Limoblaze is the poster boy of Afro-Gospel. His 2023 collaboration with Lecrae, ‘Jireh’, was a defining moment for urban gospel music in Nigeria. In this interview, he opens up about Afro-Gospel, his faith, and the legacy he hopes to leave behind.

There’s been so much motion on your end, from the album last year to the singles this year to the Young and Chosen tour. How are you feeling right now? 

 The African leg of the tour has been beautiful and I’m excited to end it in Nigeria. I know it’s going to be a lovely and remarkable night. I’m excited for all of the concerts to be honest, and new music. I’m feeling really good 

You said on Twitter that the Johannesburg show was one of the greatest nights. I hope that we can top that in Abuja & Lagos. From your experience, how’s the energy level in Nigeria compared to outside Nigeria? 

The energy level in Nigeria is always crazy. I think the only difficult thing in Nigeria is just the buying culture, especially in the gospel music space. It’s a culture that is growing. In other parts of Africa, it’s not the same. Two years ago, I played in Uganda with my friend, Pompi and there were about 8000 people. Nairobi was like 1500 people, all ticketed. We had to stop selling tickets. But in Nigeria, it is like you have to do more marketing.

With most places, I don’t even have to do marketing. I’ve done my London show for like two years. I just post on my Instagram story every morning and by event day, we have 2000 plus people. But In Nigeria, you have to do marketing. The last time I did an event in Lagos, it was a free event, so we didn’t have to do a lot of marketing and we got like 3000 people. Yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing what this will be. 

Do you identify as an AfroGospel Artist? 

Yes, I do. I identify as a Christian artist. There was a time in my life when I struggled with labels because I was thinking, maybe this label is gonna reduce the amount of people that I can reach through music. But the older that I become, the more I’m like, there’s no, there’s no going around this thing. This is who I am. I make gospel music. I am a Gospel Artist. 

Afro-gospel is the genre that I have been a part of, and I am one of the people who have carried it intentionally and pushed the genre. So, yes, I also identify as AfroGospel, but I’m not limited to it. I am a Christian artist. 

If you were to introduce someone to Afro-gospel, what three songs would you recommend to them? 

That’s a tough one. 

“Jireh” did a big one for AfroGospel so I have to put it there. I would say ”Commando” by Greatman Takit & Ko’rale. The last one would be ‘Alone’ by AnEndlessOcean

You said on Twitter that this is going to be a big year for Afro gospel. I want to know, first, Why does AfroGospel need to go mainstream? Secondly, what are the obstacles to Afrogospel going mainstream? 

AfroGospel definitely needs to go mainstream because Afro-gospel is the Afrobeats that we all love but it has an important message. It has a message of hope which I think the world needs.

When you compare it to any other sounds out there, message for message, How do the other songs out there impact lives positively? I know I don’t want my kids listening to any of the songs playing on the radio.

AfroGospel is a tool for revival. I think the whole world, needs Jesus, and that is a strong tool to introduce Jesus to the people. So that’s why I think it should go mainstream

Also because the Bible says (forgive me for preaching) Righteousness exalts a nation. If through this tool, righteousness becomes a culture where everybody in culture strives to be a righteous man, We would have a much better country than we have right now. 

From where you stand, What do you think AfroGospel needs to go mainstream?

One thing that I’m grateful for in the AfroGospel space is that we have a lot of unity. The majority of us are friends. I see everyone as my friend. I’ve never looked at any one of them as competition. So that’s a good thing, We have that unity.

A few other things. I think we need to work with mainstream producers. That’s one thing that I know is going to help. If I worked with Sarz, for example, or If AnEndlessOcean worked with Pheelz, that is going to be crazy. We are already making great music so the more we can elevate the sound, the better.  

Also, having a higher market share in the media will help the movement. We are currently struggling for a quota of a quota. Afrogospel is struggling for a quota of the market share of the gospel space. It’s only really a few people in the mainstream space that know. “Jireh”, for example, is the one song that translated beyond the gospel space. People outside the church, know “Jireh”. People outside the church know AnEndlessOcean’s “Gratitude”. Victor Thompson’s “This Year” went outside the church space. We need more of that, to be honest. 

Other than that, maybe the church can do more. There are a few people in the Gospel space that if they come out to endorse Afro Gospel, it’ll change everything. Part of what AfroGospel struggles with is that the church at large and Christians still consider us as rebels and unbelievers. 

These people that I’m talking about, they don’t have any problem with us. They meet us in person and tell us we’re doing a great job. Their kids listen to us. They know what we’re doing is good. If they come out and publicly endorse AfroGospel, it’s gonna go a long way. 

You mentioned working with producers, why are AfroGospel artists not currently working with mainstream producers? 

The reason is that for the most part, a lot of them wouldn’t want to work with us. Working with producers right now is a lot more complex than it used to be. I don’t know how much London (Rema’s producer) charges, but I want to believe it wouldn’t be less than 5000 pounds, plus the other demands, the master points, the publishing and all. How many of us can afford that? 

