He is the music star everyone is talking about right now. He is the new king of Street Music. Last week Thursday, 2nd June, 2022, City People Magazine team made up Seye Kehinde, Sunday Adigun & Sunday Aderiye, spent a day with the popular ZAZU Crooner, Portable, at his music studio in Sango Otta, area of Ogun State. We had an interview appointment with him.
Getting Portable, to agree to this exclusive interview was a tough one. Reason? He is a musician whose music is in high demand right now. And so he is constantly in motion, travelling for shows here and there.
Thrice, we fixed an appointment with him, thrice we postponed, until we both agreed on yet another meeting for that Thursday. He sent the address the day before and we set out early to pin down this newly annointed King of Street Music.
We were on our way when we got a Text from him. when we get to his studio. He said he was on his way back to Lagos from Edo, where he had gone to perform.
We went weak. His message dampened our spirit a little. But we didn’t give up. We continued our journey to Otta. We turned off the Lagos Abeokuta old road, at Iyana Ilogbo. It was a long and tedious journey, because the road was bumpy and riddled with potholes.
It took us over 2 hours to get there, from Lagos. We located the Studio easily, because Portable is well known in his neighbourhood and community. Everyone we asked along the line, knew Portable Studio. They went on telling us to continue on our long journey.
When we finally got there we met his Boys. And he has many of them who are hooked on his tunes. They stay with him. They live with him. They are all members of the Zeh Nation. They were very receptive and accommodating. His Producer, TCode received us and entertained us with different songs of Portable. They engaged us.
And that was how the waiting started. We first waited for 2 hours, then 4 hours, and the clock began to tick away fast. Immediately, word went round that City People was in the trenches, as his neighbourhood is called, more Portable’s boys came out from around the neighbourhood, to join us. The waiting was long.
At about 4.30pm, Portable Omoolalomi arrived with his team. He had earlier scheduled a Videoshoot for that evening and about 25 Boys & Babes were already waiting to commence recording.
But immediately, Portable whose real name is Habeeb Okikiola arrived, he came straight into the studio to meet us. No sooner did he sit down, did a lot of his boys & friends troop in, all wanting to listen to what he has to say. He hardly grants interviews. But that evening he broke his silence. He knew his fans want to know more about him. We were able to get him to speak about his life and growing up years.
Let’s tell you a bit more. He is a fast-rising singer who has become a Big Star. He became a superstar last year, in the last month of December 2021. Although his real name is Habeeb Okikiola, he is popular with multiple street names like Werey Olorin, Zazu Zehh, Idamu Adugbo Wahala Musician and many more.
He told us he was born in Abeokuta on March 12, 1994.
Yoruba was the language he used to converse with his parents, classmates and neighbours, and extended family members. He was fascinated by rap music by American singers such as Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G, and Snoop Dogg, which he played on his father’s music tape deck while still in primary school.
He took after these singers and began writing rap songs anytime he was motivated. Meanwhile, the advent of local rap singers such as Lord Of Ajasa, Dagrin, Danny Young, Olamide, QDot, and CDQ pushed him to make a transition to Yoruba rap and pursue a career as a professional musician.
Portable and his siblings were raised in Abeokuta and adhered to the Muslim faith just like their father and mother. He later moved to Lagos to start his music career. He dominantly speaks Yoruba language and pidgin English.
Portable will always tell you he is grateful to God for making him the Star he is today. Before December 2021, little was known about him. But now in June 2022, he has become the famous Portable who whenever he drives past in his community a lot of young people, and even the old, all run after him. He is in turn waves to them and sometimes sprays them with naira notes.
He became famous with the release of his hit song, Zazu Zeh, which gradually won the heart of fans and quickly grew into fans’ favourite song. Since its release on December 14, 2021, the song ‘Zazu Zeh’ has amassed 7.5m views on YouTube and is one of the most played songs on Spotify, an online audio streaming platform. Little wonder, Portable felt the song was deserving of a Grammy award.
A few days after the song’s release, Portable shot into the limelight.
He courted his first career controversy within the first month of breaking into the music industry, when
Portable cursed Pocolee and his show promoter for allegedly ripping him off. So successful has Portable who is the leader of the Zeh Nation Movement become with Street Music that he has made a joke of Naira Marley‘s Malian movement. Many of his fans enjoy his slangs, stage performances, antics and weird mannerisms, more than his songs. Aside from ‘Zazu Zeh’, Portable has released other songs.
Fans on Twitter have compared him with popular rapper Terry G. Many Nigerians argued that Portable is a better performer with lots of energy on stage.
Portable’s journey to fame is typically a Grass-to-Grace story starting from Abeokuta with his family, before moving to Sango-Ota, in Ogun State. He also relocated to Abuja briefly before he came back to Lagos.
He stumbled on fame by chance when a blogger, Don Blue, used ‘Zazu Zeh’ as a soundtrack on a post which eventually got Olamide interested in him. “I met Don Blue, an online blogger. I have never seen him physically. He reposted my song, and I showed him gratitude. Shortly after, Don Blue called me and told me that Baddo wanted to meet me, so I rushed to Lekki to meet Baddo,” he once explained.
Portable, however, became a household name after he featured popular dancer Poco Lee and Olamide on his street anthem, ‘Zazu Zeh’.
Many are amazed at how he has grown from a street singer to a highly sought-after performer. He performed at AY’s show on Easter Sunday where E-Money handed him bundles of naira. It was the first time he was publicly spotted with E-Money, his latest sponsor, after Portable sacked his former Music Manager, Kogbagidi. He’s also the 1st brand ambassador of Obi Cubana’s herbal product “Odogwu Bitter”
Portable now hangs out with many of the Big Boys in the music industry as he has been spotted in the company of big names like Wizkid, Timaya, Burna Boy, and Olamide. Portable, the leader of the Zeh nation movement has also wined and dined with royalty He has visited the Ooni of Ile Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, at the Ooni’s palace. He has also gone International. Portable’s new sponsor, E-Money recently took the singer on his first United Kingdom tour. Portable performed in 3 major cities in the UK, Peckham in London, Birmingham, and Manchester.
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