Before the sold-out shows and the street anthems, Asake was sitting alone in a room, recording songs he could not release, sending messages to Olamide that went unanswered for years.
The Nigerian superstar has opened up about the long, humbling road that preceded one of the most celebrated signings in recent YBNL history.
Asake says he began reaching out to Olamide as far back as 2020, appealing to the label boss on the strength of a personal connection. Fireboy DML, who had already broken through under Olamide’s guidance, was a mutual link. “I’ve been texting Olamide since 2020,” Asake said. “Baba, please help me, like you’ve helped a lot of my friends.”
The messages went nowhere. “The funniest thing is he didn’t even reply me at all,” he said. What changed everything was a single record. After Asake dropped “Omo Ghetto,” Olamide’s silence ended almost immediately. One morning, a text arrived: “Asake, we have to see.”
The meeting that followed was low-key to the point of disbelief. Asake recalled scrolling back through old posts, trying to find any sign that Olamide had noticed him before.
When he finally sat across from the label head, the offer came without ceremony. He just said it like it is nothing,” Asake said. “We like to join the family.” His response was instant. “I don’t even know what to say at that point. I just said yes.”
He was told to take the contract home and read it. He refused. “I don’t want to read that thing,” he said. “I’m tired, man. I don’t want to read anything.” He eventually went through the proper process, but his gratitude toward Olamide has never wavered. “Olamide has been nice to me. I’m not lying to you,” he said.
The official announcement came in a way Asake did not see coming either. The two were together reviewing music, Olamide asked him to make a video for one of the tracks, and then posted it with the words: Welcome to YBNL.
“I was like, I don’t do all. What is this,” Asake recalled, laughing. His phone was overtaken by notifications from friends within hours.
Looking back, Asake says he still finds it difficult to fully accept that Olamide had been watching him before he ever got a reply. “He said he has been looking at me since, but I just don’t want to believe it,” he said.
The signing capped a journey that began not with music but with dance. Asake studied theatre and performing arts and initially built his identity as a dancer. The shift toward music came from a practical calculation.
He wanted to earn more and reach further, and he felt dance alone had a ceiling. While still in school, he recorded a song on a whim.
The reaction from those around him was enough to change his direction entirely. From that point, he committed fully to music, layering it onto the performance instincts he had already developed.
The years of unanswered messages, the stalled recordings, the promises of plans that never materialized, all of it now reads as prologue to a career that moved fast once it finally started moving.
