CHICAGO, IL – More often than not, the inspiration for
Ola’s music happens while he’s asleep.
As many people around the world do, Ola falls asleep at
night with music in his ears. Sometimes he plays a beat over and over again
through the headphones in his ears and falls asleep to it – which he said
almost always affects his dreams. And whatever he wakes up to – whatever
feeling or emotion or thought process – becomes the foundation for a song.
“That’s how I wrote my first song,” he said. “It was after I
watched the movie ‘8 Mile’ and I woke up that night and wrote down some rhymes.
I would come back to it every once in a while after that, but I never really
took it seriously. Then in about 2009 I was in Florida listening to music and
freestyling with a friend and he said I was really good and encouraged me to
keep going. We got into it so much that we bought some recording software and a
$100 mic at a local store and just recorded stuff for days and days. I had
caught the bug, and I couldn’t stop.”
When he moved back to Chicago, the real world hit and he had
to get a full-time job in order to pay the bills and support himself. But all
the while that he was working the job, he said he was never really happy. And
every time he would sample some of his music to family and friends they would
tell him how excited they were about his music and how much they liked his
freestyling.
“I figured if people like it, then I should do it,” he said.
“I know now that I’m made to do this. This is what I’m supposed to do. Like so
many other things, I woke up one day and it was like a revelation. So I found
my old engineer and we started working together.”
Today his music career is starting to take off. He currently
has two songs that are getting regular radio play throughout the Chicago area
– “Check (feat. Chris Hasty)” and “On My Mind (feat. Jay Arroyo).” The
first is a song with a “grimy” sound to it, he said, but which also showcases
his skills as a lyricist.
“It’s basically a song about money,” he said. “It sounds a
little bit trap-oriented, but it’s definitely lyrical. And Chris Hasty is
lyrical. I feel like it’s a record that’s animated and super eccentric.”
“On My Mind” on the other hand has a much different feel to
it, he said. It’s a lighter sounding song with a subtle pop melody. It, too, is
a song that talks about money, but from a different approach that Ola said is
“a little more personal – like I’m talking directly to someone.”
These singles are two of 22 features on his album
“Preparation.” He said this is an album that announces his music to the world
and is the start of him taking his music career seriously.
Fans who want to sample some of his music can visit his
Soundcloud
page, or follow him on
Facebook,
Instagram or
Twitter for updates about
new music releases or live performances.
