Controversial rapper Tochukwu Ojogwu, also known as Odumodublvck, has claimed that Nigerians do not value the hip-hop genre or its artists.
In a recent CTRL Room interview, the ‘Declan Rice’ crooner recalled how, when he was a struggling artist, promoters didn’t always grant him seats at award shows.
He also discussed how he rejected down a proposition from his team to collaborate with afrobeats singer Davido in order to get popularity.
Instead, he said he gravitated toward UK grime musicians whose genre matched his vision.
Odumodublvck said, “In 2019, someone [in my team] said we should go to Lagos and meet Davido. But I was like, ‘What will Davido do for me? Even if Davido takes me to America and puts me on stage and I’m rapping my stuff, his fans won’t understand because they are afrobeats fans.’
“But these guys, Teezee, BOJ, and Sholz, are the pipeline to the UK market. And those are the closest guys I sound like internationally. So why don’t I follow that route to get to wherever I want to get to?’
“I was like, I don’t need Davido for anything now. Let me follow people that align with my vision. And that was how we just came together and we’re here now. Number one in the country, against all odds. Tell them they’ve got to respect that thing. Because we went for an award show and we didn’t even have seats. They don’t respect hip-hop in Nigeria. They don’t respect us.”
However, the singer admitted that he agreed with Wizkid’s contentious statement that “hip-hop is dead”, saying “I was tremendously happy about Wizkid’s statement… Hip-Hop was dead.”
