it. Everyone wants to know what I was saying in a part

(intro chant: whine for the ****). That might be the juju (charm) in the song so if I tell you what it means, you might stop liking the song… so just whine for anything. I wanted something deep, in

Naija we call it “wash” (translated as “mesmerize”). I had to put a lot of wash in the song so any girl that hears it, the wash would work very well.

I remember my heart was beating so fast before that session. I was like, hey, what if I don't know what to sing? What if I get there and I don't know what to do? You know, sometimes you get to the

studio and nothing is there. It was so quick because I recorded a song before, he had like a whole like song already, he just wanted me to do like a hook. I did the hook of that one and then I

started like free-styling. And then he looked at me, he's like, “what's that? Just enter the studio (and record it) just go”. I was like, are you sure? Because me I’m always overthinking, I'm like,

mmm. He was like, just record it and I did everything in one take.

Angel in Tibet started off as a super drunk night in the studio. I remember my exec producer Kyu Steed played the beat. Immediately off the top, off the dome, I was drunk and I started going… Then we

did the second verse. The second verse was a lot of fun because we were all drunk and just freestyling on the mic, passing the mic around. And my favorite was when KZ, who was also another one of my

exec producers, went, bling, bling, bling, bling, bling. We were about to wrap up, and I remember Cracker, who's also one of the producers on the song, goes, “yo I want to try something”. So Cracker

stands there, and he literally channels something. He's almost levitating, and he goes, “ah ah ah aaahh”. But yeah, so that was kind of like the cherry on top. And yeah, that's the story of Angels in

Tibet.

It was a seamless process because he (Sarz) is not the kind of producer that tries to get in your face. He wants you as an artist to do your thing. If anything, it’s almost like he’s just trying to

get the best out of the artist by letting them be themselves and not trying to distract their process with his own ideas. It was really fun. When the EP (LV N ATTN) dropped, Monalisa (from the EP)

just started popping on its own. The song just came from nowhere and started doing its thing. As that was happening, we were like yeah, a remix would be nice and by the end of last year (2021), we

were already thinking of doing a remix. We basically just sent it out to different people that we had in mind that we would want on the remix. Chris Brown was one of them because he just floated so

effortlessly on Afrobeats and we just felt like he was one of the people who could take it to a whole new place and still maintain the same essence. There was an air of uncertainty until that

happened and then all of a sudden it was time to go.

Big shout out to my team for letting that song (Dumebi) in that EP (Rema - EP) because I was not feeling it anymore because I recorded it last year, August (2018). This year I had new vibes, new

songs. The way I put that song together… when I was recording the song, as a new artist in Mavin (record label), we have a lot of artists there, and I had to make use of my time in the studio. So I

had to quickly record songs. So I couldn't actually write lyrics to the songs (due to time). So I quickly just put vibes, melodies, and you know. Ozedikus (the producer) gave me the beat. He said a

couple of artists actually rejected the beat… so i was like um can I try the beat you know. He said a couple artists said the keys are too complex like gospel and I was like okay… yeah bring it on.

So the little I could write, I put those together, but the ones I couldn't write because my time was running out in the studio, I just dropped them as vibes to come back later on when I have time. So

when I got back, I played it for D’Prince (label boss) and D’Prince was like, yeah, leave it that way. Because I was going to come back and finish it. And it banged like that.

It’s the same way I make all my songs. I experiment a lot; I fuse stuff a lot. My producer (Genio) made the beat for my friend so when i heard it I had to beg my friend to let me have it… like “bro,

trust me… you’d kill this beat, but please just let me have it”, and he did. And then one day when I was just experimenting the song just came to life. There’s this very close friend of mine who was

telling me about this guy named Shane Eagles from South Africa; he’s this really dope rapper. She showed me his music and I heard it and thought “yeah, this guy’s dope”. She was like “why don’t you

put him on the song?” and I was like “yeah, you know what, sure”. Then a couple of weeks later he sent his verse and the shit was fire. So at first it was just me and Shane but we felt there was

something missing, and that’s where Amaarae came in. She’s from Ghana, pretty dope; I love her, and I love her music. She has one of the most unique voices around so I was like “OK, why not”. And

then there’s my friend Tomi Agape – she has like two bars on the song. It’s just a compilation of energies; a mixture.

It's so funny. I had finished recording the 'Outside' album and I had just bought a Bentley. I was in the club every other day and then, I was in this club called Quilox, right? The owner is my

friend, his name is Shina Peller. So, he just comes up to me and he knew I was gone (high) already. So he pulls up on me and was like, “Yo, my guy (Phantom, the producer) just made this beat. I'm

telling you, this is yours”. I'm like, “Bro, you have started this rubbish…” He made them put the beat on his phone... First, we go outside to the restaurant and he played it in my ear - I got

hungry. Everything was in the club; there's a restaurant right there, the studio is upstairs... It was a nice setting. So anyways, eventually we go upstairs and I start recording. The producer

(Phantom) is there waiting... It didn't take me 10 minutes. I spent the rest of the time listening to it. That's how I made 'Ye' in the club.