Stories from "No Excuses"

I have to give a big shoutout to Vado. Kizz Daniel is another person who goes out of his way for me.

I can’t thank him enough. “lost” was actually written because people rarely sing about the ups and

downs of love. No one talks about when you’re crying in that corner of your room because that girl

is not responding to your text. No one talks about when you’re feeling down because that guy is

acting anyhow. No one really talks about those parts, and that’s what “lost” is all about. It’s

written in homage to the bad sides of love. Having Kizz Daniel on the song changed its dimension. I

wasn’t expecting the delivery to come out that way. He really showed the big OG that he is. There

are levels to this music thing, and Kizz Daniel is just at the top.

“you” wasn’t written based on my perspective or something I was going through. My manager,

MelvinTheWave, was in love at that point. He was so in love, and I was always observing him and his

actions. So, I was just copying and pasting his lifestyle on that song. It’s a love song talking

about your girl and how she’s making you feel. “You” was written in March of 2025, and it was

produced by Kel P. Kel P is so great at what he does; he won’t let you sing rubbish. He’s one of the

producers I’ve met who is very deliberate about what he does. A lot of producers don’t care about

what you’re singing as long as you work with them and use their beats. Most people just want to

record and go, but Kel P won’t let you do that; it has to be up to standard. In fact, he won’t let

you write your songs alone; he wants to listen before you record. He’s very interested in what you

want to put down. Even if it’s great, he’s still looking for a way to make it better.

It’s just a song about life, motivation, and day-to-day activities. Basically, I’m saying after

everything you’ve been through, it’s going. After all the stress and reminiscing on the pain and

struggle and quest for sustenance, it’s going. We can’t give up or stop chasing, so at the end of

the day, it’s going. I had the idea for “it’s going” before I even started the album; it was the

first song I conceptualised. I had most of it ready to go. When I was thinking of what the album was

lacking, as we were finishing the album, my mind came back to “it’s going” and I felt like I needed

to add it, so I did. I felt like it was a great way to close the album as well.

I’m so happy this song made the album because it almost didn’t. The session for this song was great

and mind-blowing. Young Jonn is a big OG, he always answers me whenever I call him. If I ever want

him to be in the studio when I’m working on something, he always pulls up for me and never tells me

no. It means a lot to me, and I don’t take it for granted. “disco” was a record that I had initially

made, and Young Jonn just jumped on it. He sent me the verse, and it was so good.

The funniest thing about “caricature” is that it’s the first song I recorded on the album; it was

made last year. A caricature means a representation of something, and in this context, it’s a symbol

to fill the gap when a lover is not around. It’s a song about telling your partner that you’ll get a

caricature of them because you miss them. So, getting a caricature of your partner is getting an

artwork of them or something you can remember them by when they’re not around. It’s a representation

or imitation of someone you can’t do without. I think “caricature” set the tone for the album.

We initiated the record from Lagos and finished it in London. The process of making the album was

extraordinary. “robbery” is similar to “lost” in how it explores the unheralded parts of romance.

Relationships can be very funny. “robbery” is talking about how you’re showing love and affection to

someone, but they’re not doing the same for you. Working with Gabzy was magical, and I really

enjoyed the process of putting this song together.

This is the only song that doesn’t have a huge story behind it because I was just recording. I

posted a video on my Instagram account, and Oxlade commented, “Cruise control.” I was in the studio

at that moment and listening to a beat. So, that’s how I entered, and the song started. It wasn’t

like I did anything extraordinary, but I did me and I love it because of how free I felt while

making it. It was made just a few weeks before we released ‘catharsis.’

The idea of this song is to revive you after you’re lost, that’s why the arrangement placed it after

“lost.” It was intentional to place it there. The track explores the idea of love reviving you after

feeling lost. It’s a love song as well, it just explores love from a different direction. This song

was based on my own experience, but it was not from this year; it was made last year.

I have to give a big shoutout to Vado. Kizz Daniel is another person who goes out of his way for me.

I can’t thank him enough. “lost” was actually written because people rarely sing about the ups and

downs of love. No one talks about when you’re crying in that corner of your room because that girl

is not responding to your text. No one talks about when you’re feeling down because that guy is

acting anyhow. No one really talks about those parts, and that’s what “lost” is all about. It’s

written in homage to the bad sides of love. Having Kizz Daniel on the song changed its dimension. I

wasn’t expecting the delivery to come out that way. He really showed the big OG that he is. There

are levels to this music thing, and Kizz Daniel is just at the top.

