Rapper, singer, and record executive Olamide is one of Nigeria’s longest-serving hip-hop artists and one of the most influential figures in Africa as a whole. He is praised for elevating Nigeria’s street pop genre to mainstream recognition. He also made a notable contribution to the Nigerian cruise genre by taking it to the Billboard charts.

The Bariga native recently released a new body of work after almost stepping away from music for good. Ikigai / 生き甲斐, Vol. 1 is a follow up to 2023’s Unruly. Throughout these past few years, Olamide was stuck writing music for other artists, which became a point in time when he forgot that he was even a musician of his own. “I've been taking time out from doing my own personal project for the longest. At some point, I actually thought I wouldn't make music anymore. I’d just be in the studio writing [for others] and all that. I was drowning in it and loving it simultaneously,” he says.

Olamide reveals that the inspiration behind Ikigai, which means “a reason for living” in Japanese, was to remind him why he should not give up on music. “From nowhere, something just hit me. I kinda found so much more meaning to music, to life, my purpose, and all that,” Olamide tells BET. “I felt the need to keep at the same thing that brought me out from the dark place I was in growing up. Because 99% of the time, you just realize that you can have all the money in the world, but if you're not doing that thing that really gives you joy, it wouldn’t make sense.” 

He continues, “Music is the only thing that takes me away from all the madness in the world so I think I'm stuck with this for life. It is everything to me. Being able to do my own stuff as well just gives me so much joy compared to me being in the studio doing it for other people and all that.”

The EP features vocals from Fireboy DML, Asake, Pheelz, Young John, and Lil Kesh. Aside from the flood of positive reviews he’s been receiving from this EP, Olamide announces that he’s already working on vol. 2. “I just want to continue pushing vol. 1, promote more, and shoot more videos from the project,” he says. “Then, maybe right after that, we can release vol. 2. I'm also looking at getting back on the road.”

Outside of making timeless music, Olamide has been pivotal to the creative and commercial success of many of today’s Afrobeats superstars. Signed under his record label, YBNL Nation, which he founded in 2012, are Fireboy DML and Asake. In a recent interview, Young Jonn stated that he began producing at the age of 16 for Olamide. 

The 35-year-old admits that social media plays a big role in discovering his artists. “This might sound weird, but I'm very active online and I always have my ears on the ground. You know? Guys from the hood, all the guys in the industry. I'm always communicating with all these guys and they’d send me a new kid on the block. They’d always reach out to me like, ‘Yo, Baddo, You need to listen to this kid, this kid is fire,’” he explains. “Everyone knows how enthusiastic I am about when it comes to music and helping people achieve their dreams. I just surf the internet and just trying to see what's the next big thing.”

Speaking of African artists, since gaining global acceptance years ago, Afrobeats, an umbrella term for all contemporary African pop, has become increasingly contentious. There has been a lot of controversy about how African artists are always labeled in that particular genre. In an interview earlier this year, Wizkid revealed that he doesn’t want to be categorized as an Afrobeats artist. “Listen, am I African? Yes! But, I do make all sorts of music… I don’t want these labeled just Afrobeats. That’s like saying every American artist makes rap,” the “Essence” hitmaker said. “This is why no matter how good or amazing the music we make, be it R&B or whatever other genre, we all get nominated in one African category or the other. I’ve made songs from different genres of music.”

Burna Boy has long been criticized for styling his music as Afro-fusion despite reaping the marketing benefits of Afrobeats. Davido is also another African star that's challenging that rubric. During an interview with TMZ last year, he said, “I feel like [it] is the term used to describe us African musicians. I don’t think it’s the type of music we make or the style of music we make. If you think of a rapper in Nigeria like Odumodublvck, he is doing straight hip-hop drill, but because he is African, we’ll call him an Afrobeats artist. Afrobeats is what is used to describe music made by an African artist, whether it’s trap, techno, or R&B.”

Olamide agrees and feels that it is important for people to think outside of the box. “We should not be boxed in,” he begins. “We're all doing Afrobeats if you want to categorize it, but then again, I understand the sentiment. I just recently I saw something online that Usher and Chris Brown got nominated in the Afrobeats category for the VMAs. I'm sure everyone is mad right now. People in Africa are probably like, ‘Yo, we have guys here that make R&B music and all that, but they don't get nominated in R&B categories. I understand of all that. It is what it is man.”