Nigerian rapper, Omoniyi Temidayo Raphael, popularly known as Zlatan Ibile, has revealed how his senior colleagues, Davido and Olamide aided his breakthrough in the music scene.
OsunDaily News reports that the ‘Zanku’ crooner in a recent interview with media personality, Samuel Eni, also recalled his struggles and journey to the music industry.
According to the singer, his journey to the music industry started after he won a school music competition and was given a brand-new car.
However, Zlatan said he began using the car as a taxi because he could not foot his bills and maintain the car.
He added that his life transformed after he met Davido and Olamide who helped him shoot two music videos and since then, he has continued to experience God’s blessing.
He said: “I qualified among the two to go represent my school in the grand finale [of a music competition]. So, like tactically out of 140 candidates. With just two tracks, I just started rapping. I know nothing about music. I just started writing and downloading beats online. And out of 140 people, I don’t know how God did it, I won a brand new car when I was 19 years old. My first semester in school.
“From there, I just sat down and said to myself, if I can win a brand new car, seems God is telling me something. I took it seriously from there.
“After that, it took me another four years after I won the car. I ended up using the car as [a] taxi because I could not maintain the car or maintain the lifestyle. Before, Olamide saw me one day and hit me up on Instagram. He called me up and made a song for me, for free,[and also] came for the video shoot for free. To me, that was like my breakthrough song in 2017.
“Davido saw the song [Body], and danced to it; the video was his first one million views on Instagram. And, he called me to come to his house. He made [a] song for me. I told him I don’t have money for [the] video. He gave me money for the video. After then, I made Zanku, and since then it has been blessings upon blessings.”
