Time, chance, Asake and Mr Money With The Vibes

Earlier in the year, I saw a tweet quoted by one of Nigeria’s finest minds at the moment, Tunde Onakoya. What he quoted read, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”

And in what’s one of the most powerful speeches I’ve ever read, Onakoya wrote something I found impressive and true. Everything that meant anything around me pointed to the reality of his words and it struck me in a very pleasing, yet different manner.

“And in those quiet years when nothing happens, and no one is cheering for you, don’t stop building capacity and competence.

“So that when your decade in a week happens, you’ll be ready for it.” I’ve read many things, but this probably rang to me the loudest. So much that I had to frame it.

Without a doubt, decades happen in a week, and a week happens in decades. What people do all their lives may be concluded and rewarded in seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks. My first experience of the polarity, yet relation between work and results was in my first year in school.

After reading tens of books and spending the longest time I ever have in a library, those CBT exams took only 30 minutes, and what became of those exams may have impacted greatly on what is becoming of me today. Four months for preparation, 30 minutes for the exam and a lifetime for what you make of it, and that’s how that cycle keeps going.

Enter Asake.

Àsakè strikes one as a woman’s name. When the man behind that name was unveiled, there was an instant human crave to know what he is actually about. That period could change everything in his career. Imagine a male musician just coming out and calling himself ‘Sandra’. The instant response is why? And something substantial and wonderful has to greet that rarity. That’s by the way.

When Asake was signed to YBNL in February, nobody (except himself) could have predicted the run he’s having. With every hit song, it felt like it was the end. Complaints over his overflogging of the Amanpiano erupted but he blocked that negativity and focused on his art. That’s some heart.

Today in Nigeria, there’s probably no newly-blown musician who has had the run he is currently having. Not even the bigwigs of the industry. It’s time and chance.

The Obafemi Awolowo University graduate said he begged Olamide for two years to sign him on his label. It would take a lot of conviction but when Baddo found that sauce, he keyed into the vibe. Not new to fresh, excellent discoveries, Asake is not the archetypal Nigerian musical hitman. Something beyond the books will explain his ascent better.

The shyness that comes with a supposed newbie was absent and he was a star that was made before his making. He looked completely comfortable in his new status and “I just blow but I know my set” in Asalamalaykum explains this. He could have seen this moment coming, or not. But he prepared for it.

Hits upon hits, songs upon songs, vibes on vibes, Asake has retold a story of immense possibilities if preparation is set. His story and rise beats graphical analysis. It’s louder than what data can suggest, and it is an eponym in its right. In the future, it won’t be strange to hear things like, he’s going on an “Asake run” to describe a consistently convincing, faultless, spotless, seemingly unstoppable run.

Mr. Money With The Vibe has gotten the world grooving. More than the allure of those properly-delivered songs, it is grace speaking. When preparation meets grace, one may have an Asake kind of run. Seven months at the top level and the charts are torn for his coming. It’s such a surrealistic story that wakes the dying consciousness of hardworking people.

When a great body of work as Asake’s album can be met with such acceptance after such a short grand entrance, then it’s clearly inspiring to the person out there still waiting for his week after decades, after all Asake has been singing “since dem sing Gongo Aso”. And that’s a long waiting time, you’ll agree.

The world is about time and chance, and those who prepare for the great culmination of their toil will have a smile at the end. It may take so long, but when you look around you, it’s not as long as you think it is. Don’t stop, keep working.