•Reveals Shocking Details About His Life
•How He Grew Up At ALAGBADO
Olamilekan Agbeleshebioba, popularly known and called Laycon is the winner of 2020 Big Brother Naija Lockdown edition. He’s obviously the star of the moment. Since his emergence as the winner of BBN, Laycon has been trending not just in Lagos but Nigeria as a whole. A few days ago, he was a guest on City People Instagram Live Chat with the Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE, where he spoke about his life as a artiste. He spoke about his upbringing and what he’s gone through in life.
Below is the excerpts.
Let me start by congratulating you. How has it been since you won?
Thank you sir. It has been fun. It has been exciting. There has been a lot to be honest with you, but I am adjusting, I am having fun and I am grateful.
How are you coping with the attention, everybody is focusing on you, on everything you do and all that?
Well, I felt like being in the house everybody was also watching, the only difference now is I am seeing it real life. So, it is something I have to adjust to and I am looking forward to being cool with it 100%.
When you were in the house, were you conscious of how people felt about you outside, what went through your mind when you were in the house?
When I was in the house, sometimes, I always forget we were being watched to be honest and me living the same normal life that we live outside in the house was normal for me. I was not really bothered. I believed it is the same thing that happened outside that will happen in the house, it is just that, it is more amplified when you get out.
Were you also shocked at the huge number of followers you have now?
Very shocked. I didn’t expect that.
What do you think explains it?
It’s God and all of you in the media house.
What went through your mind when you stood beside Ebuka on the D-Day. Did you ever think you will not win or you will win?
I didn’t think I was going to win. I thought Dorathy will be the winner, I just felt that Dorathy is likeable with all her features. Yes! She is a winner with the kind of characteristic that she has. And for me my motive was to come and promote my music, so getting to the final was a big win for me.
So, it was like a bomb for me when I heard my name. I didn’t expect it.
How did you react to the immediate response of Dorathy when she rushed to you and embrace you?
I was away on that stage. It was my body that was there; my spirit had gone. I kept asking myself, how? Ebuka had to come and meet me and said “celebrate, you won” because in my head I was like what is going on?
Tell us about your story, your growing up years, where were you born, where did you grow up and about your mum?
I was born in Lagos, I grew up in Lagos. I was born in Agbado. My primary, secondary, University were in Lagos. My primary school was Emmanuel’s children Nur/Pri School then my secondary school was Lagos State Model College, Meiran and I went to University of Lagos to study Philosophy.
So, how was the UNILAG experience?
It was fun. I chose UNILAG because I wanted to go to UNILAG. I had to reject some admissions I got years before because I wanted UNILAG. I went to UNILAG because I felt it was an avenue for me to grow with my music and everything and it actually helped me because I learnt a lot about music.
How did music come in?
I had always known that I would do music. I just started recording professionally in 2012, that was a year I got into UNILAG. But I put my first project out in 2016. For me UNILAG helped me a lot. I had my foundation in UNILAG.
What happened when you got your degree?
I graduated with a 2nd class upper. I served in Lagos too. I have basically done everything in Lagos. While I was in school, I did internship in some places but after my service at Lagos State Ministry of Information, I was signed to Fierce Nation in 2018, then in 2019 I released the music, “Fierce” featuring Reminisce and Chinko. I have worked on EP and different projects. In 2020, I released “who is Laycon” in April and around May, I saw a link pop up, I can’t remember if it was on Facebook or Twitter. My instinct said “you can go for this and use it to promote your music. I clicked on the link and here I am.
So, all you wanted was just to promote your music?
Yes! Because I knew I could use it to promote my music definitely but the thing was, for me I just wanted to enter, even if it was 1 week or 2 weeks that I spent, I would just use it to promote my music, my EP basically. That was the whole plan that I had. That was why I went for Big Brother.
Now that you have won, how will it help your music? What are your plans?
I am happy that at this point a lot of people knows me more as an artist rather than as the Big Brother Naija winner. I wanted people to know that Laycon is first of all an Artiste, and Big Brother came in as a means to promote my music. I didn’t even know I was going to win. I feel like people should just realise that the music is the main thing for me and that is what I have to focus on.
