Singer and entrepreneur Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade, popularly known as Mr. Eazi, has explained why he refused to join record labels of Olamide’s YBNL Nation and ace American singer Akon’s younger brother, Abou “Bu” Thiam, the executive vice president of Columbia Records.

According to Mr. Eazi, the duo reached out to him separately to join their record labels when he began his music career but he declined because he hadn’t figured out what he was doing and also wanted his “freedom”.

He spoke in the latest episode of the Afrobeats Intelligence Podcast hosted by Joey Akan.

He said: “I remember going for ‘Ghana Meets Naija’ in Ghana. And that was where I met Olamide. He tried to sign me to his record label. He offered me a deal. Somebody else had also tried to sign me. Bu (Abou Thiam), Akon’s brother, was the first person who tried to sign me.

“I declined because then I hadn’t even figured out what I was doing. It was too early to sign. So, I didn’t sign with Bu.

“When Olamide gave me a deal, I knew that I hadn’t totally understood the business or what I was even doing so I declined. Everything was just happening so fast. One thing I knew was that I wanted my freedom.”

Mr Eazi also revealed in the interview that Jay-Z’s record label, ROC Nation, wanted to sign his hit song ‘Skin Tight’ but Wizkid “told me to do the deal only if they offer life-changing money”.

”In reality to where I was in my life, the money they offered would have been interpreted as life changing money. But to me because of where I thought I was going, I didn’t think it was life changing money. So, I didn’t accept the deal,” he added. (Via The Nation)