Hey Olijade, it's a pleasure to have you with us on BuzzMusic. What has inspired you to become a musician and how did you start it off?
Hey! Thank you for the opportunity and thank you for having me! Wow-what inspired me to become a musician, It would have to be 2 reasons. First being the heavy Odd Future wave, back in middle school and high school I would listen to them religiously, and be on the bus rapping with my friends to earl sweatshirt and Tyler, but because I had a voice I would also sing Frank Ocean as well so it all kind of correlates. Second, Childish Gambino's "Because of the Internet' album. That had a MAJOR impact on me and basically solidified "yeah I want this to be my career and I'm going to make it happen'. Both groups gave music that showed that they were weird but don't disregard their creativity, and I love that attitude cause art is free. Starting out, I used to use beats headphones and audacity and take the instrumentals of songs, write my own verse to them, and post it on Soundcloud, one of the first songs I did that with is actually still on there but I would not recommend listening to it lol. I really didn't take it seriously at first, I just thought it was fun to start making music and writing down how I felt.
I definitely agree with you when you say that music, along with life are growing processes that never stay the same. Do you see yourself changing your music as you grow or do you prefer to stick with a common theme/ mixture of genres?
Personally, I try to make create around the past or present in my life, so as I experience more, I feel like I can mix different genres and still remain me while also bringing out a whole different way or wave of that genre. Ain't nothing wrong with changing the game real quick.
What have been some of your toughest obstacles along the way and how did you overcome them? Are there any musical artists who currently have an influence or have had an influence on you or the makings of your music?
The toughest obstacles for me as of now are networking, at first I was very excited to even create so for local artists, I would say too much and sell myself short without building relationships or even wanting too. I definitely am more cautious when it comes to dealing with other artists because my sound fits a certain group and locally if we all can build off that sound then was guaranteed success, and also Humbling yourself. Everyone is confident in their music and you are not entitled to people listening to it or liking it. Nowadays music moves so fast and if you can't bring something different or ear-catching its hard to get that fanbase, but if you remain yourself and have fun making it people will appreciate it even more. There are 3 music artists as of now that are major influences on me and have been in the past, Brent Faiyaz, Frank Ocean, and Childish Gambino. They have brought something to the music world that I feel everyone should learn from, its real, its now, it's building almost a cult-like situation where no matter what they drop no matter when they do it, the fans will remain there and it's crazy to me how this is still relevant to them today.
Which of your songs do you feel best represents the artist and individual you are today?
I think the song that represents me would have to be "Happy Ending". In my projects (considering I've only dropped 2), I tend to make the ending a reflection of my life. I tend to let out all my emotions all the things I've been meaning to get off my chest and the emotions I've felt over the years and write about it. Happy ending is about a lot of personal stuff in my life and there's a specific part I don't think people caught onto yet, but I'll talk about that another day, all in all I like taking time out to bring the human side back to creativity and I see it as a chance to connect with me as well seeing as we all go through good and bad things.
Thank you so much Olijade! What is next for you in this journey as a music artist? Any live performances or shows that we can find you at?
Of course! What's next for me is definitely going to network with people, attending local events, traveling, music videos, projects, 2020 is coming hard and I'm excited to get the year started already. For shows, I don't have information yet but they will be coming faster than expected, I would definitely follow my Instagram to stay posted! Thank you again for having me!
Listen to Olijade's music here.