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When Shopsydoo’s (Adesope Olajide) father came to visit him in the UK he couldn’t believe the life his son was living. He asked him - “You left a life as a prince to come and live like a pauper here?”
But he stuck with his dreams for himself and his family.
Now, no major Afrobeats concert in Europe and the United Kingdom is complete without Adesope. He is of the country’s biggest hype men and MCs.
We talk about how that industry and that sound has changed over the years - from 2face and Psquare to Rema and Fireboy - changed the world and changed his life.
“Black women didn’t want to date us because we had Nigerian accents,” he tells me. “But now, because of Afrobeats it is now mainstream to be African, to come from Africa, to be part of the culture.”
He says he will forgive Tiwa Savage and Wizkid because these pioneers made it possible for this change to happen.
And he tells me the greatest lessons he has learnt from the great successes and great failures of Nigeria’s music industry.
Consider this a masterclass.
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There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a ‘hard guy’ get vulnerable and open hearted.
Blaqbonez (Emeka Akumefule) is one of Nigeria’s brightest rappers and he has often been called controversial. But this interview we see a side we have never seen before, as this ‘hard guy’ gets vulnerable and open hearted.
We start from his dad who simply disappeared from the house while he was young and hasn’t apologised or explained since then.
He tells me about how his mother survived the stigma of being a single parent, and worked a maid to help him get a good life.
He says he has forgiven his father, but then
he sees that influence from his in his life - breaking up a relationship despite being in love because he doesn’t think he can be monogamous and he didn’t want to ruin the perfect life of his girlfriend.
That influence also scares him from making any woman pregnant - making his take extreme measures to avoid that.
Underneath all it is in an introverted, thoughtful, sensitive young man who wants to avoid the mistake of his parents, build a life of happiness was and make those around him happy if he can.
In between the talk of Don Jazzy, Victor, MI, Terry Tha Raman, his missing Headies plaque, stream farms and controversy, this is the beauty of Blaqbonez that shine through.
It’s one of my best conversations yet.
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Titi Oyinsan (known then as ‘Titi Fanta’) was famous as one of hottest models in Nigeria. But while she was working hard as a model, there were the rumours that her trips and lifestyle were being funded by men.
Titi says she didn’t care - she was focused on building a life for herself and her family, who had been duped by the man who they sent money to while they were in the UK. They were so badly duped that when they returned to Nigeria, they could only afford a place in Mushin, Lagos.
That focus has led to building a sparkling 20-year career as a TV host, a radio host, producer and author.
Then exclusively, she shares for the first time ever a harrowing experience of sexual abuse while she was in school, and how she overcame that dark experience and built a marriage and a home over the past 10 years.
She also shares why she can never deny that the TV icon, Denrele Edun was her boyfriend for over two years - because he absolutely changed her life.
This, was a beautiful conversation.
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Pastors Emmanuel and Laju Iren are a gospel power couple. They are one of the most influential pastors for the Gen Z generation and one of Nigeria’s most influential gospel figures today. And this year marks 10 years of their marriage.
Laju says she is a fan of our work here at #WithChude, but I told her I am a bigger fan of hers. She is a pioneer - pushing the boundaries of gospel content from Nigeria. Her films have been on Amazon Prime, she has built a solid community on YouTube, and she has built a powerful technology-driven independent distributor for her films, making tens of millions in the process.
This is a woman fully aware of her place and power in the world today.
We talk about how she and her husband have built their marriage - struggling with how to communicate at first, but learning how to do it. She says her husband may not be the kind that does her breakfast in the morning, but he is her biggest champion.
She tells me practically how she manages her work as a filmmaker, her calling as a pastor (and a pastor’s wife) and the not-small task of raising four children. She says - do not be deceived, she gets a lot of help. Her honesty is striking.
She tells me how she learnt to separate God’s word from her own peculiar experiences - the first cannot be moved, but the second depends on your life and circumstances and should not be imposed on others.
I ask for her response to those who accuse them of running a business while being pastors, I ask her if they have any regrets for the times they have ‘clapped back’ at critics on social media and we talk about “the darkness in the world today.”
Ah, this conversation was sweet. Too many shekere moments. She is a delight.
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Peace Lotus says she was with Bimbo the late wife of popular car seller, IK “IVD” Ogbonna on the day when she was set on fire - leading to her death.
She shared the exclusive videos to the blogs that went viral and called the attention of the public to the plight of her friend.
For the first time ever, she tells me the story of what she saw and experienced on that terrible day.
She says she saw Bimbo after she was set on fire and then she drove Bimbo - with her body incinerated - from her home to four hospitals across Lagos, begging for them to accept her. They all rejected her until the Gbagada Hospital finally accepted her.
She drove for over 9 hours, she says, while the husband insisted on leaving his wife and escaping, and then threatened to assault Peace if she didn’t stop trying to help his wife. All the while, Bimbo kept begging her husband: “Please say the truth” and begging her friend: “Please don’t leave me. Please don’t let me die.”
