At just 12 years old, Nigerian artist, Khaid, began performing freestyles on YouTube and performing in the streets of Ojos, Lagos State Nigeria. Now, at 17 years old, he has 327k monthly listeners on Spotify and a viral song, “WITH YOU,” that has over two million streams. Get to know more about Khaid below:

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Congrats on a strong start to the year. Take me through your most recent release, “SKI,” and how it came together.

“SKI” is more like me pouring my heart out. Nigeria is used to the Afro beats, so I thought I would do something different. That is basically how that came about. That is the inspiration I got.

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With “SKI” taking more of that Afro route, take me through your versatility as an artist, and how important is that for you?

Everyone should have that versatility. Once you have the versatility, your standards are different. I could do normal Afro beats, but I have people around me that have great minds and everything so I need to be diverse and all of that to put balance in my type of sound. I want to be very diverse. Doing something that is out of the box for me, like trap, is not always acceptable, but I’m trying to make it more acceptable and a positive sound around here. 

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Your first track of the year, “WITH YOU,” has already reached over two million streams on Spotify. What does it mean to see that reception from your fans?

It means the world to me. I feel blessed because my expectations weren’t this high. Seeing these types of views and listeners is just a blessing to me. 

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Take me through the beginning. What got you into making music in the first place?

It was the inspiration from different people around me back then. I was a rapper at the time, but I had to develop my sound and put melodies into stuff. I don’t like singing though. I just like rapping. It’s a process. 

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How did you develop your sound over time to where you are now?

I started listening to trap songs. Like, melodic trap songs. I listened to songs with more melody. At the time, I was listening to just rap so I would just put my time into melodic trap songs so that’s where I began with the melodies. I’d just say it’s God’s grace. I wasn’t really ready to be this type of artist. I was just trying to do my thing.

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Who inspires your sound coming up?

The trap and hip-hop side of me, I’d say Polo G, Juice WRLD, XXXTentacion, and the Afro part of me is confusing. I listen to many genres of it. I listen to Burna Boy, WizKid, Davido and a lot more.

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Who is your dream collaboration?

My dream collaboration would be Polo G. NBA Youngboy as well. Davido, WizKid, Burna Boy, and people who have good messages in their songs.

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You have support all around the world such as in Nigeria, the U.K., and the United States. What does that mean to have worldwide support?

It means a lot to me. It gives me this type of ground to explore different sounds. Having people listen to me from certain parts of the world provides me the opportunity to explore different types of music?

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You’ve had a strong start to the year with two singles. What goals do you have for the rest of the year, and what do you have planned?

I’m looking forward to releasing my EP because it’s a more diverse project. I’m looking forward to people receiving it and accepting the type of sound I’m bringing to Nigeria. I’m trying to develop the Nigerian sound and change the Nigerian mindset in my own way that I can. 

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As far as Nigeria, go more in depth about the music scene there and your plans with it?

The plans I have are for me, but the plans we have as a team are different. We have a really deep plan, not just for music, but for fashion too. We just want to try new things for Nigeria. For me as a person, I have this music mindset. I’m not just trying to bring trap music to Nigeria, but I’m trying to bring other sounds such as Latino. We have Jazz music and everything. I’m trying to explore.

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What do you do to escape music?

I play football. I draw. I style clothes. I mostly play football though.

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