There are several Nigerian musicians that would come and go, successful or mid; however, that person may be anyone but not Blaqbonez. His real name is Emeka Akumefule but he tells radio and podcast host, Temisan Emmanuel that he doesn’t even know how to pronounce the name correctly and shortens it for the duration of their interview.
Early Life
His introduction to the world of his creativity was premised on a bet by his cousin who felt he would never amount to anything bigger than a critic of rap artists. Balqbones takes it in his stride to prove him wrong at the age of 13. This is a great lesson for the rapper cum singer who believes no challenge is too big for him to do.
“I started rapping because I was challenged by my cousin, I was a ruffian back in the day. I thought nothing was difficult, like whatever you are doing, if I decide to do it, I would do it better. That’s how I started rapping. Rap is not that hard, I am gonna go upstairs and I rap.”
Having a pastor as a mum did not deter him from championing polygamy and Sex Over Love as his new found values. Even his choice of a tertiary institution, Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU), Ile-Ife was a chance to keep exploring and figuring out himself when he finally did gain admission around 2012.
“You know my mouth is very sharp. I am very troublesome, so I had to find a school without cultism where I can use my mouth to talk very well. That is how I found OAU over the University of Benin (UNIBEN).”
These were the early days of Blaqbonez. Already, he attested to the fact that he never truly owned the name Blaqbonez- it was literally stolen from a close friend. All through the early years of Blaqbonez, his creativity was on a roll. He participated in so many rap battles, seeking a name, attention and an audience.
“I was reckless. I used to make diss tracks. LilKesh came to a show in OAU, and by 6am the next morning, I dropped a LilKesh diss track. It was the same for Adekunle Gold. I dropped a diss track for my Vice Chancellor as well. I needed niggas to know that if you are fucking up, I gotta let you know.”
Somehow Blaq’s long list of enemies have come to embody his style. This tweet proves that.
The hustle and grind
Not many outline Blaqbonez’s budding years between 2012 and 2016. Beat FM, Online Air Personality, (OAP), Osikhena Dirisu, best known as Osi Suave, can’t forget the days he saw Blaqbonez on the streets of Gbagada, promoting his track.
“You sold out Muri Okunola 4,000 strong. I kept asking was he ready?” he recounted.
As far back as 2019, a viral video of the rapper on a bike proclaiming his emergence as the Best Rapper in Africa, (BRIA), with a special pendant, shows how far back Emeka the Stallion had to really hustle out his greatness.
Emeka would later respond that the journey has been exciting because, for himself, it took much longer before the dream came to fruition. “I used to come here (Beat FM) from OAU then for Vs Class. Seeing what I have done in the past year makes me believe that everything is possible. At the time, I was just a guy that was rapping everywhere but I didn’t have anybody with any connections to bet on me. But when I signed to Chocolate City, everyone started paying attention to what I was doing.”
Blaqbonez states it was at Vector’s concert where he ran into MI Abaga, that changed his story. However, the BBC feature with Tiwa Savage was his password to the world. “Seeing me on the same track with someone that big was exciting. It was a challenge that I relish,” he said.
After working so hard on “ShutUp,” in 2019, COVID-19 came on when he just released “Haba” in 2020. The pandemic was a blessing in disguise for him. It actually gave him a chance to run another stream #Haba campaign which brought more eyes to his craft.
Out of peer pressure, some internet watchers may have streamed. Possibly the writer of this article. Many say the rapper cum singer is “creative,” like Taymesan on his podcasts admits. However, Blaqbonez never wants to be exempted from the creative process. Not at all.
“I am trying to shoot some retro-style videos that I would go back and recreate. I want to create those kinds of videos that when you hear new music, you would relive some of the old memories,” he said when he played guest to TVC on the e-splash program.
Post 2020
Post 2020, Blaqbonez utilised the power of Twitter, most especially the originality of tweeting himself and crafting a persona for his two successive albums. For Sex Over Love, Blaqbonez felt he needed to go back to his true self. He never believed in punch lines but in honesty with a sprinkle of wittiness. For him, no one could rap exactly the way he approaches any subject matter. Beyond the audience he had been specially curating since 2012, Blaqbonez drafted a sort of message or journey through his tracks with the first track and promotional single always setting the tone of the message. For Sex Over Love (2021), the album title was enough.
However, Novacane and promotional singles like Haba and Bling helped to announce the message faster. Bling peaked at No 2 on the Apple Music Chart while hitting No 5 on Itunes and No 6 on the radio chart. The highest position it attained on YouTube was No. 11 as at May 2, 2021. At the moment, it’s nearing the three million views mark.
