Reminisce’s new album ‘El Hadj’ to set new rap standards

Edge Records rapper, Reminisce, real names Remilekun Abdulkalid Safaru,

has announced the release date for his forthcoming album, El-Hadj after unveiling the cover art.

This comes after releasing his singles, ‘Asalamalekun’ and more recently, ‘Nobody Knows’ featuring 2face Idibia to warm receptions.

Reminisce’s last studio album, Baba Hafusa was released in April 2015. El Hadj will be his 4th studio album and will also be the first time the rapper is releasing two albums in two years following the success of Alaga Ibile, released 2015. El-Hadj has been slated for an August 2016 release.

 

Bio

Reminisce is a Nigerian singer, rapper, and song writer from Ogun State. He performs in both English and his native language, Yoruba. He is one of the most popular, succesful and influential rappers in Nigeria.

Reminisce is a versatile (singer, rapper and a song writer) Nigerian artiste from Ajilete, Yewa South LGA in Ogun State. He was born on the 26th of January, in Kaduna state in Northern Nigeria. In school, he listened to various genres of local and foreign music and performed in school activities. He developed his rapping skills by emulating rappers like Nas, Jay Z and Snoop Dogg. He studied Purchasing and Supply at the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin.

As far back as when he was in secondary school, Reminisce was already performing at various school activities hardly knowing he was on a path to great things. He always wanted to be a rapper and he developed his rap skills by listening to, and mimicking major rap legends. Producer, ID Cabasa discovered Reminisce alongside other Nigerian music greats such as Jahbless, 9ice, Lord Of Ajasa and Olamide. He was given the chance to record his first studio song in 2006 and recorded a hardcore rap album at Coded Tunes, but the album was never released and he decided to focus on his studies and complete schooling.

In 2008, Reminisce returned to the music scene, performing a rap verse on a track titled “Bachelor’s Life” off 9ice’s sophomore album titled “Gongo Aso”. His first single, “Ever since”, featured 9ice, and was a story about his life till that moment. His second, “If Only”, was a love song produced by D tunez, where he showed his versatility as singer and a rapper. Both songs established Reminisce in the Nigerian music scene.

He is signed to Edge Records and is also the founder and creative director of LRR Records. Reminisce’s first album, Book Of Rap Stories, was released on 31 March, 2012. He started recording the album since 2010 after linking up with the studio producer Sarz at Edge Records Studios. The studio allowed him to carve a niche for himself and make the album bilingual.

He went on to release the track ‘Kako Bi Chicken’, a commercial song which is recognized as the breakout single. After this, other songs like ‘If Only’, ‘2mussh’ were released. The album was a 13 track album with production credits to Sarz, Legendury Beatz, Joshbeatz, Jospo and PastorChild, The album did well commercially in the southern part of Nigeria.

His second album, ALAGA IBILE, was officially released on 15 November, 2013. The album featured acts like Wizkid, Naeto c, Davido, Olamide and Sossick. It was an instant breakthrough album, with hit singles like ‘Eleniyan’, featuring Wizkid, ‘Fela Daddy’ featuring Davido, ‘Fantasi’ and ‘3rd World Thug’. Sossick, who produced 80 per cent of the album. Reminisce also worked with Sarz, chopstix and Jospo.

The album sold an estimated million copies before the end of 2014. In 2014, Time Magazine named Reminisce as one of seven ‘world rappers you should meet’.

Reminisce’s third album, ‘Baba Hafusa’ was released in 2015. The ‘Baba Hafusa’ album project has already broken barriers and charted unknown territories. Just recently, Reminisce became the only hip hop artist in all of Africa to have an album debut on Billboard Charts World Music category at no. 12.

With over 400,000 copies sold in Nigeria in 2 weeks and the album claiming the number one spot in iTunes for more than a week – ‘The Baba Hafusa’ album is already arguably as one of the most successful hip hop albums in Nigerian history.

Reminisce is a musical icon amongst today’s youth, and an internationally recognized artiste. He has won numerous awards  including the Headies, NEA etc. In 2014, he signed a multimillion naira endorsement deal with Samsung and later another endorsement deal with Orijin Bitters. Surely, his album is one to watch out for.