He started as the kid with a black Sony disc-man and a backpack full of CDs, staying back in class after school, writing songs on every topic he could possibly come up with.
By the time he was in SS2, Eclipse – born Nkasiobi Chukwu in Kaduna – had recorded his first song and performed at his schools socials night. Going by the rush he got from being on stage performing and watching people cheer, he was sure he wanted to do music for many more years.
“I remember having to burn that one song into 100 blank CDs and selling them for N100 per copy in school. For a young lad from Abia state whose family was living in Lagos at the time while i schooled in F.G.C Abuja, I guess that was the beginning of the music hustle for me.”
Over time, he has been influenced by certain people in different ways and names hisfather, Kanye West, M.I and Eldee among his role models.
“I say my Dad because he is one person who I know is hard working, principled and resilient. These are virtues that I try to inculcate in my life, on the other hand we have Kanye West, M.I and Eldee who are all artistes and music producers. It’s safe to say that their careers helped motivate me musically,” he said.
Eclipse has a new EP out called City of Dreams. It is a project he describes as the soundtrack to the story of a young man’s encounters with love, loss, peer pressure, and spirituality in a city which represents the road to success but most of all it shows that even with all the obstacles life presents, dreams our still very attainable. “These are expressed with nine tracks all telling the same story from different angles,” he explains.
One of the songs, Salamalekun 2.0, is a collaboration with M.I. It is a remix to a previous song. According to Eclipse, M.I heard him performing at Industry Nite, and said he liked the song. “I asked if he would like us to work on a remix and he said yes.”
Eclipse explains the song making process. “It took about three studio sessions. First we met up and just listened to the song and shared ideas on how to improve on it. This was when we decided to add a chorus. The second time we recorded our verses and the third session was used to perfect the mixing and mastering.”
Eclipse is grateful for his association with Aboriginal Music. “I got signed to Aboriginal Music in 2012 after a short meeting with the CEO who had heard about me from the then ongoing “Nokia don’t break the beat” competition.
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“Fast-forward to 2016 I must say It has most definitely been a life changing experience and believe me, as much as it is nice to be an independent artiste who only worries about making music, one cannot truly grow without the push, support, pressure, occasional burden and exposure that comes with being signed to a label.”
