Olorunyomi Oloruntimilehin, professionally known as Bad Boy Timz, rose to prominence with his viral hit ‘MJ’ and had continued to make his mark on the entertainment scene with many songs after that. He recently hosted select media houses to a briefing about his latest projects and his experiences in the Nigerian music industry while trying to make a name for himself. ROTIMI IGE brings excerpts from that interaction.
Tell us about your new single ‘Lotto’.
The song is like winning someone’s heart and equating the feeling to winning the lottery. When you win the lottery, you are at your happiest. That was my perspective writing that song and I sampled one of Pawpaw’s audio where he was professing his love to a lady in a funny way. I just made it into a love song that relates to winning the lottery.
At the moment what are you currently working on?
I’m working on a new album and the goal is to remind people of old Afrobeats songs. I have seen that many people are sampling international songs but they barely sample the old Afrobeats songs. That’s one of the things that I’m working on for my new album with sampling songs by veterans that include Lagbaja, Chief Ebenezer Obey, amongst others.
Any plan to work with these legends on the new album?
I’m just working on sampling. I’m still in the recording phase. If they decide to jump on any of the songs, I would definitely welcome it.
Talking about international presence, how do you intend to take these songs to the world audience?
Basically, I’m not going to be sampling just Afrobeats music. I’m sampling both Afrobeats and Hip Hop. My plan is that if there is a song that depicts something if I’m sampling an international song, I want to interpret it in an African way. That sets me apart from what everyone is doing.
Who are some of the musicians that inspired you while growing up?
The likes of Asa, because I listen to her a lot. We had this driver while I was growing up who used to take me to school and he always played Asa’s music throughout. I soaked in a lot of Asa music, as well as my father’s music as well (my father makes music). He owns a band that is still active, Baba T International.
Any plans to sing with your father?
Yes, definitely.
You have released a couple of big tracks, what is your thought process when making songs?
Sometimes they are freestyles, sometimes I write the songs without having any instrumentals for them. There is no formula for the way I make my music. It’s off mine and other people’s reality, social awareness. I also sing about youthful stuff because I’m young and that’s what my people want to hear.
Citing the late Mohbad’s case, have you ever been bullied in the industry?
The kind of bullying I faced was when I was arrested by my former music label and I feel like it is just the way the system of the country is. The justice system doesn’t protect average people from rich people. If a contractual agreement is even breached, the police are not meant to be involved. It shouldn’t get to the point of arrest. The lawyer can just write to the artiste for breach of contract. I feel there needs to be more awareness of things like this and programmes on bullying because it runs deep. When someone is bullying you, you might sleep and out of fear, you don’t want to wake up. Life is like that. For me, I say no to bullying.
How were you able to surmount the issue with your former label?
I didn’t drop music for a year. I couldn’t continue the contract because, for someone to arrest me for breach of contract, I didn’t know what to expect and it wasn’t a conducive working environment for me. I had to leave Nigeria because I was seeing my mates perform and I couldn’t. Even when I was recording with a producer, I didn’t know when I would be allowed to drop the song. I travelled to clear my head and see things from abroad. Travelling really helped me bounce back because I could see things from a different angle. I thought about how I would package myself in front of the people as a new artiste after a full year and I think I owe it to God’s grace that I bounced back.
Did you, at any time, open up to any industry mentors?
I could not really open up to the industry mentors because there is this mindset that artistes are ungrateful. I need people to understand that artistes are human beings too. For example, if you are working in a company and they ask you to do a job and you have to beg before you get your pay. These are things that were in the contract that you signed when you agreed to work for that company. They didn’t honour their side of the contract but you still continued working there until it got to the point of arresting you. It just doesn’t make you feel safe. Everyone felt I wasn’t loyal. Nobody knew what I was going through and they didn’t care.
How did you deal with emotions during that period?
I had a girlfriend. She was my therapist and I was hers. She really helped me and was there for me. When I got arrested in Abuja, I was with her at that time and all through that she was there even though she is not my girlfriend anymore. She’s just my friend now.
Later, we reached an agreement and I had to pay the label off. I had to give them some shares off my last album for everything to clear. I’m only just recovering from it.
For someone whose father is in the industry, how did he help?
It’s very important that when artistes are signing deals, they should carry their family along. My father, in the picture, made things a lot easier for me. Even though I could not drop music for one year after the incident, it made a lot of things easier for me. He was not active in the industry, he’s just someone who owns a band; people know that he is talented and they give him shows. He’s not active in the industry but he loves music. His main job is accounting, he is my accountant basically. He couldn’t really do much but he made sure I was in the right frame of mind. He kept telling me to continue recording. I feel time sorted things out and Empire Music came into the picture as my distribution company. They helped with some part of the money because I still had to invest in music, I had to drop music videos, do radio shows. I was paying off my debt and investing in music, so I had nothing. I’m just getting back on my feet.
In all of this, what role did your mother play?
First of all, I am my mother’s boy. She supported me with a lot of prayers and she still does. She’s the one that takes me to vigils.
How do you handle fame?
It intoxicated me a few years back and there are some things that I did then that I can’t do now. I’m growing, I’m learning. It was when I couldn’t drop music for a year that I had to reflect. It’s not something I’m used to and I get it, it’s just like that for every artiste that blows up when they are young.
How did you coin the name Bad Boy Timz?
When I started making music, my stage name used to be Timz and it was a combination of two of my names, Timothy and Timilehin. I had to add the ‘Bad Boy’ because there was another artiste bearing Timz and I couldn’t continue using that name. That’s it basically.
How do your parents react to the name?
Till now they have not accepted the name but it’s not the right time to change my stage name. They have asked that I change to my original name, Timz, Timilehin or Timmy. The rebranding cannot just happen now. The street might not welcome it. People know me for this so let me just stick to it.
You acted in Prime Video’s ‘She Must Be Obeyed’, tell us about your experience.
I must say this, she was one of the people who helped me with my label issue. The lawyer who helped me, she introduced us. She is a really great person and has been awesome. For my appearance in the series, we had other artiste on set that did just cameo appearances without uttering a word but Funke Akindele made sure I acted fully in the movie. That is one experience I cannot trade for anything, being my first time acting on the big screen.
Any plans to explore the movie industry more?
Definitely. At some point in my life, I really want to be a director like 50 cents.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a graduate of Computer Engineering from Bells University and I studied for five tough long years. My first hit song came out in my second year and the lecturers kept telling me to pick one because I was missing classes. I had to do summer school twice just to graduate. My GPA dropped. I would not drop a hit song and people would not see me. I started getting bookings and it was during the pandemic. Before then, I had an EP that was doing okay for itself. I was getting some small bookings and then my song ‘MJ’ dropped during the pandemic and I couldn’t perform or travel. We were schooling from home. When the pandemic ended and we had to go back to school, it was tough but my lecturers made it easier for me towards the end because they also didn’t want me to stay back.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then