INTERVIEW: BOJ
Alte Pioneer, BOJ, is set to release his brand new album which promises to show us growth, enlightenment and synergy; with a wealth of collaborations. Ahead of this highly anticipated project, the Nigerian Eagle sits down with Tirade Music Columnist, Gracey Mae, to discuss his highlights of the year, the importance of freedom and spirituality, plus the Burna Boy collaboration that was plucked from his grasp. Join us as we find out more about BOJ, when he’s off the microphone.
Interview by GRACEY MAE
Photographs by MARTINA MARTIAN
Congratulations, 2021 has been a roller coaster and I hear there's still more good things coming. Let's go back to one of your biggest performances this year. 80,000 people at Park Life with Dave. Tell me everything. How were you feeling?
So basically, I was kind of drunk to be honest, so I'll tell you so I wasn't really in the moment. I wasn’t really thinking about the fact that I was performing to 80,000 people. It was more of a thing of - let’s get on stage and rock out with Dave, you feel me. Afterwards, I went back into the crowd to watch the rest of the show and being in there was like “Oh shit! I was literally on that stage performing for these people. That's kind of crazy, you know?” And on the drive back from Manchester to London, I couldn’t stop thinking “Wow. That was some crazy shit”.
That is incredible. How did you and Dave even link up to begin with? Lazarus is a track and a half.
Bascally my boy, Muyiwa - Tems’ manager, hit me up basically saying that he's just sent Dave some of my stuff because Dave is trying to get a Yoruba hook or something. He sent him my stuff and Dave was like, “Yo, man! I need this guy on this Lazurus song” so I did it, sent it back and they loved it. So yeah, we just moved from there. When the album dropped, I was like “let me get go to London and see what's up” and it all came together.
BOJ wears 2 Piece Set, HEMSLEY LONDON, Hat, SUPERDRY, Jewellery, BOJ’s Own
That's epic. I feel like the whole of DRB are doing so well individually. Teezee just did a track with Skepta, you’re out here with Dave, I’m sure Fresh L is about to blow us away with something new.
Fresh is doing things in Naij. He’s controlling things right now in the outside scene.
I hear it. I see it. I love it. Now before this track, we saw you with Amaarae and Zamir on ‘Money and Laughter’. My question to you is - what's more important, having funds or having fun?
Both to be honest. Like in the song, that's basically what I'm saying. We're trying to make money and we're trying to live a good life for life. You know, that's the whole aim. I just want to be happy basically.
So are you happy at this present moment – and - how has life changed now that the crew are doing their own separate things?
It's always been like this. That's what I keep saying to people, it's always been that we all doing our separate things. So it's always been like this. There's no there's no anything different right now.
I’m sure you were happy about your sold-out London show.
Yeah – my first headline show in London and it sold out - crazy. That was amazing. It literally gave me a new kind of motivation and a new ginger. Sometimes you just need to do things like that to remind you that you're doing good. There’s people that you touch in a different type of way. You might not know until you meet people in person, then you see the love and it's real. I need to keep doing this so I can touch more people.
You know that you're an inspiration to so many as a pioneer of Alte, you and DRB created the term!
Now, on your left shoulder, you’ve got a 93 tattoo and then on your right shoulder, you’ve got an Africa tattoo.
And then there's a heart where Nigeria is…
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I’m guessing that means both are close to your heart.
It’s literally just this is where I'm from, this is where I was born and this is when I was born. I love my country with all my heart - it wasn’t anything more than that.
Randomly, how many have you got?
I think I've got like 12 tattoos.
ABOVE: BOJ wears 2 Piece, SCOTCH & SODA, Boots, HUNTER
I stopped at 5 but more power to you. One of your tags is ‘Alte Bank of Lagos’. What does that even mean?
Alte Bank just means that this is the place with endless freedom of expression. Come and bank with us. Come and fuck with us like… patronise us, you know. That’s what it means! The currency is expression and not money type of thing.
And how does that translate into your sound?
That's the thing, every time people ask me to describe my sound, I find it hard. So I actually like for people to listen to it and describe how they think it is. For people that haven't listened to my music. I never want them to go in expecting “I’m going to listen to this sort of music”. I would like you to just listen to it and draw your own judgments. The other day after my show, some people were like, “I love the soft rock thing”. I was like, “Oh okay, is a soft rock? Alright then cool... If that’s what you hear. People see things differently.
They do! You've been teasing your brand new project for a minute now… What can you tell us about it?
I’m very spontaneous with it so I’m not sure what you can know but I know there's like 15 songs. I know there’s like 12 features. It's a lot of features because I feel like my fans enjoy my music more when I feature people, or when I'm featured or whatever. I just noticed the reaction from songs when I feature people is always way more. Also, I prefer doing collaborations to be very honest.
Because you get to bounce off of their energy?
Exactly. Other artists always bring out sides to me that don’t come out when it’s just me.
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When we talk about collaborations, you've literally worked with everyone: Tiwa Savage, Davido, Mr Eazi and so many more. Is there anyone left on the wish list?
Yeah... Burna Boy, Asa. Those are two of my favourite artists. I've haven’t worked with them yet. With Burna Boy, we did a track ages ago in 2013 or something but the song never came out because the producer gave the beat someone else.
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Let's turn then to your personal life! On the gram, we're just seeing this guy who is in love plus I know you've gone on a spiritual journey. Tell us a little bit about that, and how that's influenced what you're doing right now.
The thing is, you get to a point where you just realise that life is bigger than you. There's a bigger power in control. From the moment you start to realise that, it's like a cheat code. You start praying, you start meditating, and you see that this guy in the sky really, really, really, really loves you. There are certain things that happen and I’m just like, “Am I deserving of this?” Sometimes it’s just overwhelming sometimes. It’s a mad thing. I'm happy I got into it. I've been feeling a lot more peace, I feel like understand life a little bit more. Nobody really knows the perfect way to live life but it’s like a guideline. There are loads of wise things in the Bible. Even if you don't believe in God, or whatever, if you read the Bible, there's loads of wisdom in there.
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True - with Lazarus in the Bible, he came back from the dead. Do you feel like you've had that moment where people wrote you off, and you came back and proved them wrong?
Oh, 100% - that happens every time but I keep on coming back. And that's why I'm saying sometimes I look at God and ask, “Am I deserving of this shit?” You know all your shortcomings, you know you’re not really the best person in the world, but then good things keep happening. It's just like, why?
Wow – this has literally been your Come-to-Jesus-moment! I'm here for it, I love it. The enlightenment. The journey, so more power to you. If we want to stay informed, where can we find you online?
You can find me on Instagram @bojonthemicrophone. You can find me on Twitter, which I hardly use @BOJDRB. Snapchat is @BOJDRB. I’m not on Tik Tok, I can’t lie. I’m on Triller though @bojonthemicrophone.
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Interview by GRACEY MAE @_graceymae
Photographer - MARTINA MARTIAN @martinamartian
Stylist - JEN ELETO @jenelectro