Blaqbonez

Over the course of my albums, I have always put songs about hustling and money. I just added the Dollar sign, I don’t know why I always do it. Till

today, when I’m naming the songs, I just do it. This is music that gets you to go out there and make money. I recorded this two months before the

album in August (2025). When I made the song, I just felt like I needed somebody to usher the album out. I wanted someone to do something at the end

that’s just different from Blaqbonez. After thinking about it, I knew that it was Barry Jhay because of his lyricism and vocals. It just felt like

it was the right choice. We made two records. One that’s more like a big record, and it had an amapiano feel, but “Stacks $$$” was the one I wanted

because I felt like it was deep, and it felt like a special record.

When I made “Louder,” I was trying to shoot videos with Olu the Wave. I liked how his visuals were looking, and I just made ‘Louder’ for my “Of Many

Colours” project in 2024. He was working with Ayo Maff a lot, and he kept on saying, "Omo, this is Ayo Maff's lane." I was like, "Okay, send this to

Ayo Maff and let’s see" Then Ayo Maff sent the verse, and it was so crazy. I was like, “Oh shit, this is his lane for real.” Maybe a week or two

before I would release the song, I was on a flight with Bella Shmurda, and he was sitting right beside me. Sometimes, I think these things happen

for a reason because there had to be a reason for why we were seated together. As soon as we got to Lagos, I was like, “Bro, let's link up in the

studio,” and that's how I added Bella Shmurda to that record. While I was getting to the finishing point of this record, it was this one versus

“Follow Her” to complete the pre-release singles, but I just felt like the message on “Louder” was more profound. It felt like the better lead-up to

start the actual outro. It felt like the right song to put instead of “Follow Her” and that’s how it made it to the project.

I recorded this one in South Africa when I went to do the Hennessy Cypher in June 2025. I just planned a little listening party over there. The

energy at the listening party was so exciting. The South Africans showed me so much love. There were so many people there and it was so nice. I was

like, “I have to have a song with some South Africans on the album.” The session was the next day. I've been a fan of KindlyNxsh and Brotherkupa,

especially not just fans of their music, but fans of their visuals. I found the guy who shoots their videos and followed him. We all linked up, and

it was an organic session because I liked their visuals, and they liked me already. The session was very smooth, and we made it after my listening

party. With WAVE$TAR, while I was working on a project, I told myself I had to put someone who represents who's next in the Nigerian hip-hop space.

I felt like I couldn't consider myself an OG if I didn't say, “This is the next guy.” I feel like this album is my introduction to being an OG. I

was excited that WAVe$TAR was excited to be on the project. His verse was the last verse to enter the project; it happened four days before the

album dropped. I’d been talking to him about it, but we had not figured out if he was going to be on the song. I initially wanted to transition the

beat into something else, but he just recorded on the actual beat, and it was fire.

I wrote “California Issues” in California. It has a very peculiar story. The energy of the song is not the story I told. I started working on the

record, and I played a small part of it on my Instagram story. Based on that, there was a girl in California who was very upset that I'm singing

about I'm in California, flying a girl from Ethiopia when she's right there in California. She was like, “Why am I flying somebody else? And I've

not linked her up.” She started threatening me that she was going to pull up for a fade, and she was going to have me beat up. The shit was just so

crazy, and I was like, “What is going on here?” That's why it's called “California Issues.” She was saying she wouldn’t leave, no matter what I did.

She was ranting on Twitter, and I was like, “I don’t even know this babe like that.” So, that’s how the song came to be. It’s not really her story,

but it inspired what direction the song went towards after that. This was done pretty early, around April or May 2024. I think it was the third song

on the project in terms of how they were created.

