From tradition to trendsetter: The Rise of Egungun of Lagos in Nigerian Pop Culture

Egungun in the western part of Nigeria has been known to be a visiting ancestor, who parades around with a long wipe, guttery voice, and a regalia. However, Kuye Oghenevwede Adegoke, popularly known as Egungun of Lagos, is an astute social media personality who hails from Ondo State, Nigeria.

Kuye was given birth on the 5th of March, 1995. He attended Royfield Junior Secondary School and Lagos State Model College, Igbokuta; for his secondary education. He graduated from the University of Lagos, where he found his true self – his artistic nature. Egungun of Lagos is yet to get married, but according to the news on various social media sites, he proposed to his long-time girlfriend in March 2024.

The “Damn! It’s Massive, baby” catchphraser has been creating visual content since 2018. He started off dancing in the masquerade costume while in school, to creating of diverse skits, and visual content which “blew” him up in the Nigerian entertainment space. He is popular for his “Chest dance” Egungun dance, and various “fish videos.”

It would be disheartening to note that as comical as the 29-year-old media is, his contents are the opposite of what he went through in his childhood days. In one of his interviews, he admitted that his contents are not in any way intertwined with his background, which at times, make people long to know more.

However, he noted that when he started making contents at first, his dad, being a pastor, was not in support. Later on, he admitted that Pastor Adegoke, his dad, had to support him. This is just one of the minor challenges he has faced in his career so far. His major, according to him was when his Instagram pages with mammoth followers got took down for four times. He pulled himself together in all these periods, with no support from anyone in the industry, to get back at his life; later, succeeding.

Egungun of Lagos has interviewed many people on the streets and at diverse locations. He had interviewed celebrities like the Cubanna ChiefPriest, Ola of Lagos, the sensational songwriter, and singer, BNXN, Taooma, Broda Shaggi, White Money, Enioluwa, the TikTok wiz, Peller, and Jeffery Benson, among others. One of his recent pensive interviews was the mother of Suibath, a 7-year-old girl, battling with primordial dwarfism. This, in a bit, delved from his usual visual contents. This act makes it known that Egungun has not been entertaining, or advertising, alone, but soliciting for the helpless.

In one of his interviews, he debunked the rumours that his contents have been indecent. He noted that everyone could learn something from his contents which makes him believe less of the allegation. As opposed to this, Kuye is known to give. To encourage a 43-year-old woman who caught a big fish worth ten million naira, Egungun could be seen in one of his videos, giving the woman some wads of cash.

It is of note that people can obviously see the motivation of celebrities in the country, which oftentimes could be a senior colleague in the industry. For Egungun of Lagos, he believes that nobody has been motivating him, or inspiring him, except himself. This has made him outrightly hold on to the fact that even with the fierce competition in the industry, his artistry stands tall and unique. Thus, he takes no competition seriously.

He is known for his popular style of interview – asking for the worth of the wears of random people, and celebrities in some comical manners. With the concurrent use of words like, “That’s crazy, baby! Damn! It’s Massive.” Egungun has signed his phrases in the pop culture, and he seems to stay for a longer while.