Our AOTW is a Nigerian rapper, singer and songwriter; a brand ambassador, record label owner (of‘Les Roses Rouges –a French word by the way), and recently an actor. He’s an internationally recognized artist. In 2016, he happened to be the first Nigerian and African Hip hop artist to have two consecutive albums debut on the Billboard World Album Charts. He performs in both English and his native language, Yoruba.He’s no other person but Alaga Ibile, Baba Hafusa, Reminisce. LINX, does he truly indulge in the enjoyable recollection of the past events just as his stage name Reminsce depicts?
Well! The first four letters “Remi” are a shortened form of his real name Remilekun. LOL! We could ask him further about the remaining letters “nisce”anyway! Remilekun Abdulkalid Safaru known by his stage names Reminisce and ALAGA IBILE was born on 26 January 1981 (38 years), in Kaduna state, (Northern Nigeria). Though Reminisce (Alaga Ibile) is from Ajilete, Yewa South LGA in Ogun state, western part of Nigeria. He studied purchasing and supply at Kwara State Polytechnic.
Reminisce was discovered by producer Id Cabasa (who also discovered other musicians like Olamide, Jahbless, Lord of Ajasa and 9ice). He’s said to have recorded a hardcore rap album with but which never got released to the public. However, Reminisce who developed his rapping skills by emulating rappers like Nas, Jay Z and Snoop Dogg finally released his debut studio album- Book Of Rap stories in 2012. The album garnered some reactions from social media users/fans as being flop with references to some tracks in the album such as to Kako Bi Chicken, Too Mush, If only. It wasn’t easy building the fan base.
Reminisce in an interview disclosed he made good money from callers’ tune on that smash hit Kako bi chicken. A breakthrough single off his debut album “Book of rap stories. It was a very rough when he started this Eruku things because people didn’t liked it. But now, it’s paying off.
In reaction to the perception around social media towards the album, Reminisce said “Mehn, I tried. It’s my first album.” He said the internet is not an avenue to judge if his kind of music is selling as he is not a twitter musician saying “If you must follow the internet noise then kako bi chicken is not a big song, they said it was rubbish but the song was huge on the street. He said “You don’t expect me to go market my album in Lekki, no, my album was meant for people in Akure, Oshogbo, places people on twitter don’t go.
His 2nd studio 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% of the album, and Reminisce also worked with Sarz, chopstix and Jospo.The album sold an estimated million copies before the end of 2014.
Baba Hafusa, the 3rd studio album was released on the 30th of April 2015. The album described as “genre busting album then made it to topping many music charts both locally and internationally. It debuted at #12 on the Billboard World Music Albums Chart—remember Chart positions on the Billboard Chart are generally determined by album sales and downloads, track downloads, radio airplay as well as social media interactions. Literally the album broke barriers and charted unknown territories. It was a major contender for Album of the Year in any Nigerian or African music award lineup with over 500,000 copies sold in Nigeria in 2 weeks. Baba Hafusa the album is already arguably as one of the most successful hip hop albums in Nigerian history.
El-Hadj is the 4th studio album. The album feature artists such as 2face, Olamide, Seriki, 9ice, Ice Prince, Solidstar, and Mr Eazi, as well as collaborations with his label signees Sojay and Oladips
Reminisce has come quite a long way in the Nigerian music scene since his early brief time with ID Cabasa’s Coded tunes in 2006, working on 9ice’s “Gongo Aso” album, and eventually releasing his first official single ‘Ever since’ featuring 9ice. He got collaborations with Davido, Wizkid, Naeto C, Sossick and Olamide among others
He stated out under studying 9ice, Jahbless and lord of Ajasa as well as backed Jahbless up for a few years. He said “I have learnt from these artistes and it has helped me in identifying my market and also growing as an artiste,”
He’s the owner of LRR (Les Roses Rouges) Record- a French name he got from his mum’s saloon and decided to tush it a little. Reminisce’s being signed on to Edge Records is the bigger picture for him and talking about the chemistry between him and producer, Sarz, he said “Sarz is our discovery at Edge Records. He was discovered by him, jahbless and their friend called cabash.
In 2013 Reminisce disclosed that he sold designer shoes before he found fame with music. “Before my music kicked off on the big side, I use to sell shoes at Sabo, Yaba, opposite Next. I own a shop where I sell various designers, but I closed it because of music”.
In 2014, TIME Magazine named Reminisce as one of seven “World Rappers You Should Meet” and was also mentioned as one of the top three hip hop artists of 2014.
He got smash hit singles like Kako bi chicken and too much collaborations with Davido, Wizkid, Naeto C, Sossick and Olamide among others. Olamide is his favorite Nigerian artiste because he can relate to his music, he said. Now we know why he is very close and cool with the rapper
Reminisce hopes to collaborate with either of YMCMB rappers, Lil Wayne or Drake, if the opportunity presents itself. He said as he hopes to be one of the biggest singers out of Africa before quitting music.
In 2017, “El-Hadj” indigenous Hip-hop rap talent..
Studio albums
Book Of Rap Stories (2012)
ALAGA IBILE (2013)
Baba Hafusa (2015)
El-Hadj (2016)
Awards
The Headies Award for Best Collabo 2016 · Local Rappers
The Headies Award for Best Rap Album 2018 · El-Hadj
City People Entertainment Award for Rap Artiste of the Year 2016
City People Entertainment Award for Rap Album of the Year 2015, 2014 ·
Baba Hafusa, Alaga Ibile Top Naija Music Award for Best Collaboration with “A” List Artiste
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‘Local rappers’ featuring Olamide, Phyno and Stormrex won Best Collaboration at the Headies 2016).
This rap song was released to send a statement out about relevance of indigenous street Hip-hop,