When I started working on “W for Wetego” in January 2025, it was my second session with Black Culture (credited producer). For some reason, I left

the space at the beginning of the song, and I started singing “Wetego” somewhere in the middle. I was just jamming that and really feeling it. After

that, I went to my village, Nwangele in Imo state, in January. I was excited about being in the village. I wanted to have done a song with Phyno the

next time I came back to the village, and that’s what I set out to do. As soon as I made ‘Wetego,’ I was excited to send it to Phyno. The moment I

sent him the record, Phyno told me to pull up. One hour later, I was at his place, and we had recorded that. I was still trying to figure out what

to do with the space I mentioned in the beginning, then I had a session with Young Jonn. We were supposed to work on some other stuff, but as soon

as I played him “Wetego,” he was like, “This is the one that I have to be on.” That's how we just recorded on the space at the beginning. The final

version of the song was wrapped up just three days before the song came out. I wasn’t even sure it was going to make it out because I was going back

and forth with the producers, trying to figure out the log drums.

I was supposed to work on a Chocolate City album, you know, with producer Blaize Beatz, and it was scheduled for September 2024. As soon as I

started making that record, I was like, “Omo, this record, I'm keeping this one for myself.” It was like a low-pressure studio session that I didn't

think I was working on my album. And then I ended up releasing one of the most important tracks on the album. Blaise and I have a very great track

record. On Emeka Must Shine, he produced “NYEM EGO.” He always produces very important records for me on my albums, so it was not a surprise that he

did this one too.

The story for this is very funny. That day at Jae5’s studio in February this year, I was so clumsy. I didn't even understand what was going on that

day. I was just knocking over things. At some point, he gave me alcohol. I put it on his keyboard and somehow I knocked it over, and then the

alcohol spilled into the keyboard. Jae5 had to clean it up. He even had to get people to open the whole grand piano and clean it up properly. At

that point, I was like, if I don't make a song that's banging in this place, this guy might never let me in this studio again because of how chaotic

I was. Then, he had a book on the grand piano that was his daughter's book, and as soon as I opened the book, the first rhyme was “Mary had a little

lamb.” As soon as I opened it, I just said “Mary had a little lamb, Mary had a big bunda,” and that's how that song started. I have always been

linking up with LeoStayTrill whenever I'm in London. We always just link up and create music. We have done like two or three sessions before that,

but this is our first song that's actually coming out.

This is another song that's like a part of the spine of the album. This song and “Consistency,” I think, are the first two songs on the album. I

just love those songs so much. We linked up in Nigeria in March 2024, and we made the two records that we put out, one for her, one for me. That was

our first session ever. That was also my first session with Black Culture (credited producer). It was just a seamless session. It was easy and a

vibe. We were already having a good time, as soon as Black Culture played the beat, you know, I just started flowing. Melissa came in with the hook,

mumbling the hook, and everything just fell into place so easily. I just always knew that that song was going to be on the album, no matter what. It

just felt different and was giving me Shank’s “Julie,” and I liked that feeling.

“Just Hustlin $$$” was recorded in Lagos, in Ikoyi. I had some white producers that I worked with in the past, and they were in town. I linked them

up. I just got back to Nigeria, and whenever I come back to Nigeria after a long period, I'm very frustrated at the fact that everywhere you turn,

somebody's billing you. I was in that phase where I was still so upset about it. If you go to the airport, everybody's like, “Give me this, give me

that.” You drive around the car, people are gathering, “Give me this, give me that.” If you chat with a babe, she’s trying to bill you. I think that

was the energy that I took into the studio that day. As soon as they played me that beat, it just took me into that thought process. I just realised

that this is something that I would actually love to speak about. It’s a song that means a lot to me. I already have the music video shot. I

recorded this song three months ago.

Olamide had posted this record a while ago, and I was a fan of the record when he posted it. I didn't understand why he never put out the record. I

think I tweeted it in 2024. I was like, “Olamide, I mean, this record is so crazy. Why didn't you ever put it out? Can you put it out?” We had a

conversation about it. He said he was going to drop it. I was like, “Okay, cool, we’ll be waiting.” Fast forward to two months ago (around August

2025), he texted me, “Hey Blaq, do you want this record?” I'm like, “What do you mean, do I want this record? Of course, I want this record.” As

soon as he sent it to me, Magicsticks and I started cooking it. We created a new production for it because Niniola had already used the old beat. At

first, it was crazy because I was conflicted on whether the beat sounded as good as the original one. We just kept going back and forth, working on

it. I sent Olamide one version, and he said the vibe was fire and that we should keep going. We just kept going back and forth via email. It was

interesting going back and forth via email because that was peculiar. There was one time I was sending it to him via Instagram, but he never opened

it, but once I sent an email, he was there to respond. It was an interesting time to create that kind of song.

