My Story
Enebeli Ezekiel, better known as Zieke, is an emerging rap power house whose kind of music speaks of his uncommon craft and excellence. With rap inspiration from Eminem and Sarkodie, he is one growing talent to look out for. He tells Tosin Clegg about his father’s disapproval of his tilt towards music and his love for rap music
What kind of music do you do?
I do hip hop and afro pop. With the emergence of the shaku shaku legwork type of vibes, I kind of found my craft craving towards such musical genre to better spice up my works and serve music lovers the current trend of music.
Challenges so far?
I started rapping from Junior Secondary and from that time till I finished secondary school, I wasn’t really serious with it; I just did it for fun. But, after I finished secondary school, I met with a guy while I was freestyling, so we did freestyle together and exchanged numbers. When my parents discovered I was doing music they were mad at me. My dad threatened not to sponsor my education if I continued with music and at that point I had to stop, which was my first major challenge. My second major challenge was money-raising.
What’s the extra spice you put into your work?
I try as much as possible to do my best anytime I have a chance to freestyle or work on a song. I am different in the sense that I rap with the aim of passing a message to the audience or listeners and to also make it cool and general so anybody can like and listen to it. For instance, when I release a song I expect it to relate to everyone. I don’t want it to relate to a particular sect and that’s why I rap using English and Pidgin so everyone can understand and flow with me.
Who are your role models and mentors?
I respect Eminem so much, as his kind of rap is inspiring and motivating. He can be controversial sometimes, but I love his music. When it comes to Africa, it’s Sarkodie and his flows are dope.
