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Bad Boy Timz… Conversing Life Of The Party

By Chinonso Ihekire
22 October 2022   |   4:12 am
The catch phrase “O shock won bakan!” held the Nigerian music scene spellbound in 2019. The phrase, which loosely translates to, “It is definitely going to shock them,” was popularised by its creator Olorunyomi Oloruntimilehin, professionally known as Bad Boy Timz.

Bad Boy Timz

The catch phrase “O shock won bakan!” held the Nigerian music scene spellbound in 2019. The phrase, which loosely translates to, “It is definitely going to shock them,” was popularised by its creator Olorunyomi Oloruntimilehin, professionally known as Bad Boy Timz. It chaperoned the slew of party jams that spiralled the singer to widespread fame, including mega hits such as his Olamide-assisted Loading, the Teni-assisted MJ, among others. 

Just like his mantra, Timz’ rise to fame has been jaw dropping and impressive to watch. After a rocky fallout with his former label, the young musician returned as an independent singer last year, setting up his own imprint dubbed, Shock Absorbers Music. Since then, Timz has gone on to steadily prove his mettle with more hit songs, including his recently released bops dubbed, Move and Oasis. 

With Timz, every new record is an opportunity to promote his evergreen philosophy of clinging to the euphemistic side of life. For him, it’s all about letting go of troubles and just getting into the groove of reality. And that’s exactly what endears his fanbase – a broad mix of rural and urban audiences – to his music.

His harmonious strain of street pop, pulsating with harmonious percussion, is effortlessly a party favourite. And it is this notoriety that has equally battery-powered his sophomore EP dubbed, No Bad Boy, No Party.  

Ahead of the EP’s release, which is expected to drop later this year, Bad Boy Timz sat with Guardian Music, winding down memory lane on growing up in the footsteps of his father, the lead singer of an acclaimed Tungba band dubbed, Baba T International; making music with his father; surviving a near-death experience; surviving as an independent artiste; as well as finessing his discography as the live wire of every party. 

In the spirit of shocking everybody, Bad Boy Timz is back again. What keeps you going?
I THINK my drive is the fact that I could have died once, so why should I let my talent die, do you understand? If it doesn’t work out now, it will definitely still work out later.

When I was younger, I survived an assassination attempt; I got shot in the face. So, that’s why this eye always looks like this, because the bullet affected the eye. That part of the eye is still affected.
Glad you survived. It’s no news that you have a new project coming up. How long have you been working on it?

Some songs on the project are dated back as far as 2020. There are some songs that I made this year and in 2019. For four years now, it’s just a compilation of my struggles, enjoyments and the hurdles I‘ve had to jump. So, that’s what the album is all about- songs from 2019 till date.

Are you done recording or you’re still touching things up?
I’m still recording. I feel like there’s still one more gbedu that I need to add to make this project complete, you understand.

What should people expect from the project?
I feel like the project title itself is self-explanatory- No Bad Boy, No Party. It’s a statement like, ‘Yo, it’s enjoyment from the beginning to the end of the project.’ It’s a project that has a strong replay value. It’s a project that stands out because I am not an artiste that has just one sound.

I sit down on Afrobeat. Like, Afrobeat is my language, and Nigeria is my country. “Afrobeat is my language, Nigeria na my country, na trap, I trap trap soul, a rap game, omo I damage.” That’s the lyric of the first track on the project. The title of the track is The Birth of A New King- produced by Magicsticks.

How do you feel about the project, especially as we are counting down?
I’m very excited. As long as there’s progress on my own side, I don’t really care how much progress anyone else is making. As long as I can feed my fans with good music, and also see them, not the audio fans, I’m good. Everywhere I go, it’s always ‘Timz, where’s the album?’ Even down to the agberos. You can see those videos everywhere on my social media. I always make sure that my team gets videos of all those things, from different hoods.

I’ve been going round Lagos and Nigeria for a reason. I want them to be familiar with the face, and brand as well. So, by the time the project is dropping, it is just more of ‘Omo, I’m supporting my guy,’ not the case of, ‘I’m supporting a celebrity,’ you understand what I mean.

You recently started your own label. How’s the journey been for you?
Actually, my former label and I reached an agreement; I’m paying them some sort of agreement. I mean, there’s no bad blood and I don’t really send them. I just don’t have the time. I’m just worried about myself, my growth. I’m not worried about what has happened in the past, I’m just moving ahead.

You’ve been growing and you seem to remain dedicated to street pop; is that a niche you want to stick with? 
I guess maybe it’s because of the environment I grew up in; the kind of people I grew up around with or the kind of things I’ve seen. I don’t really calculate these things; I just enter the studio and speak my mind. I say things the way I feel; I don’t necessarily write like bar for bar before I record. I just lay down my melodies and then I put lyrics that are relatable to my people; lyrics that they don’t have to check the dictionary before they understand.

