Meet Dozzybeat, the rising Nigerian musician [Future Sounds Interview]

In an interview with Dozzybeat, a fast-rising Nigerian-Canadian rapper born Chidozie Okeke and the September cover of Pulse Nigeria’s Future Sounds playlist, he discusses his love of music, ambitions, growth, and the challenges that come with it.

Talking about how he stumbled on music, he said, “I’ve always I’ve always loved music from high school, but just my passion for it was more of listening to, you know, just vibing music, listen to music whenever I can, you know, back in high school days, making drum beats and table and just rapping and doing music. That’s not my passion.”

His desire to create music and tell his own story, according to the next-rated, arose during the COVID lockdown. He simply picked up his laptop, browsed the web, and discovered music production softwares, which launched him into music production.

He discussed his first single and the role his brother plays in career as a musician. “I just decided to kind of put more effort into it and just download, um, get a laptop, download the beat making app, and it started making it and then I kind of link to my brother as well, just back to back,” he said.

In his words, his single ‘My Life’ captured his frame of mind after the passing on of his father. “And then I put my first single out, which is my life was kind of had a little monitor to it because I lost my dad at that point. So I was like, you know, I had to do something to kind of help me. But the night my dad passed away and then just kind of shout out to him in a way. So that’s single was kind of my first song that I put out, which was kind of show my respect to him,” he added.

We talked about his message, style, and brand. Dozzybeat reveals that he is more of a chameleon when it comes to his vibe and what he tries to showcase with his music. In his words “I’m I’m more of a chameleon.” “I don’t have [a vibe]” he continued.

“I don’t have one particular style [that] I think I want to stick to. I [could] wake up tomorrow morning and I decide to do a lot of rapping and drill. I [could] wake up today and I want to do a lot of Afrobeat and I do love Afrobeat or Amapiano, whatever I’m feeling. It’s kind of what it’s spiritual for me. So wherever the music spirit is pushing me towards or leading me to, that’s what I’m going to do. I don’t have a particular style.”

He went on to discuss his challenges as an indie which according to him is the funds to run his promotions.

“It’s really fucking expensive. The most expensive part of making music is promotion, because if you don’t promote it properly, people don’t hear it and those people will try. This promotion are very expensive and I don’t blame them. It’s a business. I get it. But it’s really, really expensive being able to put yourself out there. It’s one of the biggest challenges you can ever face getting your music heard because you might have a beautiful song [but] If people don’t hear it, it’s a problem, then don’t really notice your beautiful song,” he tells Pulse.

He discussed his plans to collaborate with Blaqbonez in order to be creative and know how to get people’s attention. Dozzybeats lists him as one of his favorite artists.

Talking about his plans, he drops an exclusive. He also talked about his next single dropping next month. In his words, “So I have an EP with my brother that’s going to come out soon, maybe next year. It’s called ‘Vibes and Inshallah.’ So that’s basically what I’m doing with music. I’m just vibing and by God’s grace, whatever happens, happen. So literally writing, inshallah, whatever God decides will happen to me.”

About his career, Dozzy claims he is out to create music and allow God handle what happens next in his career. “I’m just going to create music. I’m just blessed to enjoy the vibe and just put the Bible. So that’s kind of what that mixtape is going to be, inshallah. So basically that’s how I do everything. I just write. I leave it up to God,” he added