2020 is a year that wouldn’t be forgotten by many as we’ve been hit by several waves of mixed emotions, a virus, almost World War 3, Lockdown, curfews, protests, and several other mysteries. But one of the few things that got us through this year was the music. The artists showed how innovative they could be with their crafts, how happy it can make us and what the true power of music entails.
This year, our artists gave us virtual performances, revolutionizing songs, we saw health competitions between producers early in the lockdown, and a lot more. We also had new artists who shook the Nigerian music scene with their projects and releases this year and made names for themselves such as Bad Boy Timz, Zinoleski, Olakira, Jamopyper, and many more. This year one artiste that stood out for me was Omah Lay.
Omah Lay came into the industry with a force that hasn’t been experienced before. He came prepared. If he was a football club, he could be likened to Leicester back in 2015 in their prime when they won the English Premier League and shocked the world. That is Omah Lay. Came into the industry and shocked with his debut project titled ‘Get Layd’.
‘Get Layd’ was a five-track project which included ‘Bad Influence’, ‘Damn’, ‘Ye Ye Ye’, ‘You’, and ‘Lo Lo Lo’. When the project was released, it challenged the norm in the music industry as it skyrocketed to the top. What I mean by the challenge in this context is that in the music industry, only Burna Boy, Davido, and Wizkid drop projects and songs and go straight to the top on the countdown. But Omah Lay Did not only do this, but he also stayed atop for a long period. This shows how solid the project was.
After this project, Omah Lay became an established force in the industry and a force to be reckoned with as he started gaining prominence. Shortly after a few months of his debut project, he was featured by popular DJ, DJ Tunez alongside Wizkid and Adekunle Gold for ‘Pami’. This record was also a banger as it also rocked the airwaves and the streets. Fans claimed Omah Lay had the best verse on the song. This is huge because international superstar and Nigerian legend Wizkid was also on the song.
Shortly after, Omah Lay earned another feature with Olamide for his ‘Carpe Diem’ album on ‘Infinity’. As usual, Omah Lay delivered on the song and according to fans, Omah Lay delivered arguably the best intro on a track this year.
Of course, as Omah Lay was gaining such prominence and a catalog as solid as this, he was getting noticed internationally. Just last month, international record label, Atlantic Music signed him to their record label. This is also huge as no Nigerian artiste in history has gotten signed internationally within a year of breaking out. In addition to getting signed, he featured popular interns singer 6lack, for the release of the remix of ‘Damn’.
You would think after Omah Lay has had all these figured out in just a year, he would stop there, not him, as he has just released another music project titled ‘What Have We Done?’ It is also a 5 track project with songs like ‘Godly’, ‘Can’t Relate’, ‘Confessions’, ‘My Bebe’, and ‘Damn Remix’. Within a month of its release, it’s already atop all countdowns in Nigeria even though so many great music projects were also released alongside it. Also, the album is also on Billboard’s worldwide charts. This is evident that Omah Lay is a mystery of goodness that 2020 has experienced.
