Alexander Adegbola Akande, best known by his stage name 9ice, is a Nigerian singer who has admitted that he was popular yet poor when he first began his music career. This was revealed by the singer of “Gongo Aso” in the most recent episode of the podcast Chart with Sims.
He said,
“Don’t become popular o, make money. When I started, I was popular but I didn’t have money.”
He continued by saying that after he started putting in the work, money began to flow.
In his words,
“The money didn’t just come in, I had to do the right thing. As of then, we were depending so much on Alaba International Market. Then we didn’t have Facebook, Instagram, and the rest. If you want your song to be popular in Kaduna, you have to go to Kaduna to do a radio interview. You have to be there for people to see you.”
“So, when the money started coming was when we put in the hustle and we marketed the brand by doing print interviews like newspapers, magazines; putting your face out there. I mean, there are sometimes people who have good songs and they [fans] don’t even know what you look like.
“I think it is not just about getting popular. But putting your brand out there. Market it, promote it. Let your face be known and the money aspect will come later,” he added
