Mr Eazi is a distinguished member of the recently announced Forbes Africa’s 30 Under 30 2020 achievers list.
Oluwatosin Ajibade, better known by his stage name Mr Eazi, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He received his elementary and secondary education in Lagos, Nigeria. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Mr Eazi’s upbringing greatly influenced his life both as an entrepreneur and an artist. He grew up in an entrepreneurial home as both parents were entrepreneurs.
Mr Eazi is known for pioneering Banku music, a fusion sound he describes as a mixture of Ghanaian highlife and Nigerian chord progressions & patterns. It is a sound characterized by percolating rhythms and laid-back vocals. Mr Eazi’s music largely fits into the category of Afrobeats, a contemporary West African pop genre that merges global pop, highlife, and hip-hop.
He began his music career while attending college in Ghana, where his side gigs included promoting concerts and running a concierge service shuttling through his company, Swagger Entertainment.
At age 23, Mr Eazi returned to Nigeria and opened his own e-commerce platform. His business ventures included soft drinks import, gold mining, and food distribution.
In 2017, he released the mixtape Life Is Eazi, Vol. 1: Accra to Lagos, which featured guest appearances by Big Lean, Tekno, Phyno, DJ Cuppy, and others. Included on the album were the singles “Leg Over” and “Pour Me Water”, both sitting at over 74 million views on YouTube. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard World Albums chart.
Read also: DJ Cuppy
In April 2019, Mr Eazi performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is one of the largest, most popular, and most profitable music festivals in the world.
Mr Eazi is also the founder of emPawa. emPawa was launched in August 2019, emPawa is an initiative created with one mission: helping new artists reach their full potential musically by equipping them with the knowledge and funding to do so. The idea for emPawa was motivated by the need to give back to Africa’s music industry.
“It’s something I wish someone had created when I first started making music. Sometimes, all it takes is that one person to believe in you.” Mr Eazi stated.
emPawa provides marketing and business support for established acts like Nigeria’s Simi and Ghana’s King Promise, and emerging stars like Joeboy.
emPawa also contributed to Beyonce’s Grammy-nominated album – The Lion King: The Gift by assisting Beyonce’s US-based team to assemble leading African talents for the landmark project.
We are proud of Mr Eazi and wish him even more success in the future.