by Ifreke Inyang

You may have read somewhere on Facebook or Twitter that the rapture will take place on the 21st of May 2011, but for L.A.G.O.S (acronym for Learning and grinding on the street), that’s the day he will drop his new mix tape titled RAPture. Of course, it is not hard to see that he has seized the initiative and played on the pun quite smartly.  He however explicitly told us what to expect. “The concept behind the RAPture is movement to greatness.  It is not about the movement of people to heaven,” he says with a wry smile. “RAPture is an EP that has five songs on it. The songs include ‘What I need’; a soulful rap track, ‘Shake it’, a dance song; ‘Miss Naija’ and ‘L.A.G.O.S’. I am yet to decide on the fifth song though. I think I’ll have to conduct a poll of which of the songs from my previous mix tape the fans would like. All the songs were produced by Coldplay.”

Born Oluwashina Akinola, L.A.G.O.S has been in the background for a while. “I have been writing rap verses since 1999. I learnt how to pen them when I was in Lagos Model College, Igbonla. I recorded a demo and tried to get some airplay, but as at that time, it wasn’t possible,” he recalls. It must have been the reason why he abandoned music for a while after he gained admission into a higher institution of learning. “I got admission to study Business Administration and my passion for music kind of faded then,” he confesses. It didn’t take long for it to catch up with him again. “After I graduated, I got a job as a graphics designer with an advertising agency. It was there I met other artistes in the course of my work and this sort of reignited my passion. I started recording songs again then.”

It was at this point that his career took off. “In 2008, I left my job with the advertising company and in 2009, I decided I wasn’t going to work for anybody. I dropped Street Grammar and it got me a few fans and followers. It was from that point I started getting a few shows here and there. My career started moving well because I got more involved with industry folks and started getting people to manage me.” His big break almost came when he had contact with Olisa Adibua but it didn’t quick work out then. “There was a time Olisa Adibua contacted me on behalf of Storm Records. He said they needed new artistes. I sent some songs to him online but I didn’t hear from them again.”

It didn’t discourage him though. He has been relentless in his pursuit and that’s how he has gotten here. Little wonder he is ready to take the next step. “This is going to be my last free project. The mix tape ‘LagosWuzEre’ was the first free project I did. And the aim was to draw reactions from people. As soon as they started coming in, I realized that I got some things right and I didn’t get some right.” He has gotten them right and he is ready to take on the world. “All the songs have already been recorded. It is now with the engineers that are mixing and mastering it,” the Abeokuta indigene who is also a Graphics artist and Tattoos designer says.  So, mark the name, mark the date. Even if the rumoured rapture happens, he says, “If it does happen, I’m sure people that will be left behind will be jamming to the songs!”

Oluwapelumi