Ever since the smash-hit, highlife-leaning Afro Pop jam Ogechi broke out in 2024, establishing three young voices BoyPee, Hyce and Brown Joel has drawn an exciting spotlight on their talents. 

What began as an almost accidental studio collaboration grew into a run of records, followed by their six-track joint EP, Synergy, last year. A Davido feature on the official remix of “Ogechi” pushed the song even further, eventually earning them two nominations at the 17th Headies for Afrobeats Single of the Year and Viewers’ Choice.

Among the three artists, BoyPee, born Sopuruchukwu Odunze, has also maintained a stealthy solo run of his own. Away from their shared catalogue, the Onitsha-raised singer has continued building through records including Choice, First Sight and Summer Adina, while collaborations with Duncan Mighty and Rord Kelly have kept him close to the Eastern Nigerian musical community that soundtracked his earliest years. His new record, For You, returns to the subject matter love, and, this time, he is interested in the happier version of it.

Catching up with Guardian Music, BoyPee goes back to his beginnings as an Igbo rapper in Onitsha; nearly quitting music; the unlikely Chief Priest link-up that changed his trajectory, the lore behind Ogechi; his connection to the South East, and why he is in no hurry to force what comes next.

When did your interest in music begin?
I think 2010. I’ve always been a lover of music. I just loved music and studied music. I was still in secondary school then, in junior class.

Were you already writing and rapping at the time?
Yeah, I was a rapper.

Were you rapping in English or Igbo?
Igbo. I loved Phyno then, and some other rappers like Nigga Raw, Slowdog and Zoro.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Onitsha, Anambra State. I left Onitsha when I wanted to enter a higher institution. When I finished school, I came back to Onitsha around 2020, 2021. Then I left Onitsha again for Lagos in 2022.

Had you always known you would eventually relocate?
Yeah, I knew, because me, I dey find way forward. Anybody wey wants more and wants to push harder, you go dey plan: “Okay, where I go next? Wetin I go do? What am I doing next?” I always ask myself that question at every stage of my life.

What did you study?
Business Administration at Federal Polytechnic, Nekede.

Did you ever imagine yourself taking a regular office job after school?
No. I just knew it was going to be music because na the thing wey dey give me joy be that. You know when you get something wey, if you do am, you no dey feel pressured? You just want to do your thing. That’s how I feel whenever I’m making music.

Was there ever a period when you seriously doubted whether music would work?
That was around 2017. The people around me were always ginger me to go harder, but at that time I was in school, and a lot of things were happening. I was asking myself whether this music thing was really something I was going to do.

Then in 2018, one of my friends told me there was this man he wanted me to make a song for. I was like, “Who be that again? I don’t want to do music. I don tire.”

I was depressed at the time. Anything anybody told me to do just felt like they wanted to stress me because when you have been trying and trying and everything still no dey work out, you get tired.

My friend said, “Okay, I want you to make a song for Chief Priest.” I asked, “Who be Chief Priest?” I didn’t know him then. He told me Chief Priest was somebody everybody knew and that he was hot on Instagram. He felt if I made a song for him, he might like it and push me.

I still said no. My friend even gave me money. He first gave me N20,000 because where we had to record the song was far from where I was. It was almost a three-hour journey. I still didn’t want to go. Then he said he would give me N30,000, which was a lot of money for me then, so I went. He sent me details about Chief Priest. I started seeing the things the man was doing and then I understood why my friend wanted me to make the song.

I recorded it and came back. He said, “Ah, this song sweet. Post am.” At the time, I only had about 200-and-something followers on Instagram. I was like, “Who wan see am if I post am?”

He told me to just post it, so I did.

I had another friend who worked for Chief Priest then. She told me she would send the song to him because she believed he would like it. The next day, he reposted me on his Story, then moved it from his Story to his page. He said if the post got about 5,000 comments, he would make me a star.

The comments started rolling in. Since then, he has been the one helping me out with different things.

