Today we’d like to introduce you to Ayodeji Lapite.
Ayodeji, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Started in the hall way of my high school in Brooklyn, Clara Barton High School. I was always the guy singing in the hallway, singing for crowds, dancing like Chris Brown, using my fitted hats to do tricks and also participated in a couple of talent shows… God Ol’ days. After graduating High School and going into College at the State University at Buffalo (UB), I met a guy, TriniRudeBoi who was a DJ. We became very close friends and partners and that’s when my love for music grew to a whole different level. I became so addicted to music that I became a fan of every genre. Soca and Reggae was my favorite during that time as my friend a very dope Caribbean DJ. We went on tours together, went to different schools and we had different types of gigs, Concert, Club Parties, DJ Clashes and many more. After graduating UB, I linked with my high school friends and we made a group called “Marvelle Empire”. Under this platform was when I released my first track titled “Ka Lojo” (Lets Go Dance). It dazzled the city, created a buzz and the rest was history. Chief Dejjy is now a household name in the AfroBeat scene in New York City and its surroundings.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing worth having would come as easy as you might like. Being a creative is a very expensive thing, especially being an artist. The biggest issue most artists have is financial. And for me that was and still is an issue I still battle with. From studio time, to making and/or purchasing beats, to paying for mixing and mastering and paying for promotion of the track. It all trickles down to FINANCES. That’s is an issue I feel every artist faces especially if you have no backings and you are an independent artist like myself. It gets really hard but for the love and passion I have for Music, I do what i have to do. Work 9-5 Monday through Friday to face my financial challenges and weekends and any time after five is for music and everything else.
Another form of struggle I had coming up was knowing my fan base and knowing what the people around me wants to hear. I was at one point in my career labelled as a “Yoruba Artist”. Yoruba is a native language in Nigeria. I really enjoy making music in my Yoruba Dialect, but for some reason, it did not resonate well with the type of crowd and fan base in NYC, so that was also a battle I had to overcome and try to get out my comfort zone, though still singing in my native language, but now I am able to add more English and other languages so I am able to appeal to a broader fan base, which I think I am now doing as you can tell with my first official single, VIDEO CALL prod. P Loops which is the first official single of my upcoming EP titled “The Re-Birth”.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up being the last child for seven years till my parents decided to bring another human being to the world. LOL. But growing up was amazing. Lived with my parents alongside by three siblings, two sisters and a brother. I’m the 3rd of 4 children and sometimes I believe I’m everyone’s favorite child. Growing up my siblings and multiple cousins I didn’t really need friends so I barely had friends besides a select few which I still talk and keep relationship with till this day. I was always the playful out going child. Wanted to go everywhere, explore different things, go to church and play the drum set, sing in the choir, join the drama team in school and so on. I was very outgoing and yet very stubborn, always go in trouble with my mom. Now she likes my favorite person in the world.
Contact Info:
- Address: 51 Clifton Avenue #307 Newark NJ 07104
- Website: www.aameg.com
- Phone: 3473854512
- Email: chiefdejjy@gmail.com
- Instagram: instaram.com/chiefdejjy
- Twitter: twitter.com/Chiefdejjy
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