Luckily, Masterkraft hit me up a few days ago saying He wanted to work with me. I’m excited to work with Masterkraft because he is one of the greatest producers from Nigeria. But for more of this to happen, it has to be situations like that, them reaching out. If we are the ones reaching out, they most likely don’t even know us so we might not get positive answers.

I would love to work with P.Priime

What are your other dream collaborations? 

The only person who is not a branded Christian artist that I’m gonna work with is Jon Bellion. We talked already, and then it could happen. But I don’t think I’m ready. I genuinely think I would be disrespecting his artistry if I tried to work with him right now. I only want to work with him when I feel like the level of my genius is close to his. 

In the Christian space, Brandon Lake, Tori Kelly. For Tori, I feel like I have the song already. I’m just waiting to record a demo and see if she’ll be up for it

Honestly, I feel like I’ve worked with most of the people I wanted to work with. Lecrae, Joe L. Barnes, Naomi Raine, Ada Ehi

Some of my friends that I enjoy working with are Greatman Takit and Marizu. We’ve made great music together. AnEndLessOcean and I have two different creative processes, so it has been difficult for us to align our processes together. But that is going to happen. That’s my brother. 

How did you first meet Joe L. Barnes and how is your relationship with him right now?

Right now, Joe is one of my good friends. I know a lot of people in music, but there are very few people that I consider friends. Joe is one of those people that I genuinely consider a friend and really mean. The way it started, He reached out to me one time, asking if I was down to collaborate. From there, we talked, met up in London, and in like 20 minutes, we wrote “No Greater Love”. He’s pulled up to my London show twice in a row and He’ll also be coming to the third one this year. I just thought to myself, I’m about to go on an African tour so I asked if he’d like to come to Africa with me. And he was excited about that, and it was easy. We just sorted out one or two things and he came on the road with me. It’s been a beautiful experience. 

Let’s talk about Lecrae. How did you first meet Lecrae, and how did you end up signing to Reach Records?

I grew up listening to Lecrae, man. I tell people this, if there was no Lecrae, I don’t think there will be a Limoblaze today. His music was my inspiration to become an artist. His music helped me get on my journey, even just as a Christian. I started music by taking the Lecrae songs and replacing his raps with my words. That’s how I started rapping. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and he knew about me.

One time, he did an open verse challenge and I recorded an entry for the challenge. My entry caught his eyes, and he was like, ”Oh, this guy is different”. I was doing melodic rap in Yoruba and mixing it up with English and that caught his attention. He was like, he wanted to hear more of that. Around that time, I started talking to his AnR. They were sending me stuff from time to time to see what I could work on. That time, they’ll send me stuff, and in like, 45 minutes, I’ve sent them back a verse. 

They were very impressed by my work ethic. We started talking about the possibility of me signing with them. We discussed that and negotiated that for a whole year, and then finally we signed. It’s been amazing working with him. He’s Big Bro. From time to time, I call him just to get advice, because he’s walked in the majority of the paths that I want to walk or that I desire to walk. So whenever I’m somewhere and I need some sort of knowledge and wisdom from somebody who’s gone before me, I just give him a call.

What’s the most meaningful piece of music industry advice that you’ve ever received?

The most important advice to me was not given to me by anybody. It was given to me by God. That was in 2020 when I was working on my God’s Favourite Baby album. Before that, I had the Afrobeats Rap & Jesus album,  which was what really started everything for me. When people think of Afrogospel, that is the first two albums that come to mind. 

So before I put out God’s Favourite Baby, I was a bit perturbed, and I was wondering to myself, are people going to like this album, like the first one? And I remember God telling me he said, “You are amazing, but you are not that amazing. My grace makes a difference.” Since then, my anchor scripture for life has been Zechariah 4:6. I always remind myself that I will work hard and try to give my best. But what makes the difference, really is the grace of God that comes upon everything I do.

As for industry advice, I remember somebody telling me, “don’t fall for the don’t fall for the illusion of the pedestal.” “Try to stay on the floor. Don’t let your mind be up there, because if you fall, it’s a much harder fall. “If you stay grounded, no matter what happens, you kept yourself on the ground already.” So that helps me stay grounded, stay humble, and not let things get into my head. 

What do you think is the responsibility of the Christian artist or the Gospel Artist to their audience? 

First of all, you need to understand the ministry you’ve been called into and who your music is serving. If you understand that, it helps you reach them right. A Christian artiste has responsibilities to their audience. You owe yourself a personal responsibility to be spiritually sound at all times. Yeah, so you also owe yourself the responsibility to not give in to the celebrity. You need to be grounded. You need to have a local church. You need to be submitted to a local church.