This is such a beautiful love song. The session was mind-blowing, and I really loved it. “golibe” is

a way of expressing love and affection because a popular part of the song, “Ile awada,” means that

our home is blessed or fortunate. So, I’m telling her that she needs to come. It’s just a way of

letting her know that she needs to be with me because I really like her and need her in my life.

Victony brought life and emotions to the song. He gave it a new dimension. His verse is so

mind-blowing, and I still can’t get it out of my head because it rings in my head all the time. He

went out of his way for me, and big shout-out to him.

“eko” is a song about leaving home to feed home. It’s a song about the struggles and hardships of

life. It’s a song about praying to God all the time because you want to be a baller and not a

mechanic. It’s just a song asking for god’s blessings and talking about how hard it is to leave home

and make ends meet. I was born and brought up in Ibadan, so I had to leave home to come to Lagos in

a bid to make a living. It’s crazy, hard, and mind-blowing. There’s a part of the song that

references a popular Yoruba proverb that means a Lagos person goes on their way peaceably. I’m

saying that I can’t fight, that’s why I’m just going on my own and taking things easy. I moved to

Lagos in 2018, and I’ve had a lot of experiences.

“gokada” is a song about always coming through and not missing. People always say I never miss, so I

just want to always deliver and not miss with my music. That was the original idea behind the song;

it’s just a song about delivery and not letting my fans down. People give me different compliments:

“he sings so well all the time,” “I like your voice,” and “he’s so good.” I hear them all the time,

so I just added all those sentiments to the song. “gokada” was made around March or April of 2025 by

LOL.

Obviously, a big shoutout to Captain BNXN; he’s such a great guy, and he loves me so much. He goes

out of his way for me, and I respect him so much. At that time, “alone” was BNXN’s favourite song.

He was always posting the song on Snapchat and listening to it. I would always appreciate him for

posting the song. One day, I just summoned the courage and told myself I’d ask him to jump on the

remix with me. I just wanted to try. So, I told him, “This looks like your favourite song because

you always post this song, Baba mi. Could you please help me with a verse on the remix? It would

really go a long way for me.” He didn’t respond initially, but I charged it to the game because I

always like to try things, even if they don’t work out. I just gave it a shot. So, I already thought

it wouldn’t happen, but three days after, he responded and told me, “Bad boy, send me the verse, let

me give it a try.” I got the verse back in less than 24 hours. It was mind-blowing. I didn’t believe

it, but we went from there.

SB produced “alone.” The song was sampled from Wande Coal’s “Again,” so SB and Melvitto are

co-producers. I didn’t know I was making a song like that when I was writing “alone.” I never knew

it would be my song because I got a call from a friend of mine, Nelly Baradi, who sings. She was

having a creative block, and she’s someone I always help out because we make music together all of

the time. It’s normal to have creative blocks, so she called me that day to help her put something

together on the beat. I didn’t answer initially because I had a lot of things going on, but she knew

I was going to help her out. This time was different because I didn’t attend to her request

promptly. It took me about three days because I was just feeling so reluctant. She kept disturbing

me, so on the third day, I decided to get it done. I locked in and I wrote out the first one minute.

It was sounding really great, and I told myself I wasn’t sending it back to her. I recorded it

myself and put it out on socials, and everybody went crazy. I have to give a big shoutout to BhadBoi

Oml; he and I were already planning to make something together. He’s someone I really like because

he sings so well. I really fuck with him, so I’d been in his DM. I told him I really like what he

does and I’d love to make something with him someday. He responded and said, “Why not my G?” So, we

already planned on making the song, but we didn’t have a direction. All we knew was that we were

going to link up and make something. I posted “alone” after this conversation, and he really liked

it. So, he sent it to me and told me that he thinks this is the one we should work on together. We

went into the studio, made it, and it became a whole track. We dropped it, and it just went crazy.

I have such a great memory attached to this song. I was in London at the time, around April 2025.

