MI Abaga: We need to support female music professionals

The rapper was speaking at the Basement Gig concerts in Lagos in between performing songs from the album – which he calls a playlist. A number of entirely male young artists featured on the album had joined Abaga on stage when he stopped to speak.

“I made a mistake, there are no girls on the album,” he said. “It is not because I didn’t record with girls.”

Abaga then explained that over the period he recorded new music, he collaborated with several artists. The resulting songs were spread across two albums. As it turned out the first album released was Rendezvous, which has none of the tracks recorded with female artists. The second album, presumably the long awaited Yung Denzl, will contain those songs that didn’t make the first, including some with young female acts. “We have to support our sisters,” he said.

Weeks ago, Abaga’s label Chocolate City had organised a party for the release of Rendezvous, but only snippets of the album were performed by the artist and guests. He also headlined the Afropolitan Vibes Festival but performed old material. This time, he performed several songs from his latest album, lyrics of which were rapped back at him. "Y'all making a nigga feel like he got fans," he said, perhaps surprised at his abiding popularity and the eager reception of his newest songs.

At an interval between his well-received performances, Abaga paid tribute to one of Nigerian pop’s important behind-the-scenes figures. The artist manager Osagie Osarenkhoe was sitting among the audience at the Alba Lounge, Victoria Island venue when Abaga asked for her to join him onstage.

Today Osarenkhoe runs a company that manages pop acts Timaya, Skales and others. But years ago, Abaga said, she was in charge of organising an artist showcase in Lagos, where such acts as Ice Prince and Wizkid performed before finding fame.

“In 2007, there was something called Sundays on the Bay [at] Tarkwa Bay,” MI said, adding that although people remember Wizkid made an appearance on MI’s first album, “Before MI even thought of Wizkid, somebody saw him, somebody nurtured him. The first day I saw Wizkid, Wizkid had an album completed and the person that was managing Wizkid way back then 2006, 2007 was Osagie.”

Speaking directly to Osarenkhoe, MI said: “I want to say on behalf of everybody in the industry, I want to say Osagie today is your day for all of us to tell you thank you because in 2018, Osagie is still thinking about how to put young artists on. If our government was thinking like this we won’t be where we are. Ladies and gentlemen this is a Nigerian hero.”

Osarenkhoe later told Music In Africa that the moment of MI's tribute was emotional. "It meant a lot coming from him," she said. "I appreciated the recognition and it was an honour."