Stories from “Homeless“

When I knew it was time to do the album and I needed an intro, I just knew that I had to bare my heart on “Still Scared.” I needed to bring

everything that I had and was feeling with that song. I put everything on my heart in that song. It was me telling myself that I’m scared, but I’m

still doing it. Since it was the beginning of the album, I wanted everyone to know my values and what I stand for, and that’s where “Still Scared”

came from.

This is an insane record. I’m someone who’s really in tune with his surroundings, and I’m also involved with a lot of military stuff. I felt like I

needed to use that military symbology to convey my message. I use a lot of military language because I stay up-to-date with what’s happening around

the world. Nigeria's history, the war in Gaza, and what’s happening in Palestine. I needed to preach my message, and I feel like every one of us is

a soldier, so it made sense to lean into that side of myself. That was the first time I embodied my commander status. “Commander” is about my

purpose in life, what I stand for, and why we should not give up. Funny enough, the session where “Commander” was made wasn’t my session. The

producer, Theemz, came to record someone else, and he played the beat for the song. Once he played it, I connected to it, and I asked him for it. He

gave it to me, and I went to the studio to record on that same day. I had a lot of inspiration to finish the song, but I didn’t think the second

verse was for me. I just felt like it was for Wizard Chan. Shoutout to Chan, he came on and he did his thing.

I started writing “Can’t Breathe” while I was in Abuja in 2023, then I finished it when I came back to Lagos. I was in Abuja, and I really couldn’t

enter certain roads because of bandits (local terrorist attacks). One of the stories I’ve never told about “Can’t Breathe” is that on one of the

days when I was writing in Lagos, one of our (Nigerian) artists was having an O2 London arena performance, and there’s usually big acclaim when a

Nigerian artist is performing at the O2. The media and everywhere are flooded with videos of the performance. Around 2 a.m. that night, I was

outside trying to craft the song, so I was practically performing the song as I was writing it. Especially with the “they want to hold me down”

part, I was talking about how those people (other artists) were up there, and I was still where I was. With the way I was writing and performing the

song at the same time, anyone who saw me on the road would have thought I was mad because I had my band at my back (in my head) just like they had

at the O2 Arena. I had my crowd with me, and I was just visualizing it all.

Like the song says, life is another day, another problem. There’s a difference between knowing that problems are going to come regardless and asking

God not to have problems. I don’t think life can exist without problems or with only peace. I feel like accepting that is crucial because when you

have that acceptance, you’re ready to face whatever comes. I feel like the song is self-explanatory because everything I was saying was stuff that

was happening to me. At that time, my life was very chaotic. My mum and brothers were in the village in Kogi state. At that point, whenever you woke

up, something was going on or there was something that needed to be fixed. So, it was just like the song said: another day, another problem. I

recorded “Another Day” in a hotel in Lagos because I just came back from Abuja.

Generally, I’m an overthinker, and there was a point where there were a lot of slow-motion (TikTok) challenges in vogue. That’s what inspired the

line, “Got no time for no slo-mo.” It was also tied to my life because I knew I wasn’t young anymore, and I knew I had to do something different. I

was angry at life, but at the same time, there was no time to slow down. Like I said, I’m an overthinker, but I’m also aware of the effects of

overthinking, so that’s why I said, “High blood pressure if you go think am” because with everything happening around me–with all the calamities–if

I think about them, I’ll just die. For the remix, I was on my way to a concert when Bella [Shmurda] called me on Instagram and told me that he

fucked with the song. He asked me to pull up to the studio, and at that time, Bella had just lost his friend, Mohbad, so I knew where the energy was

coming from.

I wrote “Stranger” because of my relationship with my father. Like the song stated, he was a stranger to me. I never got to know him because I only

met him once, and he had to be pointed out to me that one time. I had hugged three other people before I got to him. So that’s why I named the song

“Stranger” because he’s a stranger to me. The song explores our relationship and what could have been, the memories we could have had that we didn’t

end up having, or the things that we could have both shared that were taken away. “Stranger” was produced by Psyko. I met him at an Encore recording

camp. He didn’t even record me; he just dropped the beat, I connected with it, and I did my thing.

“Gangsta Love Letter” is a song about my [romantic] entanglements. There was a time I got hooked on a lady, and it got so crazy that I almost lost

my relationship. It’s a crazy situation because I was looking for my woman in someone else, because this person had all those things I wanted. So,

“Gangsta Love Letter” is a message to that person, accepting that we’ll never be together, but I’m wishing them well. That’s why I started the song

with, “I don’t trust no person/ Godly blessing/ Don’t know for you, but mine is certain.” I knew that it was just a moment, and we needed to enjoy

it before we depart forever. It’s very hard to put these emotions on record, which is why my process is very long, because these are true love

stories. “Gangsta Love Letter” was produced by Che, and I wrote it while I was living at Abraham Adesanya in Ogombo (Lagos). I wrote it on that

lonely road in Ogombo in 2023. At that time, I used to go to Atican Beach, and it was also around that time that I was having that experience with

that girl, and it was just a wild period of my life.