Now, people have known that, there is an artiste who is good, his music is good, his music speaks to people. People can understand what he is saying, people can relate with his music, that means more and more music will keep coming and we are going to keep trying to push the brand and the name, and the whole icon, to make sure that we push for the main goal which is to spread love and light.
Are you coming with an album soon?
Let’s keep our fingers crossed, but I have started recording. I am back in the studio already.
Let’s talk about your mum?
I love her very much, she loves me very much.
How did she influence your life?
Obviously, she has influenced my life positively. A lot of things that you see in Laycon, he learnt from his mum. She is a major part of my life that I would make sure nobody has access to basically.
Did you tell her when you were going into the house?
No, I didn’t. I left her message, because I knew she was going to be emotional and I don’t really want that part.
Let’s talk about the challenges you faced while growing your career?
The major challenge of every artiste is money, because of the way the industry is, but for me it is the understanding. You actually need money to do a lot of things if you really want to put out quality music regardless of how you feel. Regarless of how talented you are, you still need to factor in the fact that you need quality producers and sound engineers. As an artiste you need a quality song out there, and after all these things have been done and the music is ready you still need quality publicist and quality planning, to push the music out to the right channel, so money is a major factor but still like I mentioned you need quality of almost everything and that includes the process of the music making itself, that means you yourself you have to be a quality artiste.
You have to have grown to a certain level and those were the challenges. The understanding that I need to grow as an artiste when I do a song today, I need to learn from the mistakes I made in the song and grow and that is the process that is forever and ever. That is why you see many artistes will look up to still getting better and better, so, that was the real challenges for me.
What are your plans on how to spend your money?
I don’t have plans for it yet honestly, but I know that the first thing I am buying or the first thing I am doing with it is going to be for my mum.
Tell us about your link with Abeokuta?
My dad is from Ogun State, Abeokuta to be precise. That is where I originated from because it is my dad’s state of origin.
Tell us about the clothe you wore on the first day?
The whole plans was for me to stand-out but then, like few minute before I stepped on stage, I chickened out, I put it off until Neo asked me to put it on, that I should not really think about it, so I did.
What is your message to youths out there who may want to partake or be a winner in the forthcoming Big Brother Naija?
Try to be yourself in the house. Make sure you are as real and genuine as you want to be in the house. If you can go with your strategy, if you feel you have the capacity to think of a different strategy no problem, but just be yourself. And ultimately, it is more than just winning the show, it is about winning in life. Whatever, regardless, if you leave in the first week or you leave in the second week, just see it as that is what it was meant to happen and you are supposed to use that avenue to change a whole lot of things and people’s lives. Basically, that’s just it. Keep spreading love and light”.
After all the visits and media movements you are doing now, what is next for you?
I want to make use of every avenue I can to change the society. Right now, I’m not online as much, but I came online this morning and I’m seeing things we’ve been complaining about. It’s so saddening. This is not what we should be talking about. Why are we still talking about this in 2020 talking about people being harassed by the people that supposed to be protecting them? It is not something that we are supposed to be talking about in a country like this. There is no trust. As a youth in Nigeria, when you are working and you see a policeman your heart jumps, you are scared. It is not supposed to be like that. We need to do something about it. We need to address this. They are supposed to protect not to oppress. I remembered the day after I got signed, I was going to the studio and they stopped me; thank God my story was on Thisday Newspaper that day and that was my saving grace. They stopped my car, asked me who I was, I told them I’m an artiste. They told me they need to go through my phone, they said they needed to know why I’m an artiste. I gave them the phone and also brought the newspaper out. They didn’t release my phone until they drained the battery and that left me stranded because I couldn’t get in touch with the person I was having appointment with, I had to go back home. We just need to understand how things work in this country. All these things are supposed to have been addressed already..
Though I’m sure it can’t happen to me anymore but what of people they don’t know, the normal people I was part of few months ago. They should stop profiling people through their looks.
