The Get Closer segment is our way of featuring upcoming, independent artists on Naijatastic Publication. It is an avenue for artists to connect with other creators and express their art and craft in an exclusive interview article. We aim to promote awareness and maintain exposure for Nigerian audio contents by Nigerian artistes in Nigeria or the diaspora. Naijatastic supports the Nigerian / Afro music movement, and help artists to cultivate their own fan communities by growing their audience on our platform. In this edition, we asked Ybeez Magik a few questions about his life and music. This is what he has to share:
What is your name?
Thank you very much for this amazing platform. My name is AbdulBasit Yahaqub Olumuyiwa.
How did you come about the name “YBeez Magik” and what does it mean?
Young Brilliant Empowered Energetic Zeal
Add all this characters together you have YBEEZ. I used Ybeez till 2018 when I noticed that I shared the same name with this Asian rapper. There was a need for me to tweak my name, so that people don’t confuse us. I didn’t come up with the name Magik, it’s been an alias for me. I used to freestyle a lot and while I’m at it, my friends would always say “guy how did you do that within few seconds, feels like magic, so they started calling me Magic. I felt Ybeez Magik sounds cool, so I adopted it.
What is your educational background?
I had my secondary school education in Lagos. I earned my LLB (LAW) in University of Ilorin, Kwara state.
Where are you from?
I’m from Kwara state. Ilorin to be precise. Lol. It’s funny, because I never lived there. I have been in Lagos all my life, but they say you can never forget your roots.
How did the journey to music start?
Like I said earlier, my first record was in 2012, I was so young and passionate about music, but before then I have always been a music lover. Looking back now, I won’t say I chose to do music, rather it chose me, because the kind of family I come from ehn. I’m the last person ought to be doing this. But destiny remains unchanged, I wrote my first song when I was about 13 or 14, wasn’t sure what I was doing then, but I enjoyed doing it, and somehow I kept going and here we are now.