“Cold War” is such an amazing song because I tried to paint a picture of what the world truly is. When I said “family kill family,” it’s real

because my family, where I come from, are trying to kill ourselves. It’s not a punchline, it’s real life. According to the story I heard, my dad and

his father were killed by their family members, so it’s very real. I recorded “Cold War” the night I dropped “HBP.” Dropping “HBP,” I knew things

were getting serious, so that’s why I said, “It’s getting dangerous, but no issue.” We already knew that “HBP” was the shit even before it became

the shit and that was what influenced the messaging on “Cold War.” I was taking that moment in and explaining the world we’re living in at the same

time. Also, like I said, I’m always involved with military stuff around me, so that’s why I said it was a Cold War. In actual cold wars, you can’t

tell the amount of crazy, deadly shit that goes on. I had to make the name of the song as cold as the song. Fave is an amazing person. We had been

talking for a while, and she came for the shoot with Bella Shmurda for “HBP Remix.” I played the song for her at that video shoot, but I don’t think

she locked in for the song there. She got into it when we were in an apartment, we were chilling after the shoot. She did her thing, and it’s just

crazy.

I wrote “Comforter” in Ajah (Lagos). I had come back from Abuja. I see myself as a storyteller, so I was relaying what I went through in Abuja. It

just poured out of me. All the lines in the song are real. I actually called my mum and told her, “Mama, your pikin dey suffer for Abuja.” She

cooked and sent it via a vehicle coming from Kano. On that song, I was reminiscing on my life, I was just sitting in the corner and taking stock. It

was a mirror of how I was feeling at that time. These songs are dense because I’m piling a year or two years’ worth of experience into them, and

that’s why it’s hard to explain them. Some of these songs weren’t written in one day. With “Comforter,” I was going through it. When I first

recorded “Comforter,” God told me to go to Kano. So, I went to Kano for three months. I just stayed with the song, and I kept making videos. Since

Lagos wasn’t really feeling me, I planned to go to Kano, which is my hood, build up that momentum and bring it back. I went to Kano and kept making

content, and it just got serious. The funny thing is that three days before “Comforter” was due to drop, I didn’t want to release it anymore because

I worked so hard on the song, and I didn’t know what I was hearing anymore. I wasn’t even sure about what the fuck I was doing. I locked myself up,

carried my Arizona, smoked to the full brim, played the song again, and that reminded me why I recorded the song again. It was good to go. I was in

search of something to comfort me. At that time, it was weed, I just smoked. Drake just dropped an album around then, and I’d be listening to the

album and smoking up. So that’s how the song came about. When I’m going through situations, it just piles up till I find a way to make it come out

as a song.

“Billion Paper” is my dream. I tried to talk about the times I’d need people to do stuff for me because, as an artist, you can’t do stuff that

normal people do. You’re just not a normal person anymore. You’re going through a lot, but you just have to go through it with one of your guys.

People say that money changes people, so I was talking about what I’ll do and what I’ll not do when I get my own money on “Billion Paper.” It was

just about the dream of getting my bag, and at the same time, there was the hardship that I had gone through, reaching out to people for help when I

was struggling; there’s the pride and the ego that’s involved. “Billion Paper” was produced by “OG Sterling.

I recorded “Rollercoaster” in Awoyaya (Lagos), so you can see what I mean when I say that I recorded the album all over. I was moving around, and

that’s why the album is Homeless. The album has its displacement. I recorded “Rollercoaster” in Awoyaya, and if you know what that means, you can

tell that it was a rollercoaster of emotions. The pressure was really heavy on me because I only had “HBP” out. It’s all part of a story, and there

was a time I was living with my cousin, and we’d buy four Arizonas, we’d smoke one blunt each and have one blunt left to smoke early in the morning.

We’d call it early glory. My cousin used to wake up late, but I was usually awake by four or five in the morning, and I’d have smoked the last

blunt. So, that’s what inspired parts of “Rollercoaster.” Another thing I noticed is that when we are going through issues, nobody really

understands, but I always bring life to wherever I am. That means people don’t know when I’m going through stuff because I just love to see people

happy. It was a rollercoaster of emotions for me because I’d been going up and down to get stuff done. I just had a moment of realisation at the

point I recorded that song. It was produced by Che, the same guy who produced “Gangsta Love Letter.”

I feel like we’ve all wronged people. For me, with the grudges I’ve held against my dad and stuff that has happened with people. The ones that have

hurt you and the people you’ve hurt as well, because you’re not the only one hurting, you’re inflicting some hurt yourself. I just knew that at the

end of the day, we all have to hold hands because nothing is more scary than dying alone. Some of the things that hurt and traumatise us don’t mean

a lot to the people who did it to us. I was just trying to illustrate the power of forgiveness because, at that point, I had already forgiven my

dad. As I grow up, there’s no day I wake up as a man and not understand the stress of life, because life is so crazy. Also, when I spoke about

forgiveness as a song, I still wanted something that would say it in a powerful but plain way for people to understand, and that’s why I used the

Tyler Perry interview where he was talking about forgiveness. He said he was talking to people about forgiveness, but even he had not forgiven his

dad. So, “Forgive Me” was all about forgiveness; forgiving our parents, forgiving ourselves, forgiving anybody who has hurt us, especially the ones

that are complicated. It was the perfect song to end the album on because it even came last. I feel like after the rollercoaster of emotions and

everything that the album had talked about, I just knew that I could not live forever and forever isn’t even forever. So, I just wanted to wrap up

the album with a more powerful message than whatever I had coming. I can’t even believe that “Can’t Breathe” is the song that’s up there. The

producer just sent me beats. I had never met him before. The moment I heard that beat, I just connected with it.