You need to be sound in the Bible so that you’re not writing gbas gbos. The quality of the music has to always be great. Some people rely so much on the scriptural aspect of it, and forget quality. I’ve also seen people rely so much on quality and forget the depth of the music. You need to marry both spiritual depth and sonic quality, you owe your your audience that.

You need to understand that you are a role model. We are not secular artists. I’m a role model. The life I live in public and in private, has to honor Jesus at all times.

Let’s talk about the new record “calling”. Interesting sample, taking us back to the 2010s. how did that record come about? 

First of all, sampling is a very exciting part of music for me. I may not have done so many samples, but I always, in my private time, just sample because I’m good at it. Maybe in the near future, I would probably do more. For that song, I had it in mind for a long time, because first of all, that song means a lot to me. Four songs come to mind when I think of my earliest memory of what urban Christian music is. Frank Edward’s “You Too Dey Bless Me.”, Henry Soul’s “Your Love”, Ada Ehi’s “Bobo Me” and Rooftop MC’s “Lagimo”. My earliest memories of urban Christian music were when those songs. But that piano on “You Too Dey Bless Me” is iconic. It was my best song then so I had it in mind that I was going to definitely sample it. 

I just called my producer and gave him the idea. I told him, “Take this piano, let’s build something around it“. And he just killed it, like he sent me the first draft. I was like, Yeah, we’re going in a reminder action. We did the writing. I brought in two of my friends/artists, to help with the writing. -Princeton South, a very talented artist signed to me and Teni a young girl in the UK, 

When it was done, I texted Frank Edwards and he cleared the record.  

We are working on the video now. It is my best music video yet, because it’s my most expensive music video. The idea for the video is exciting. We are filming in Lagos and I cannot wait for people to see it.

With this single and the one you released at the start of the year, Can we expect a limoblaze project this year?

I’m still undecided. The music is available and ready, but I don’t know if I want to put out the album yet, or if I want to wait until next year, but the music is 65% ready. I planned to suspend the album and put out my Afrobeats Rap & Jesus Volume 2. That’s what I wanted to put out but I’m not even 100% sure if it’s gonna happen this year. I have a few Collaborations on the way that I’m excited about though.

What is the vision with “Young & Chosen”

”Young & Chosen” is not a label. It’s more of a movement. I have a label, called Oneskript. Young and Chosen is a movement. It started with the album, but it was not about the album. The album was just the starting point towards the movement and it’s a movement for young people who have realized that there is a calling upon their lives, and they are chosen for a purpose that is even bigger than themselves. So our vision is the Great Commission, basically to tell as many people about Jesus and We do that specifically through the arts. I’m looking to do Christian films, to write a book at some point, and I’m doing a lot of mentoring and mentorship programs under Young & Chosen. 

Tell us about your label, Oneskript

I’m looking forward to expanding my label and having a few more artists. I want to be pivotal in other people’s journeys. The older I get, and the closer I get to becoming a father, the more I realize I want to function a lot more as an executive. Currently,  my life is so busy, that I’m touring almost all year, and it’s not the most fun. I love it when I meet the audience and get to fellowship with them. But having to travel a lot is insane, bro, I haven’t seen my wife in a couple of weeks. The hardest thing I get to do in life is stay away from my wife. I can’t wait to be back home. So, yeah, I feel like the older I get, the more I realize I want to function more in the executive than being a full-time artist on the road all the time.

 Yeah, I think, I think that’s like we would like to see lemon Blaze, the exec like very soon. And we trust your we trust you’re here to give us like, even like, to nurture talents that can even like do, and take the movement forward.

Can we expect projects from any of your artists this year?

Princeton South would definitely have a project this year. We’ve spent the best three months just cooking, trying to get him right, branding, and setting up his management properly.

I want to make sure that when he starts coming out this year, he’s coming out right

What three things would you attribute your success to? 

One thing for me, and I’ll always put that in, is God. 

I prayed and prayed, and I still pray so that one is very important. Two, I was very hardworking and consistent. I speak to artistes these days and  I tell them, “you guys are built differently.” When I was on my come-up, if a bigger artist says, ”send me something”, He’s getting something in 35 minutes. But these days, you give an artist a record, and two weeks later, you’re chasing them. You guys are not ready.

So that’s it, I was hardworking, I was consistent, and then, God.

What does success look like for you?

Success for me in life is just being able to do what God has called me to do. Every time I’m on tour, I’m reaching the unchurched through my music. 

I don’t do a lot of church events because I’m very aware that what God has called me to do is more of an outreach than an in-reach. 

When I do my tours and shows, I get people who are not Christians come to my shows, just for the love of the music. For me, that is what success looks like, to be able to gather men to Jesus. The more men I can gather, the better. So that’s where numbers come into the conversation. 

Just to close out, if you were to introduce someone to limo Blaze this music, right? What three songs would you recommend to that person? 

I want to pick songs that show different angles. ‘Calling’, ‘Your Love’ & ‘Desire’