Welcome to Artist Focus this week guys! This week our lens is focused on Oludemilade Martin Alejo The 28-year-old rapper/singer came to the limelight in 2015 following his hit single “Condo” featuring Patoranking. Since then, YCee has been ever-present in the industry & we take a look at his journey so far.
YCee was born and raised in Festac and made his name underground. Despite harboring dreams of playing football professionally, his grandparents did not let him due to his asthma. He stayed in school, and he was writing rhymes, covers, and remixes as a hobby before he started making his music.
He was first known as Young Crack, Young Corter, then it became YC, and now YCee. He would sign his first deal with Tinny Entertainment on the 24th of August 2012, and his professional music career kicked off.
His first single was “Smile on me”. It was produced by Jay Sleek. There was a video for the track directed by Aje. He followed it with three more singles “Pass me”, “Where we dey”, and “Amen”. YCee had to take a break from music in 2014 after gaining admission into the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
He released “Shots” during his break. The hiatus gave the impression that this was his debut in the industry. His break had recharged him, and he came back with a bang. He released “Condo” alongside Patoranking. Patoranking was in the studio when the beat was produced, he liked it, & they called Ycee to make the song.
The single earned him two nominations at the 2015 Nigerian Entertainment Awards (NEA). Best Collaboration of The Year & Best Music Video of The Year. It also earned him nominations at the Africa Music Awards and the MTV Africa Music Awards. The video shot by Clarence Peters played a role in the song’s popularity.
YCee’s released “Jagaban” as his second single of 2015. Three months later, he backed it up with a remix featuring the legend Olamide. “The hottest song of the last four months just got even hotter!” Tooexclusive announced. They were right; it was a smash hit.
He was nominated for and won the Rookie of the year award at the 2015 Headies. The same year, the Headies started hosting their event at the end of the year rather than at the beginning of the new year. This meant he was nominated for the Next Rated award at the 2016 Headies held in the same year.
Towards the end of 2015, he released another major hit single titled “Omo Alhaji”. He returned to his rap core for his next release, “Su mi”. He then released a “Panda” cover before a South African remix of “Omo Alhaji”. YCee was set to release his first project titled The First Wave in 2017.
He released “Link up” featuring Reekado Banks as the first single from the project. It performed well but, his next single would be an industry shaker. He released his EP The First Wave in April 2017. On it was “Juice” featuring fellow hotshot Maleek Berry, and it was one of the anthems of 2017.
He would release another video for “Don’t need bae” off the EP. & hopped on “Something light” with Falz. There was an ill-advised “Juice” remix featuring Joyner Lucas. Ycee dropped an EP titled Late Night Vibrations alongside label mate Bella Alubo. It was a moody but soothing offering.
They released a video for “Empathy” before Ycee released three singles titled “I Wish”, “Say bye-bye” featuring Eugy, and “Your love”. YCee and Eugy had previously worked on a 2017 Eugy track called “Give it to me”.
Early in 2019, Ycee announced his departure from Tinny Entertainment. He opened his imprint with the name ANBT (Ain’t Nobody Badder Than) and released “My side” before dropping some lyrical fire on “Balance”. “Balance” dropped on the 29th of January, 2019. It was YCee’s birthday.
He featured on “Play” remix alongside Blaqbonez. He released his debut album Ycee vs Zaheer in late 2019. The album featured acts like Davido, Phyno, Niniola, Ms Banks, and Dabo Tuburna. He released “Dakun”, “Mo Salah”, and “Love like that” as singles.
Critics were cold towards the album, citing that it failed as a rap album and failed to be anything other than a rap album. He released “Vacancy” in early 2020 before the Quarantunes Ep that had only two songs on it. In 2021, he featured on “Jabole” by DJ Spinall alongside Oxlade before releasing “Nu Riddim”
He teamed up with Patoranking again in 2021 to make “Aunty Lovina” and it has been a huge success for the singer. Ycee is an exciting, teasing act that has carved out a beautiful career for himself. His music career is young and quite successful, and we look forward to bigger things from the Omo Alhaji.
