10 minutes with SadeBlaq

About me

I am Folasade Ogunleye, I am from Ijebu Ode in Ogun State. I was born and bred in Ibadan and had my primary, secondary and tertiary education in Ibadan. I studied Music Technology at The Polytechnic, Ibadan. I am the second two children.

About my music

My first debut onto the music scene was the song ‘Akara Ife’ featuring Adol, but the song that brought me to limelight was my response to Adekunle Gold’s ‘Sade’. It rocked the airwaves across the nation. A lot of people noticed me and it has been an upward movement ever since.  I love folk/inspirational music, but I mix a bit of Pop to spice it up for market/commercial purposes. People generally love Pop music. I can be a bit emotional when I write my songs.  I sing about love between couples; pain, unity and all that. I get inspiration from my personal experiences and things happening around me. I can just be somewhere, see things, and tunes start running through my mind; but ultimately, God inspires me.

My first song

I think it is ‘Pasan‘. ‘Pasan’ is a Yoruba word meaning ‘cane’. The song was in a form of a warning to the wicked, to change and do good.

Major challenges as an artiste

Being a female artiste amongst men isn’t easy. You try as much as possible to convince people to see beyond your physical looks. The music industry is dominated by men.

Most embarrassing moment

There is one that I can still remember vividly. I was still kind of new in the game here in Ibadan. At an event, I had given the DJ my song before the performance. When I got on stage, I did a freestyle and when it was time for the DJ to drop the song, he said he couldn’t find my song anymore. So I continued my freestyle and it was a slow song. When the MC came back on stage immediately after my performance, he said ‘What was I doing?’ That I was just singing praise and worship. I felt very embarrassed. The comedian is quite popular here in Ibadan but it really pained me o. It pained me gan!