Nigerian singer Ikuforiji Olaitan, famously known as Oxlade, disclosed that he used to sleep under the bridge in the Ojuelegba after running away from home.
He recently guest starred in the latest episode of the Afrobeats podcast with Adesope live. There, he spoke about his music and his humble beginning as a newbie trying to break into the music scene.
“My dad, not just my dad but everyone in my family said I had to get a 9-5 because you no fit use this music. Because of that, I ran away from the house,” he said.
Describing his survival method during that time, the songwriter noted that sometimes he would alert the local merchants about his presence under the bridge where he’d sleep so that he won’t be taken as an intruder. And on other days, he’d pass three nights at his friend’s houses to have a roof over his head.
In his words, “Back then, I used to sleep at Ojuelegba barrack bridge sometimes and sometimes I would spend 3 days in my friend’s house and if the see finish is too much, I would go to the bridge. There’s a firefighting station right next to the bridge where I used to enter the bridge.”
Oxlade detailed his routine living in Ojuelegba which included selling bus tickets to BRT passengers and serving food to customers in a plaza, and other menial jobs in order to make ends meet.
He said, “So basically having to leave the house unprecedentedly changed my life because that’s when I understood the meaning of the word ‘hustle’ I was selling BRT tickets at the same barracks.”