This was so exciting because it is a Jae5 production and, if you know me, you know I love a Jae5 production. I've never heard Jae5 produce something

like that before. I don't even know what led to what and how we even got there, but it was exciting to me. It was in London, and it was an exciting

session. I recorded this song in July 2025. I was in the session with my guys, we had smoked, and the vibe was nice. The vibe of working with Jae5

is always chill because his place is far from town. It's a much calmer part of London. There's an unreleased song that was supposed to be on my

album called “2BTC.” I played Jae5 this song. It’s an interesting dance song. He liked the energy, and he was hyped. This is what led to “Bizzy

Body.” Whenever I work with Jae5, we start with the chords. So, when he made the chords, I started singing the melodies that started the song. We

just built it up from there. When I made the initial demo with Jae5, I returned to Nigeria to finish the project. I knew that the song was mad, but

I knew that it needed a chorus. I felt my part was a pre-chorus. So, I had a mini camp. I had Shorae, The Kazez, Majesty Lyn, Major AJ, and Deto

Black, and a whole lot of people at the camp, and everybody was just vibing. The Kazez just sang the “I feel it coming, slow and steady…” part, and

I really liked it so much. I was like, “Nah, this shit has to stay here.” It was perfect and that’s how I left it. And then, because of the sound, I

felt like I wanted to put a Jamaican on the song to give it that raw Jamaican feel because it sounded like them with the beat bounce and everything.

I told my label, and they put me on to Valiant, and that's how Valiant got on the song.

For me, I wanted to be on a new vibe in terms of production and the hip-hop standard. I went on YouTube, and I was listening to random beats and

stuff. It was recorded two months before the album. At this time, I was at a château in Cognac (also known as the Château Royal de Cogna, a historic

monument on the banks of the Charente River, France) chilling in the backyard by a lake and I was in a chill place. It was just a really cool day

going through beats, and I just found that beat online. I was like, “Oh my God.” I knew that the beat was banging. It was during one of the Hennessy

activations, so after the stress of the day, I decided to still record that night, and that’s how I made the song in my bedroom. The way I made the

song, it wasn't like I wrote a hook or anything; I just started writing, and at some point in the process, I wanted the beginning to come back

again. I didn’t know that part was going to be the hook; I was just writing. The beat switch at the end was added later on.

Pa Salieu and I recorded this together. It was an interesting session because as soon as I entered the studio, Felix Joseph, the producer, already

felt like he knew what a Blaqbonez and Pa Salieu song would sound like. As soon as he played the beat, I was like, “Oh my God, this is crazy!” We

were both hyped about it. It didn't even take too long; we were writing and flowing back to back to back. Before we knew it, the song was done. We

have a video for the song that’s so crazy, and I can’t wait to put that out.

This is actually the oldest song recorded on the project. It's the beginning. It was recorded last year (2024). We were in London, and I had always

been a fan of AJ Tracey. I always told my people that I would love to work with him and do a song. While I was in London, he was open to a session,

and we linked up and made “Consistency.”

The way FOLA and I worked on “Despacito” is almost like the way I made “Bizzy Body.” I invited him to my house. Ramoni (credited producer) started

playing chords, and he basically created the hook on the chords. He just sang the whole thing, and Ramoni and I started working on how the beat

would actually be. Then, I recorded my part, and that’s when FOLA actually heard it. At track five, it felt like I needed to switch things up. We

had come with mad energy from the beginning, so it felt like it was time to soften the vibe a little bit, but it needed to be beautiful and still

energetic. “Despacito” was the right song to transition with. It's a hip-hop song, but it has some amapiano elements. I feel like it was giving me a

version of AKA on soulful songs that just connect in a way, and that’s what introduces “Nati” with Olamide.