The street is the best teacher, says Solid Star

Born and bred in the concentrated town of Ajegunle, Lagos state, singer Solid Star had two options to make it out of there. They were music and football.

While in secondary school, he settled on the former and pursued it relentlessly until he made a headway.

Speaking on a HIP TV show, the singer whose real names are Joshua Iniyezo said his childhood in Ajegunle was very rough.

“You had to hustle to survive. Surviving was tough but all those things made me who I am today,” he said.

“I remember hawking pure water up and down the street. The story wasn’t that good but at the same time, it wasn’t bad.

“The street is the best teacher. The street made me strong. It made me bold.”

Solid Star said he used his profit from hawking to record his first song.

But the recording did not take place in an actual studio, he added.

“I remember doing everything on my own. I hawked pure water and puff-puff. I used the money to record a song. The first recording I did was done live – not in the studio – with DJ Guliano.

“That’s how the hustle started and people began listening to me.”

The singer said he was charged N5,000 for his first studio recording and revealed that the song was “mixed, mastered and released that same day”.

Solid Star got his big break in the industry after collaborating with 2baba (formerly 2face) Idibia on the hugely successful ‘One in a million’.

“It was a very good song and it made it easy for me as Tuface dey the song nah. And Tuface was very big then, he was number one everywhere,” he said.

The ‘Skibo’ singer recently released a new collaboration with the music icon, entitled ‘Nwa Baby’.

Solid Star had nothing but fond words to say when asked about his relationship wth the ‘African Queen’ singer.

“2face is too good, too awesome. I can’t find the words to describe him. He’s just too humble. You cannot be with him and not be okay. 2face is the person that keeps encouraging me in this business,” he said.