Brymo: How I used Chocolate City controversy to sell my sound

For almost two years, Olawale Ashimi, a songwriter and singer better known as Brymo, was entangled in a legal tussle with his estranged record label Chocolate City.

Although that chapter of his life is in the past, Brymo said he used the “scandal” to develop and sell his sound to the listening audience.

He made this known in a recent episode of Culture Diaries, an interview series which spotlights artistes and culture creators.

“In 2013, when I decided to sort of evolve my sound, I knew it was going to be difficult to be accepted because at that point in time, everyone was leaning toward making contents that were more commercially acceptable,” he said.

“Infusing poetry into all of that melody was going to be tough, and fortunately I had a scandal to ride on, so I feel like without all of that drama, it would have been more difficult to sell the sound.

When asked if he was apprehensive about the transition, he said, “Fear is the tool you need to grow, at some point, I just took all of that fear and whenever the anxiety was at its peak, I would just pick up a pen and write down some lyrics.

“It felt like the longer I lived with the fear, the more I got used to it. At some point, everything just started to wear off.

“Fortunately, the very first album I made independently, I could not release on time. It took up to 4 or 5 months before Alaba could release it.

“We were getting petitions from iTunes to put the album down, so all of that, I think as soon as I passed that phase, nothing could stop me again.”

The singer also said he spends close to two years to record an album.

“I don’t use songs that are less than a year old, I always have songs for at least a year, before I start to record a project, so at the end of the day I spend close to 2 years on every album,” he said.

The Culture Diaries series which is now in its second season was created and hosted by Wana Udobang.