Previously signed to Wizkid’s record label Starboy, Nigerian hitmaker L.A.X began his music career sticking around and observing quietly. He links up with ASBO to discuss his humble beginnings and his plans to make music that everyone can fall in love with.
On a pale and freezing day, cold enough that you can’t feel your toes when you walk, we meet Nigerian born-and-raised Afrobeats artist L.A.X. He steps into a hidden corner of Bayswater, at the top floor of a small Mediterranean coffee shop wearing a rather summery sleeveless shirt with sunglasses. It’s not warm, its not even bright, but yes, sunglasses – because only cool people get away with wearing sunglasses when you’re not supposed to.
“My real name is Damilola Afolabi, I’m an Afrobeats artist, very cool person, don’t like
struggle, don’t like stress. That’s just me man.” He lets out a cheeky laugh, and just like that,
the vibes have instantly changed from a formal interview to a friendly catch up. Beginning his music career at a young age, L.A.X was known as ‘that short guy’ who would stand and observe from the corner of a small studio in his hometown in Lagos State. But
after a lot of observing and sticking around more experienced musicians, the curious and
amused Afolabi gave the music thing a go, only to discover that there was huge potential
hidden, the type of potential that could evolve into something grand.
“I never did music till I was fifteen or sixteen. I used to go to the studio with my friends and just be there, present. I was never recording, but one day I went to the studio, and some guy who was there at the time said, “Oi you, the short guy, why are you always at the studio?” and I told him “I just like sticking around.” So I did a little freestyle that day, and everybody in there just went nuts. They loved it. From then on, I started recording, and now, you know, I’m here.”
Before becoming hitmaker L.A.X, 16-year-old Afolabi would spend his lunch breaks hanging
out at the studio, building his confidence, searching for his sound, and recording songs within three-man group ‘Flyboiz’. “So, what about ‘Flyboiz’?” I asked him. A smile surfaces immediately as we travel back to his secondary school years, a period that helped build the
foundations of a successful music career. “It was just me and two of my friends going to the studio every day. My two friends were going to the studio right before me, and one day we just started doing music together. We’d have a little break and that’s how we formed the
group. Right after that I came to the UK for my undergrad and my masters, it felt right for me
to continue doing music solo. So I learned from them and that helped me transition into making music by myself. Now I can fully say that I’m able to stand alone.”
Once establishing himself as a solo artist, the name ‘L.A.X’ came along, an abbreviation of
‘live and excel,’ which is pretty much a summary of Afolabi’s musical journey. The singer is
currently sitting on 1.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with his most popular song ‘Sempe’ having received over 25 million streams. His most recent release, ZaZa Vibes, blends the essence of genres including Afrobeats, Afropop, Fuji and the progressively popular South African genre Amapiano to create something that is truly versatile and allows listeners to enjoy both dance music and introspective songs all in one project. Discussing his style of music and what he wishes to do in his artistic career, L.A.X expresses that he’s a ‘sweet boy’ who makes ‘sweet music,’ the type of music that will make you fall in love again and again every time you stream it.
“I always make sure that the beat in every song is very sweet. The instrumentals are very, very sweet. I’m in love with guitars, because I feel like it makes the sound very global and very romantic for people to love to listen to. I’m trying to do music that if you listen in 10 or 20 years you will still love it and will still fall in love with it. I gather my inspiration from the instrumental; guitars, sax, keyboard, anything that just makes a sound that is pleasing to the ear.”
Not only does he wish to conquer the hearts of Afrobeat lovers, but L.A.X’s ambition and true purpose is to connect with as many listeners around the world as he’s able to. “Ever since starting my music career, I’ve always been somebody that doesn’t like to do the same thing, because I feel like I need to branch out and get new fans. For example, my song ‘Sempe’ is big in Colombia, and it’s also big in France, and that’s because I’m trying to infuse sounds together. ‘Go Low,’ one of my other songs, is big in South Africa, is big in Kenya. So, I make sure that I infuse a lot of sounds together, I’m even trying to do songs with Korean and Arabian artists, just to branch out and do something completely different and brand new.”
Although making experimental music is an ongoing trend right now, L.A.X is one of the artists in the Afrobeat community wishing to act as a cupid and do whatever it takes to make the world fall in love with his sound.
Although the essence of his music fundamentally derives from his African origins, L.A.X describes himself as a ‘London boy’ and migrating to the UK has helped to inspire a whole new vision for the ambitious singer. Hinting at what’s to come, L.A.X tells us that his upcoming EP will feature several artists from London and aims to merge Afrobeats with UK sounds to diversify his audience and bring new flavours to his sound. But every success story comes with its fair dose of struggles. Speaking on the challenges faced throughout his music journey, Afolabi explains that something he feels many artists tend to struggle with is the uncertainty of not knowing whether fans will like the music they put out next. “Every time I’m about to release a new song, I always just think about how my fans will react. I don’t know if they’re going to love it or not. Sometimes I drop the music and they don’t love it and sometimes they do. The ones that I don’t think they’ll love; they end up loving. So that’s just the challenge.”
Wrapping up with the sweet boy, he answers one last question which goes: if you could have
dinner with anyone (dead or alive) who would you choose? He tilts his head and thinks about
this one carefully, “Sh*t, this is a big question. I can’t get it wrong.” His ambitious side comes out once again as he finally reveals his answer: “Well, I’d have dinner with the richest guy in the world so I can get two or three tips on how he gets his money!” Watch out Elon.