Nigerian singer Shallipopi, who now categorizes his music as Afro-talk, has revealed that his stage name was inspired by the 1994 Chinese kung fu comedy film Shaolin Popey.
In a recent interview with British media personality Madame Joyce, the singer shared that he initially experimented with his birth name, Crown, and aliases like Drip Face before settling on Shallipopi.
He recounted stumbling upon the movie by chance during his upbringing, noting that his mother purchased what they thought was a Tom and Jerry CD, only to find it was the film Shaolin Popey when they played it on their DVD player.
“In search of a stage name, I decided to draw inspiration from the movie Shaolin Popey,” he explained, describing the origin of his nickname.
Shallipopi also clarified that his music genre is not Afrobeats but rather “afro-talk,” stating that he identifies as a talker rather than a rapper.