Your recent song, Skelele, is going to feature on the new FIFA ‘23 video game. How did that happen? 
Apparently, you know my distribution company is Empire. FIFA requested for a list of songs, and Skelele was there. Move was on the list, but they didn’t pick Move; they picked Skelele for a reason. I made that song; it was like a distress song. I had my girlfriend at the time, you know, something happened between us. Everything I said in that song is real life; no be cap.

Some people didn’t like the song when it dropped, but the song has given me one of the biggest bags in my career. And it’s not even my most streamed song. I think Skelele is like my fifth. My most streamed song is Move, then Have Fun.

Names are significant and some people feel it affects their personalities. Why did you go with ‘Bad Boy Timz?’ 
Okay. Timz is a combination of two of my names- Timilehin and Timothy. The Bad Boy initially was like an extra effizy to it, but the name started affecting my behaviour. I just felt like this name came around for a reason and I’m not dropping it; I’m not thinking twice.

And at the time, my record label team members were the ones that just said I should add Bad Boy to it. I actually loved the idea and I’m like, ‘yeah, I’m a bad boy now, so what next.’ And since that time, I’ve been doing bad things.

Do you mean in a good way or in the true sense of being bad? 
How do you do bad things in a good way? I’m bad in all senses. I don’t do the worst things, but just like a bad boy. The girls know me, I’m a bad boy; the guys love my music; it makes me a bad guy, do you understand?

How is your relationship with your family right now?
My family is awesome. I love my dad; he makes music. I love my mum; she takes care of us. We are all boys and a girl. So, like she’s always spoiling the boys, taking care of my sister. My family is good.

Have you ever collaborated with your dad?
Yeah, definitely! My dad is meant to be on the first track on the project, but he doesn’t have time; he’s a busy man. He’s too busy for me sef! He doesn’t even necessarily have to sing; he should just say something.

You remember that song by me and Zlaran’s song on my first EP? My dad was the co-writer. Sometimes when I’m stuck in the studio and I feel like it’s something that he can help with, I always call him.

So, he helped you get started with making music?
No, he didn’t even know I was making music. I was in the university and I dropped that cover freestyle to Davido’s If. And his friends from all over the world were just sending him links from Facebook. ‘See your son doing twenty million views on Facebook. Abi omo yin ko le leyi, bla bla bla.’ They still didn’t believe it until I called them one day and I showed them that I won five awards from my university, like five awards in one night. So, they just had no choice but to support; they are my biggest support system.

Who were your influences when you were starting music, and what did you want to sound like when you started?
Initially when I started, people used to say O tin ma korin Wizkid ju, because I used to listen to a lot of Wizkid’s songs. When Wizkid was going to drop Holla at Your Boy, I was watching TV, like a premier. That was the first time I saw Wizkid and I was like, ‘who is this guy?’ Fresh swag, fresh guy. I feel like, if not, 90 per cent of people in my generation grew up loving Wizkid a lot. So, Wizkid, Davido; I love him a lot as well. I used to listen to a lot of Mo’Hits. Asa; I love her first album.

So, the love was there from the start?
Yeah. When I was in primary six, my teacher would complain saying, ‘You no dey ever sabi timetable, but when they drop songs like this, you go don sabi all the lyrics.’

I’ve always known that I wanted to make music. I feel like the clearest sign I saw was my first freestyle; the first ever-freestyle video I made that went viral. Even though it didn’t go viral on my page, it went viral on someone else’s page and tag Olamide. And Olamide just re-tweeted it from there and boom, I was forced to record the song.

Immediately Olamide re-tweeted it, I saw people coming to my hostel door. Like ‘guy, you know say Olamide don re-tweet your video o, you must record this song.’ For that same night, dem carry me go studio go record the song.

And it became an anthem in my school. That was also the time Mayorkun broke out with Dremo and co. So, they were doing a campus tour. The social directors in school made sure Mayorkun and the DMW guys were in the building before I performed.

When I performed that song, everywhere scattered. They had to come check like, ‘which superstar dey perform for here?’ From that point, I was like the biggest artiste in my school. I dropped singles back to back. I would even go to other universities to perform, like UNILAG, and other different places like that. So, that was how it started for me.

On this record, No Bad Boy, No Party, who are we expecting, what are the major collaborations?
Olamide is on the project; Zlantan is also on the project. There’s also another international artiste on the project, but I want to keep it on the low. I have like four options for now and I’m still weighing them. I don’t want to mention anything that may eventually not be on the project, you understand.

While creating this album, what were some of your most memorable moments?
One of the memorable moments was when I was recording the last track on the project, titled Igboro. That song explains my story from the hood into fame, into the issues that happened with the label. So, I hold that song very dearly. When you hear it, you will understand. I didn’t say much but I said a lot.

So, what’s the bigger plan, what’s next after the album?
I’m actually starting my tour; I’m going to the US, the UK and Dubai.

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