MR MAYD… RETURN OF THE SUREBOY2 min read

There are only a handful of African artistes who can combine singing and dancing as impressively as Akinmayokun Awodunmila, who is better known as MrMayD. As he performed his hit songs, Ile Ijo, Ibadi, among others, at this year’s Felabration festival, which ended recently, the atmosphere at the New Afrika Shrine was fraught with nostalgia and excitement.

His flexible dance moves, especially his quick-paced footwork, caught the eyes of the entire crowd who were chanting the lyrics of his songs that are nearly a decade old. It was a beautiful reminder of the fine talent that is Mr MayD.

1. Like a stroke of luck or unusual coincidence, the 37-year-old singer began trending last week on the emerging social media platform, TikTok, where his song, Ibadi, has gone viral after nine years of its release.For the former Square Records act, it’s a marathon of new achievements, especially his just-released EP dubbed, Sureboy. The 7-track project signals his first offering under the Davido Music Worldwide (DMW) records.
2. How did you get the name?
3. I was listening to a song on the radio and I heard something similar to that; it made sense to me. So, I decided to just use it as a slogan. Funnily, it wasn’t meant to be a slogan; I just used it for a song called Ile Ijo, and since then, the name just stuck.

Between when you sang Ile Ijo and now, do you feel your music has changed?

My music, I don’t think will change, but times have. With time, you get new productions. There has to be an advance. Technology is advancing; we have to advance with it.

You worked with Peruzzi and Davido on this project, was it deliberate keeping the features in-house?

It wasn’t actually deliberate; I just have no time for trying to caress someone for collaboration. It is either we get to it or we don’t. If you aren’t ready, I am ready to move on to the next person that is ready. If you are not ready, then the chemistry is not there.

Do you still feel loved by your colleagues?

Love is love. If you have love for someone, it never really dies. As long as you remind them of what it was, it is what it is.

Do you have any game plan now?

I really don’t have any; I am just a singer that loves to dance and create music. The game plan now is Confam Entertainment and 30BG; that is the way forward. We just want to keep dropping new music and topping charts, doing what we do best.

So, what were you exactly doing between the time you left Square Records and getting signed with DMW?

I was actually dropping music then, but I was just not in the country; I was not on the scene. Being on the scene means being in Nigeria. My real fans know that I was dropping music. I was in Sweden then with my family; I have a wife in Sweden, but we are divorced now. I have a son there too.

Sources: The gaudian.ng