Rising musician, Adekunle Gold in an interview with City People has revealed how he was discovered by Olamide and life before becoming a YBNL signee.
Excerpts below:
How did you get the name Adekunle Gold?
I got the name in 2008 after an encounter with GOD because I have always wanted to be something different aside Adekunle Kosoko. I was in school then and I told GOD that I wanted a name, I know the importance of brand development and branding, I want to be known for something else. In a sermon, the preacher was saying you can’t substitute Brass for Gold, he said it three times and I just took the clue. I started using Adekunle Gold, Kosoko can rest for now, that’s how I got name. I am a singer, song writer, brand developer and I still do my graphics, am just a regular guy
How did music start for you?
Music started from way back, I grew up listening to lots of OBEY’s songs. When my dad takes us to school then, he used to play classics like OBEY, BARRISTER and the likes. I developed interest in a lot of cultural and Yoruba songs, maybe that’s why I am heavy in Yoruba sounds. I was in the teen’s choir in church and I was always fighting to get the microphone to perform in church. Getting a solo in church means you are very good back then but if you don’t get it, you are not anything too relevant. Every Sunday I try so hard to get the microphone and impress the choir mistress, I was in the church for seven years or more and I never got the microphone, meaning that I was not good. I went on doing my thing, I was in a band called The Bridge, and we featured GT the GuitarMan in 2011 and Skales in 2011 too. We did a lot of covers; we did All of Me which was what got us the most attraction. I remembered when John Legend tweeted that we should tweet our cover at him and he will favourite his favourite one and retweet it, we did that and he favourited ours, he really gave us hope. We did a cover of Ada-Ada by Flavor; we have done a lot of covers just to get attention. In 2013, I got tired of doing the band that won’t be heard and I have always been the most popular in the band, the other was laid back sort off, I was always the noisy one everywhere even on social media. The band wasn’t working like we wanted it to, you know the situation of the country, it is never easy for a solo artist, let alone a band. We talked about it and we decided to focus on me, we decided to push and promote me, although it was somehow but it was the best decision we ever made. In June 2014, I released a song called Let it Stop, I dedicated it to the Chibok Girls, and it is about a peaceful nation. Thankfully, Dotun of Cool FM gave me listening hears and they played my song back to back, Big shout out to Dotun. I remembered when he told me “don’t allow anybody tell you that you don’t have stuff because you have something great going on for you” and that kept me going. I dropped “Sade” in December 2014 and the story changed
How did you meet Olamide and how did you get signed to YBNL?
I have been doing designs for Olamide, I designed the YBNL logo. I have done couple of designs for Kesh and Viktor when they were newly signed to YBNL. It has always been a graphics relationship, not anything musical at all, I never saw it coming, it wasn’t something I expected because Olamide is so up high and am just one guy that is struggling to break into the industry. When I dropped the song “Sade”, I was with a producer called Olaitan, we were working together then, we just dropped the song hoping for something to happen. Apparently, Olamide and the YBNL crew liked the song, the song was getting much buzz already back then. Olamide called me two days before the Olamide Live in Concert to come to him; I was star struck being with Olamide, Kesh, Viktor and many others. Few days after the concert, he called me that he really likes my sound and he wouldn’t want me to change because he thinks that is the future and he would love for me to be on the label. In my mind I was like “wait, what, Olamide, finally somebody is believing in me, somebody up there is believing in me”, I accepted immediately before he changes his mind. That was how I got signed, and since I got signed in January I have never had a day to regret that I joined YBNLI.