Haba peaked to No. 4 on the Apple Music Chart and was on the Top 10 chart of Nigerian music for weeks. This is all organic, according to Blaqbonez, especially at a time when the idea of farming for streams is creating a huge Twitter ruckus.
For Young Preacher, which was released on October 29, 2022, Blaqbonez did another full-throttle makeover. From gait, shoes, hair to theme. In 2022, the singer had come to full terms with his personality, creativity, theme, audience and targets, as well as his Twitter authenticity. He chose a near-perfect time for the album release and singlehandedly promoted “Back in Uni” at the right time.
The time “Back in Uni” premiered was during the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) 2022 strike which lasted well over seven months. Blaqbonez promotional song release of “Back in Uni” also coincided with the time ASUU called off the strike and fitted in perfectly after he had a crusade-themed show hoping to break the yoke of love.
Young Preacher is a historic piece that deals with every significant detail of his life. The first track, which carries the tone of the whole album is a quick aside to his father who abandoned him in his early childhood. He preaches never to be that man- but adds again that both parents are doing fine in their “crib.” The album samples a few old songs, not excluding Asa songs but most importantly, preaches against Fake Nikes and goes on to end with talks about his dreams, and future desires.
He admits that the persona he crafts per time helps to determine his direction per time.
“So when I’m writing the lyrics for that particular song, it gives me a persona to write about. I’m not necessarily talking about me in a lot of those songs. It’s just me thinking in the mind of Mr. Bombastic. I always have these personas to help me write,” he said.
Blaqbonez creativity shone forth to the world when he went on to push out a huge video for Back in Uni. It didn’t go quite as well as he expected, at the beginning.
The video director, TG Omori insisted on $30,000 before he could direct the video. This led Blaqbonez on a new journey of becoming a video producer. It took him a few days and he kept it real on Twitter, sharing the whole process with his fans. At the end of those few days, Blaq came out with a masterpiece that has been unrivalled in the country, even amongst the finest video producers. Omori later on went to admit that Blaqbonez was always a part of the creative process behind his videos.
The Back in Uni video was not just a commercial YouTube success with 4.6m views in just a month of its release, it was one of the most discussed topics on everyone’s lips on Twitter, which doubled the streaming strength of the music the rapper cum singer produced. At the moment, it is part of YouTube’s top 30 music videos and a testament to some of the usual beef in the industry which Blaqbonez is not a stranger to and well clearly enjoys.
Safe to say the video, was a masterpiece, mirroring, the industry. Above all, the character archetypes were didactic, even seeking a peaceful solution at the end of the highly interesting piece which should claim a headies for best picture next year.
Blaqbonez says he is hoping to enter the Billboard charts soon and sell out to a global audience. However, his recently found directing skills for “Back in Uni” have opened another path of directing for him. He admits the process of shooting is hard, but his phone never stopped buzzing ever since he directed the much-acclaimed video. He is yet to decide on how to harness his creative genius. He admitted that Choc City hasn’t yet decided if it would be a show, a comic or TV program. Music is top of everything now, but directing is a hobby.
He said, “I personally think whatever you do, you have to be prepared that people would love it or hate it. This is me being myself. I love who I am.”
What kind of creative is Blaqbonez?
The Founder of The Influencer Marketing Agency (TIMA), Bobai Balat, says there are not many artists like him.
“I don’t believe that there are other artistes like him in Nigeria because of how unique he is. His ability to conjure up attention for his projects or himself without the need for high spend on ads works for him, even the publicity stunts. His kind of artiste always tends to conjure up the most awareness for what they are doing. That is his own genius. He makes good music and gets attention for himself. Blaqbonez hardly beefs anyone without hurting anyone’s feelings. He mocked other artists in his Back in Uni video in a good way. It is more entertaining.”
For the TIMA boss, there is the belief that Blaqbonez has not even started to leverage so highly on his creativity yet, this is coming with the fact that the creator economy and music ecosystem is still on the rise.
“With the way social media would get bigger, I feel Blaqbonez is just beginning, he should take what he is doing outside his music. He should develop a proper brand outside his music like having a YouTube channel and so on. He looks like a creative that would go beyond the music and take it to that level. It would be bigger than he is as he grows and social media platforms grow.”
Three words Blaqbonez stands by are “overthinker, spontaneous and consistency.” Of course, you remember this skit.
