SPOTLIGHT: How Minz got ahead through Soundcloud

His creative process is hinged on originality which makes him believe he’d stand out in the crowded arena of the music industry.

The budding artiste says he’s the full package and the real deal rolled into a fat Cuban cigar.

“I think what makes me different from other artists is the fact that I produce a lot of my music even sometimes down to the mixing and mastering. I know what I want to achieve as per sound and I work hard at it till I get it right, I’m a bit of a perfectionist,” said the artiste who has often been confused with another musical artist of the same name.

A singer, rapper, and producer, Damilola “Minz” Aminu’s first effort, ‘Aunty Patricia‘ gained traction on the internet without any form of promotion.

The recent graduate of Babcock University believes his family’s struggles put him in the position to pursue a career in music.

“I’ve been interested in making music since I was in Jss3, I started writing raps and as I got older I became really interested in beats. I always wondered how I could ever get empty beats so I could try my own ideas on them.

“When I got into the university I was still rapping and in my second semester I met a friend who had a beat making software on his laptop.

“I was fascinated and I spent a lot of time making beats, skipping classes at times.

“By my second year, I was recording and started trying to sing on songs. That was when my creativity sparked and I started to get a reputation around my campus.”

AUNTY PATRICIA

The success of “Aunty Patricia” came as a surprise to the artist as he never envisaged that the song would be well received.

“To be honest the success of Aunty Patricia is something only God can explain.

“I recorded the song back in May at my friend, Mowizzy’s house, we made the beat together, and I dropped it on my SoundCloud one night in June cause I was just bored and felt like I should just put some material out.

“A few days later, a friend called me and was telling me “I had blown”, I thought he was playing with me and then he told me that the song had about 20,000 plays on SoundCloud.

“I literally couldn’t know because I didn’t have a phone at the time,” Minz said.

Close friends of Minz supported him by sharing the song on their personal Twitter accounts.

The regular trend is to pay promoters and hype men to get your song known but this wasn’t the case for “Aunty Patricia” as the groovy Afrobeat song carried its own weight.

“Soon after that a close female friend, Aisha, called me and said she had someone who was willing to help me with my music cause he really liked it and that was how I started working with ‘Purple Tunes’ and we were able to promote the song and shoot a video for it.”

“I’m currently not signed but I and my manager, Michael Uwadiae, are in talks with one or two record labels and something is in the works.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR MINZ?

“I just want to put out my art, my music, consistently and get recognised for it, be able to take care of those I love and put my country on the map,” Minz said when asked about his aspirations.

As with every other upcoming artiste, regardless of abundant talent, a mountain of challenges are unavoidable in the music industry.

“One of the major challenges I’ve been faced with so far is getting the music on the right platforms, there are a lot of scammers out there who are just waiting for upcoming artistes to fall prey to them.

“I think if there was a little more transparency and if these platforms would recognize the value of content providers things would be better for upcoming artistes.”

With several collaborations in the works, Minz who recently released ‘Talk’ , said: “They should expect more, we’ve been working a lot and there’s really a tsunami coming, a tidal wave.”