Before you started regularly working with Hyce and Brown Joel, you had already been making music on your own. How did that chemistry between the three of you begin?
First of all, I’m not joining any group. It’s just synergy.

I had one of my guys, Topboy Zyno, in Enugu. We went on a university tour. At the time, I didn’t really know Brown Joel and Hyce like that.

After the tour, we went to a club. They played my song there, and the song was already making waves in the East. They were like, “Ah, this song sweet. Who sing am?” My people told them na me.

Hyce told me inside the club that when we got back to Lagos, he would like us to record. Brown Joel overheard us and was like, “I go join o.”

The synergy on that tour was everything. All of us were just vibing with each other. The energy was pure.

When we got back to Lagos, we set up the session. That’s how we started making music. We did “Ogechi.” It was just artists coming together and saying, “Okay, let’s make a song together.”

“Ogechi” was actually the first song we ever recorded together.

Where did the name BoyPee come from?
BoyPee is like Boy Precious because my name is Precious.

I changed the name in 2022. At the time, I entered a label, Big G Entertainment, and they suggested I change my name from SPee to BoyPee because BoyPee sounded easier for people to recognise and remember.

I thought it was nice, so we changed it. We’re not together now, though.

A lot of your music revolves around romance. What kind of love stories interest you as a songwriter?
I like to write about happy love. Love where there is understanding and both parties just want to make each other happy.

I have been with somebody wey fuck me up before. Along the line, I felt like, “Okay, I want to do bad boy now. I no wan do anything.”

But at the same time, if you do bad boy, I feel like it will affect you and even your songs because to dey do bad boy no easy, moving from one person to another. I’m not that kind of person.

I like to focus on whatever I’m doing, one step at a time. I know many people, but I’m not attached to so many people. I have boundaries for anything I do.

So the story I’m writing now is about happy love that is fuelled by understanding. Hyping your woman and letting her know that no matter how she is, she’s the best.

Is that where “For You” comes from?
Yeah. I’m not in a relationship now, but I’m very sure about what I want.

You know when you say you want something to come to you and you talk about it, then maybe it will happen later. I don’t want love wey go make me vex or put me in some kind of mood. I want the one wey go make me happy.

That’s why I sing about happy love.

If you listen to this new song and “Choice,” which I dropped last year, you’ll understand what I’m saying. It is about hyping your woman and letting her know that however she is, she’s beautiful. That’s the main story I’m writing now: songs that make women feel special.

You grew up listening to artists from the East and started out rapping in Igbo. Now that your music has reached a much wider audience, how connected are you to home?
I’m very close. My dad stays in the East, so I go back home all the time.

I work with Eastern artists too, and very soon those songs will be out.

What is collaboration like when you step outside that community and work with artists from different backgrounds?
One thing about me is that I just allow the energy to do its thing.

Anybody I’m going to work with, I no dey stress myself. I believe in my own part. I just do my thing because I believe I’m different.

When it comes to collaborations, I allow God to do His thing. Anybody the vibe match, it will happen.

There are people I already have songs with whose names I can’t mention here, and the way the whole thing happened was just God-designed. So I allow God to do His thing in my life.

Are there still artists you would particularly like to collaborate with?
Yeah. I would like to collaborate with Kizz Daniel, Qing Madi. These days, I also feel like I want to collaborate with Shallipopi. E no go bad.

It’s something people might not expect, but normally, me, na wetin I dey talk be that: when the time reach, it will happen. Everybody will understand and still vibe to the song because I know say e go sweet.

Should fans expect a larger project from you this year?
I like surprises. I always want to surprise my fans.

What does BoyPee do when there’s no studio session, video shoot or performance
Football. Manchester United is my hobby. I play football physically too.

Finally, what is the larger vision for BoyPee?
I might not be perfect, but I just feel like I’m too real. With time, people will understand everything and what I’m building, especially when it comes to my music.

I cannot say because somebody else is doing something, I will start doing it too. I will take my time. With time, in the near future, people are going to see greatness. I’m very, very sure.