Fireboy: Why I struggled to finish varsity, had extra year

Fireboy, the Nigerian singer, says focusing on his music career cost him an extra year in varsity.

In a chat with Chude Jideonwo, media entrepreneur, he recalled his nerdy days at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).

Fireboy said he was bound for an academic career but his grades slipped after he decided to “switch up” on music.

He said this cost him an extra year in OAU, with his father once paying his lecturers a visit to address the issue.

“I use to say I started music in 2012, that was during my second year in school, but I didn’t have sense until around 2017. Between 2012 and 2016, I was just the regular guy who loved Wizkid and Davido,” the 25-year-old said.

“I wanted to be a regular Afrobeats star. I didn’t have any sound. It was really messed up. At some point, I sat down and decided I would find something to make me stand out. I decided I would do Afrobeats but add more lyricism.

“When I was younger, I thought was going to be a professor of literature. I was a book-smart guy. When I switched, it was hard for my parents to take. I had some clarity and realised I was never going to end up doing a 9-to-5 job.

“The only kind of hard work I wanted in life was stressful flights, long studio sessions, and sweating on stage. My parents didn’t know at first until my dad started monitoring my [slipping] grades and asked what was going on.

“I told him the truth. I finished school but it was a tough struggle. I had an extra year. I knew that, after, I was going straight to Lagos. Lecturers, the shame. There was a time when my dad came to my school in my final year.

“At first, it wasn’t about music. He thought I had lost focus. He didn’t know at the time that it was the music thing.”

Fireboy has had two studio albums thus far, including ‘Laughter Tears, & Goosebumps’ (2019) and ‘Apollo’ (2020).