Bimbo sadly passed a few days after - leaving behind 5 children and after 16 years of marriage to her husband.
The case was taken to court shortly after and IK remains innocent until proven otherwise.
But as the case finally comes up for a new hearing after more than a year of no update, Peace says there is no sign her late friend is going to get justice anytime soon.
The story she tells is a horrible one.
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The ‘Super Story’ song is one of the most viral tunes our country has seen. The singer, Essence (Okoro Uwale) has one of the most beautiful voices you have ever had.
But for some time, she disappeared from the mainstream and I wanted to know what exactly was going on with her.
For her first interview in a very long time, we had one of the most wholesome conversations you will watch - about loss, self-love, and learning to be at peace with yourself even if things don’t go the way you want it.
In between, she gives me exclusive updates about the song Super Story - the fact she didn’t sign a contract, how much she was paid, and how things were done “back then”.
She also spoke to the persistent silly rumors about an intimate relationship between her and her mentor and collaborator, Kenny St. Best.
And then we speak about her faith, her new music, and how she has become totally at peace with herself and with life.
“I was called a noisemaker as a child and so I started whispering,” she said to me. “But now, I no longer whisper.”
Boom! This one’s a must watch.
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I did something I try never to do and I asked AbimBola Craig directly: Why are you not married?
She had done a video a while ago saying ‘marriage is a scam’, amd as we talked about that video I knew that this was a question she was going to tackle with flair. Of course, she delivered. Right moment. Right person. bold question. Perfect answer.
We talk about marriage, and we talk about the beautiful relationship she had with her father, who was also her role model, and whose passing shook her to her core.
Then she told me exclusively about the moment when she thought her whole world was going to come crashing down - she was diagnosed with a tumor on her brain. She paused her career, and went to America for the surgery. She says it was “war”.
She thought she was going to die. She began to prepare for death.
How did that change her? Who is she now?
In this rare interview - the actor, producer and YouTuber tells her story.
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This was such an emotional interview.
Ashmusy has seen hell from the media and the comment section - they have questioned her talent, questioned her source of income, questioned her wealth, questioned her morals… and just thinking about all of the attacks she has had to endure, she broke down in tears on our set.
She had to consciously change her dress sense, she tells me, because that was one of the reasons she was being stereotyped.
Yet Amarachi Amusi is one strong woman - and she continues to conquer.
Yes, her father didn’t provide for them when she was a child. Yes, her mother had to endure loan sharks to take care of her children.
Yes, Ashmusy had to borrow hair to pretend to be one of the ‘big girls’ in school, and yes she had to borrow hair to start her own business. Yes, she went for over 100 (!) auditions - including Big Brother - and was not successful in any.
But, she says, she built everything by herself. There was no sugar daddy, there was no ‘runs’, no there was no cutting corners. She pulled herself up from nothing to the multiple successful businesses she owns - and, she tells me… she is just getting started.
A boss lady, #WithChude today.
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Kemz Mama, or Mummy Wa as many know her, may be buzzing because of her first movie - Nigeria’s first Korean drama - but her journey here was an almost impossible one.
First, her father didn’t support her, calling her career ‘irrelevant irrelevancies’. Then Mr Macaroni didn’t call her back after her first appearance as ‘Mummy Wa’ on his channel. THEN, when she finally got a small role on Tinsel, her character was killed off, without the producers even informing her!
In between all of this, she was robbed violently of the phone she was using to create content on YouTube - after entering a one-chance bus. And then she struggled to get roles because on the one hand she was being sexually harassed and on the other hand she was insecure about the size of her breasts.
Then one day, everything changed. Mr Macaroni called her back, her role became constant, her social media pages grew into the millions, and this year she produced her first movie.
She tells me the full story.
Also, for the first time ever, she speaks about the viral issue on the blogs about a past relationship, and why she has refused to talk about it until now.
This was a hilarious interview through and through - but it was also incredibly inspiring.
You will fall in love with this young woman.
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They own perhaps the biggest web series in Nigeria and Africa - and the biggest Gen Z series ever.
Without making any noise about it and with no media campaigns, their videos rack up millions of views. One of them has over 11 million views!
Jesi, Jemima and Jeiel Damina are YouTube OGs, and the youngest is barely out of her 20s.
They are also fantastic singers.
First I was their fan, and THEN I discovered that they are the daughters of Abel Damina, a man whose teachings in 2017 saved my faith, and changed my life. I was extremely excited to discover this.
As they release their first feature film, ‘Guli’ this weekend, we release this exclusive conversation that discusses how they grew their platform to over one million followers from their base in Uyo-Akwa Ibom, how they converted mops into boom mics, and what it’s like to grow up as Pastors daughters.
We talk about that time Jeiel was kidnapped, and how her father challenged God, and why she blamed her father for a long time.
And we talk about the big, big BIG visions they have for the now and the future - while they focus on the work and only the work.
Now, these ones are true inspirations for their generation.
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First, she lost her younger brother to chronic kidney disease.
