By
Latiifah Amusan
Nigerian singer Oluwatosin Ajibade better known as his stage name Mr Eazi has said he has no regrets over his past comments that Ghanaian music significantly influenced present-day Nigerian music.
The singer made the claim in a tweet on January 11, 2017. What followed the controversial tweet was threats of cancellation from fans and colleagues.
But speaking in a recent episode of the Afrobeats Intelligence podcast hosted by Joey Akan, Mr Eazi expressed no regrets for his statement, saying the backlash didn’t deter him.
However, the “Leg Over” crooner lamented the lack of private admonition from those he considered friends in the industry, stating that instead of constructive criticism, some joined the cancel culture.
He said, “When the whole issue with me being canceled, even till tomorrow, I see people come on my social media profile and still throwing hate. They said, ‘Oh, yeah, you said that.’ I’m like, ‘Fam, really? This energy take it to your local politician wey dey run you street.’ You feel me? I didn’t kill anybody. I said what I said.
“And I said it many years ago. If that is the reason you hate me, then you hate me for something else. It’s deeper than that. And realising that just make me feel free. That’s the lens to which I look at everything. Because I was seeing guys I was saying ‘Hello’ to, coming out to say, ‘F*ck Mr. Eazi.’ And I was like, ‘Bro, you could have called me and say Eazi, I just saw this interview, you shouldn’t have said that. This is what I advise you to do.’ But it just became a thing of let’s all band together. And that’s why in my song ‘We Dey’, I said, ‘Twitter fingers steady showing fake love.’ Because it’s crowd mentality. It’s trendy to hate you, and now it’s like for clicks.”
Reflecting on the incident, Mr Eazi highlighted the crowd mentality on social media platforms, noting how it became trendy to hate.
He urged a shift in focus from trivial controversies to more meaningful aspects of life, emphasizing that both love and hate acknowledge one’s existence.
