What distinguishes me is my versatility-BaseOne

Base One ‘Sotunde Isaac Ayomipo ‘is Nigeria’s lyrical rapper as he distinguishes himself from other rappers setting a trend for budding rappers to emulate. He is a specialized indigenous rapper who has shared stage with the big names in the industry and still standing firm in the game he understands better. His stage name Base One makes a clear indication which means ‘Best at street Entertainment’ that he represents the street to the fullest. Signed to Aquila record owned by king of night club, Shina Peller. A lot of people do not know that BaseOne is a God fearing act who never jokes with his religion.  In this chat with MUTIAT ALLI, he shared his musical journey, his love for rap music…..

Enjoy

Your lyrical arrangement is what amazes me; how long does it take you to put up your lyrical content?

(Smiles)!! Amazing is always the right word; most time, it does not really take me time to put up my lyrics. I write my lyrics and a times there are moments when these verses just come like a breeze in your head and all you need do is to head to the studio to drop the lines

Your lyrics rhyming at all-time are they deliberate or that’s the real Base One vibing?

It’s called rhyming, let’s say rap. When you say a word that has meaning and you end it with another word that has meaning and they both rhyme at the end and it still makes sense that means you are a dope rapper. It’s not deliberate, that’s the real me.

A lot of people say rap music is dead in Nigeria, do you also believe in this school of thought?

No, I don’t believe rap is dead, it’s just that everything is evolving, you have to be flexible to whatever comes your way with respect to rap.Like in the 80s, the kind of rap people listened to were boom raps, in the 90’s, it changed, now we are in the 20’s.We have different kinds of rap music, we have the hip hop, afro beat, trap music and hard core. There are so many genres, so it now depends on which one you want to do.If I’m going to judge from the Nigerian perspective, our kind of rap is the afro beat kind of rap.If you listen to the likes of Olamide and Phyno, they are both rappers but when they are doing songs, they sound as if they are singing; so they tend to do danceable songs and still infusing their rap into it.So if you can do that, it’s not that rap is completely dead, I won’t say that.What I feel that is dead in Nigeria is the hard core kind of rap because people really don’t have time for it, people just want to be happy, people are already sad so they need something that will just make them happy. Once they listen to you, you will just make them happy.I think that’s what is working. It’s not that rap is completely dead, rap is not dead.If you tell all these people to do hard core rap, it’s not that they can’t do it, they can do it but they know it’s not making money.Even corporate brands are not investing in that, they rather give it to the singers who are doing danceable songs, so why don’t you just imbibe your own kind of talent, like your rap into that kind of thing too so that you can be headlining shows.So for me, I don’t think rap is dead.

Your stage delivery usually comes with this grieving hard face?

Grieving Ke!! Well, I will say most of my performances comes with the picture that I personally feel my pain from my inner thoughts. I have not started making cash I prayed to earn. Maybe by the time I start earning cool cash like starting off with one million dollars, maybe I can begin to calm down in the deliveries.

What distinguishes Base One from other rappers?

What distinguishes me from other rappers is because I’m versatile and I do rap that makes people laugh. When you listen to my rap, it’s not that I’m bragging or blowing my horns but when you listen to my rap, you have to pause and play. You pause it and you be like “what is this guy saying again’ and that is where the Werey Re title comes from because when people listen to my song, they will be like, ‘it seems this boy is completely mad’ because I think a lot and I use things that makes me laugh, then I try to transform them and put it in form of lyrics so that I can also make you laugh also.That’s what distinguishes me from every other rapper.

Did you actually set out to be a musician?

While growing up, I used to admire the 9 to 5 job most especially the bankers who are usually decked in nice fitted suits, fancy cars and all that; that prompted me to study Banking and Finance in the university hoping that when I graduate, I will also be working in the banking environment but things did not go as planned because I realise that you don’t live life the way it is; I later discovered that most bankers live their lives on loan and I don’t want my life to tow that path too. I equally realise that being a banker, I might never have time for myself as the job requires me to wake up early and close late and even my weekends are not guaranteed. I had also envisaged working a good company with good pay but as God wants it, music got me covered now.

So will you say you are enjoying your celebrity status now?

I’m not enjoying it, I don’t have jet, I don’t have Benz, I’m comfortable but I’m not where I want to be. I have not gotten to that peak of my career yet.

Do you have plans working with any Nigerian top female act?

For me, the female artiste that I will like to work with in Nigeria is Asa because she’s a legend and a big brand to reckon with.

Are you designer freak?

Yes, I love to look good at all times.In fact, back then in school, I used my school fee to buy designer wears just to appear nice and receive post commendation.

Considering your tight work flow, how then do you un-wind?

It’s very simple. I’m more of the indoor kind of person. I do three things simultaneously, eat food, and watch film and sleep, all at the same time. This how it works- I break ice, put my drink and then the food and then the movie. After I finish eating, I just doze off. I’m more of an indoor person.

When was the last time you went into the kitchen to cook?

When it comes to pasta and scrambled eggs, come to me, apart from that, you want to eat rubbish.