Then last year, Ufuoma McDermott was also diagnosed of Stage 3 kidney disease - after battling with it for 12 years.
She was told to slow down at work and rest. But she thought she had more time and negotiated with her doctors.
That delay turned out to be costly.
She was shortly diagnosed of Stage 4 kidney disease.
Stage 4.
That’s the final stage.
And she says it was a result of drug abuse - ingesting too many painkillers.
Thus began a battle for her life, where there was zero room for error. For 6 months, she couldn’t move. She couldn’t work. She couldn’t add weight. She actually thought the end had come.
In this exclusive interview, the actor and producer shares how she found her way back from Stage 4 kidney disease, how it changed how she lived her life, how she managed her public career while dealing with this in private, and why this life-changing experience has transformed the way she lives her life today.
Also for the first time, she confirms that over the past few years she has lived with her family abroad while acting and producing in Nigeria - and how a very private life has served her very well.
This was one hell of a conversation.
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For 6 months last year, Oluwadolarz suffered from depression - and no one knew about it. He couldn’t function. He couldn’t create. He couldn’t even leave his room.
He finally opens up about this in this exclusive interview.
What caused the depression? He suddenly saw his career crater and felt he was ‘un-blowing’ while watching his colleagues grow in leaps and bounds.
It’s a familiar story, isn’t it?
One day his mother finally had enough, and he tells me what she did that finally made him find a way out of depression. It’s also the reason his mother started making skits. It’s such a beautiful story, to hear him tell it.
Then he tells me about that time an anonymous person came online to accuse him of abuse and then disappeared, leaving him panicked and having to defend himself. He also learnt that not everyone who likes his posts wishes him well.
Then we talk about having his first child with his wife while navigating the #EndSARs protests - and for the first time, he opens up on what exactly he apologised to his wife last year. He says he was “tested as a man and he failed the test woefully.”
What did we not talk about?
I think I now have a mind-crush on Oluwadolarz - because this conversation was so honest, so real, vulnerable, inspiring and magical all at once.
I try never to stereotype, but I honestly was not ready for this level of depth.
This conversation WILL bless you.
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For speaking up against what he considered injustice in school, Mr Macaroni was expelled just before convocation.
It was the fight of his life.
How did that transform his life?
Why did that radicalize him?
What did his journalist father say about all of it?
How did that prepare him for that time when the Nigerian Police stripped him naked?
And how long can he keep fighting while still remaining a pop culture brand?
“Any brand that is not happy with my activism - bye bye!” he says.
This interview goes deep into the heart of what makes this young man special.
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He was arrested by a battalion of Nigerian police men at his home for leading protests at #EndSARS - tortured in the system long after the protests ended.
Then began an ordeal that lasted more than one year - as the Nigerian government stormed his house, took him away in his boxers, slept in a prison cell without a roof, passed from location to location at night, locked underground and then taken to court in secret.
The police denied that they arrested him or knew him. They wanted him to disappear completely.
For protesting against police brutality, Eromz became a victim of police brutality.
How did he escape?
He tells me the story, exclusively, today.
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How did Falz become so iconic?
Was it inevitable that the son of the great Femi Falana would bring help bring the Nigerian government to its knees years ago?
And how has he managed to do that while still maintain his place as a singer actor and a mover of the culture?
We go deep in this conversation.
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Vector says he has paid a very steep price for insisting on being himself in a country like Nigeria - he has been shadow banned, he says.
But he insists on being himself, making his art, and speaking his mind, telling me he has no fear of any man who owns a mic.
From studying witchcraft at the University of Lagos to teaching his daughters how to box and defend themselves, this ‘song of a gun’ tells me about growing up amidst the violence of Lagos Island, being detached without being inhuman, how his wife and daughters have helped him understand tenderness and why he didn’t cry when his father passed.
We speak about regrets he may have about the epic scuffle with MI, why exactly that was a battle he had to fight and recent misunderstandings in the media of what he said about Burna Boy, Nigeria - and that time Portable heard Vector rap about ‘Zazu’ (Lion King’) and thought he was being attacked.
Then I ask him if he is happy with where his career is today.
Everything about this episode is fire.
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When Rico Swavey - #BBNaija contestant and singer - died in a motor accident in October 2022, the nation was in shock. He was well loved.
His mother, Halima Hassan watched him die in her own arms in a Lekki hospital - asking the doctors to leave her with his corpse as she begged him to come back to her.
Months after, as friends and family watched her walk the streets aimlessly, unable to cope with the loss of her son, she had to check into a mental facility.
He was the second son of hers to die while she was alive.
In this exclusive interview, on the second anniversary of Rico’s passions, she joins me to talk about the premonition she had of his death, his last days and his last moments - and how behind the scenes, her son struggled to get his colleagues to support his music.
She also talks about how she survived the loss and found her way back to mental and emotional recovery.
Then, she shares with me Rico’s unfinished business - and the solemn promise she made to him as she cradled him in her arms for the last time.
This episode will move you.
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