So, I got a call from Big Wiz’s camp to come to the studio. I linked up with Big Wiz at the studio

and we made the song. There are several songs you make that don’t come out, so I thought “One

Condition” would be another song that doesn’t get released because, to me, I didn’t really do

anything on the song. Many people ask me how I came up with the verse, but I simply tell them that

it just came to me. I spent about 30 or 40 minutes on that song. It was just so sudden for me.

Wizkid told me to go and do something, and I just walked into the booth and started singing. I

initially thought the verse was not so hard, but when we put it out, everything went crazy. After

recording, I went back home and got a text about two or three days later that the song was going to

come out. I thought it was a joke. I have a video on my phone of my reaction to the news. I was so

happy and just started running around. Just getting that text saying, “Yo Fola, Big Wiz just cleared

the song, we’re going to drop it,” was crazy. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if you were

expecting the song to be talked about or if you were expecting the song to be put out. I just did my

verse and went, so getting that text that it was coming out was really mind-blowing. It was huge for

me.

The way “Escaladizzy” came to life captures my creative process and personal energy. I’m constantly

in motion, always moving forward. A few days before it all came together, I was on the way back from

an event with my guys, all of us in the back of an Escalade, when I got home that day, I heard a

beat by 2 Frosh (credited producer) and it stuck with me. So I started writing what would later

become “Escaladizzy” before I even got to Wave$tar’s place. One night, after Wave$tar’s party, which

he invited me to perform at, I opened my Snap and noticed he was around. I texted him and decided to

swing by his house. When I got there, we were originally chilling, but before we knew it, we were

recording. The original plan was to record a Wave$tar song, which we did, but after that, the energy

was still there, and I had the beat that 2 Frosh sent to me looping in my head. Wave$tar’s vibe was

different, and I just felt like it would be the perfect vibe to lead me into the song. The funniest

part is that I didn’t even expect this to be the song to blow up because I have way better songs

out. There were no plans to drop it this year—it dropped because of how the audience received it.

That’s how my music happens—that’s how I live my life: organized but open to change, nothing forced.

Everything flows from my music and instincts, so if it feels right, I follow it. No elaborate

rituals—just space and a living vibe.

Blaqbonez always wanted me to make a song that will go super viral. He’s like; “oh, you need to make

a record that will cement your legacy, a song that many Nigerians will know, will listen to”. So

when I was making God's Engineering 2 (previous album), we made ‘Family’. It didn't go as viral as

he wanted it to go. So when I was making God's Engineering 3, he was paying special interest in the

recording process. When I made the song called ‘Read the Signs’ with Terry Apala, Blaq was super

excited. He even helped me contact Terry to be on the record. He was like; “yo, this is the record.

You finally did it your way. You just have to put a budget behind this record, and it's going to go

super viral”. I was like, cool. It's supposed to be the single anyway. But then I told him that I'm

not going to make the album without him doing a verse. I wanted a rap verse. So before I wrapped up

the album, I called him and I was like, yo, I'm wrapping up the album and I need that verse. And he

was like, say less. I think two days later, I just got an email and he had recorded on a YouTube

beat. I listened to the verse and the hook and I was like, Oh, is this how you're feeling? He was

like, yeah, a lot had happened before he recorded the verse. He put down how he felt about what was

happening. I was like, okay, I jumped into the booth and dropped my own verse in like, maybe like

15, 20 minutes. But I held it back because I was still not certain because it was on a YouTube beat.

We sent it to a producer called Jxses. He was able to make a beat that matched what we were already

feeling - which is one of the hardest things to do. We didn't think of it as a single, right? We

just wanted it to be on the project. After I finished the album, I played it for my team and they

were like, yo, it's hard - and this should be the single. They were like, the hook, the chemistry,

everything is just a safer bet. And I spoke to the guys on the distribution side, and they were

like, yeah, they actually think that the song with Blaqbonez is the single. So we picked a date. And

we dropped it. The situation between Blaq and Modu (ODUMODUBLVCK), everything just escalated it. And

yeah, that's how the song came about. We were not in the same studio when we made the record. Blaq

recorded his part, sent it to me. I recorded my part, sent it to him. And people have been saying

that that's one of my best verses yet. That thing that Blaqbonez wanted me to always have, “I want

you to have this to cement your legacy”. I always wanted him to be the person that would give that

to me. I guess he finally did it on this record.

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.