Reminisce (musician)

Reminisce
Background information
Birth name	Remilekun Abdulkalid Safaru
Born	Lagos, Nigeria
Genres	Hip hop Rap Afrobeats
Occupation(s)	Singer, rapper, song-writer, Record Label Owner
Years active	2008–present
Labels	EDGE Records
Associated acts	Olamide Ice Prince M.I Indomix Sean Tizzle IllBliss

Remilekun Abdulkalid Safaru, known by his stage names Reminisce and ALAGA IBILE, is a Nigerian singer, rapper, and songwriter from Ogun State. He performs in both English and his native language, Yoruba.^[1]

In the English language, the name Reminisce means to indulge in the enjoyable recollection of past events, and the first four letters are a shortened form of the name Remilekun.

Introduction

Reminisce (Alaga Ibile) is a Nigerian household name, a musical icon amongst today’s youth, and an internationally recognized artiste. Reminisce is a versatile (singer, rapper and a songwriter) Nigerian artiste from Ajilete, Yewa South LGA in Ogun state, western part of Nigeria. He was born on the 26th of January, in Kaduna state in Northern Nigeria. In school he listened to various genres of local and foreign music, and performed in school activities. He developed his rapping skills by emulating rappers like Nas, Jay Z and Snoop Dogg. He studied purchasing and supply at Kwara State Polytechnic.

Reminisce is a well-loved Brand Ambassador for SAMSUNG and ORIJIN,^[2] a popular herb and liquor cocktail produced by Diageo plc in Africa .

Music career

As far back as when he was in secondary school, Reminisce was already performing at various school activities; hardly knowing he was on a path to great things. He always wanted to be a rapper, and he developed his rap skills by listening to, and mimicking major rap legends. Producer ID Cabasa discovered Reminisce alongside other Nigerian music great such as Jahbless, 9ice, Lord Of Ajasa and Olamide. He was given the chance to record his first studio song in 2006 and recorded a hardcore rap album at Coded Tunes, but the album was never released and he decided to focus on his studies and complete schooling.

In 2008 Reminisce returned to the music scene, performing a rap verse on a track titled “Bachelor’s Life” off 9ice’s sophomore album titled “Gongo Aso”. His first single, “Ever since”, featured 9ice, and was a story about his life till that moment. His second, “If Only”, was a love song produced by Dtunez, where he showed his versatility as singer and a rapper. Both songs established Reminisce in the Nigerian music scene.

REMINISCE is signed to Edge Records and is also the founder and creative director of LRR Records. Growing up listening to various genres of local and foreign music helped form Reminisce’s versatile musical style.

In 2014, TIME Magazine named REMINISCE “one of the seven World Rappers You Should Meet”.^[3]

He was also named by Nigeria’s largest music site, NOTJUSTOK, as one of the top three hip hop artists of 2014. ^[4]

Book Of Rap Stories

Reminisce's first album, Book Of Rap Stories, was released on 31 March 2012. He started recording the album since 2010 after linking up with the studio producer Sarz at Edge Records Studios. The studio allowed him to carve a niche for himself and make the album bilingual.

He went on to release the track Kako Bii Chicken, a commercial song which is recognized as the breakout single. After this, other songs like 'If Only', '2mussh' were released. The album was a 13-track album with production credits to Sarz, Legendury Beatz, Joshbeatz, Jospo and PastorChild, The album did well commercially in the southern part of Nigeria.^[5]

ALAGA IBILE

His second album, ALAGA IBILE, was officially released on 15 November 2013. The album featured acts like wizkid, naeto c, davido, olamide and Sossick. It was an instant breakthrough album, with hit singles like Eleniyan, featuring Wizkid, Fela Daddy featuring Davido, Fantasi and 3rd World Thug. Sossick, who produced 80% of the album, and Reminisce also worked with Sarz, chopstix and Jospo.^[6]

The album sold an estimated million copies before the end of 2014.^[7] In 2014, Time Magazine named Reminisce as one of seven "world rappers you should meet".^[8]

Alaga Ibile Album art

Baba Hafusa

Reminisce's third album, Baba Hafusa, was released in 2015. The Baba Hafusa Album project has already broken barriers and charted unknown territories. Just recently, Reminisce became the only hip hop artist in all of Africa to have an album debut on Billboard Charts World Music category at no. 12. ^[9]

With over 500,000 copies sold in Nigeria in 2 weeks and the album claiming the number one spot in iTunes for more than a week – The Baba Hafusa album is already arguably as one of the most successful hip hop albums in Nigerian history.

Already described as a “genre busting album”, it is a strong contender for album of the year with music critics and fans alike applauding the fusion of sounds to form a unique blend of hip hop, fuji and afrobeats. ^[10]

Reminisce-Baba-Hafusa-Official-Artwork

Discography

Studio albums

• Book Of Rap Stories (2012) ^[5]
• ALAGA IBILE (2013) ^[7]
• Baba Hafusa (2015) ^[10]
• El Hadj (2016)

Singles

• One Chance^[11]
• Ever Since ft 9ice^[5]
• If Only^[12]
• Kako Bii Chicken^[13]
• 2musshh^[14]
• Fantasi^[15]
• Government ft Olamide, Endia^[16]
• Daddy ft Davido^[17]
• Eleniyan ft Wizkid^[18]
• Turn It Around^[19]
• Tesojue^[20]
• "Local Rappers"
• Skilashi
• Kpomo (Remix) Feat. Lil Kesh, CDQ, Falz, Seriki^[21]
• Angelina ^[22]

Videography

Features and collaborations

• ASHEWO Performed by Phenom (2013)
• SHEKPE Performed by M.I(2014)
• KING KONG [REMIX] Performed by Vector (2015)
• "69 Missed Call" Ft Jahbless, Chinko Ekun, Lil Kesh, Olamide, CDQ, Reminisce

References

External links

• Reminisce on Twitter
  
• Reminisce on Instagram
• Reminisce on Facebook