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Nigerian rapper and producer M.I Abaga joins Dadaboy Ehiz via FaceTime on Apple Music 1 to talk about his latest track, “Bigger (feat. Olamide & Nas).” He also discusses his new album, ‘The Guy,’ his desire to share more of his journey with the world, and what inspires him to keep going—the driving force he calls “God energy.”
M.I Abaga on ‘The Guy’
There was a reflection about how far I’ve come, and how much as you go along, you learn to be yourself. Everyone knows M.I but there’s the guy behind M.I, and I think at this stage in my life I’m ready to show more of that, talk more about love and talking more about whatever challenges I face or whatever I’m going through because I feel like in the world right now people are just going through it.
It’s a hip-hop album, at times it feels like an Afrobeat album – that beautiful Afrobeat music that the world is getting used to – it has great features and I think I want people to feel good about themselves and remember who they are – the lion, the king, the god, that energy you had – we all have it inside us, and this album is a return to that.
M.I Abaga on his album’s God Energy
It’s everything – it’s that God energy, it’s love. When I talk about god energy, it’s strength, it’s power, it’s humility, it’s love, it’s self-care, it’s happiness, it’s joy, it’s freedom. It’s all of that. That’s what ‘The Guy’ is.
M.I Abaga on Staying Inspired
I’ll be honest, before this project I asked myself ‘is there anything more that I can give? Why am I doing this, is it ego?’, and the answer I came up with is that it would be great if the whole world knew that in Africa there was a legendary rapper that existed, someone who put the whole continent on his back, someone who’s been doing it. I think that’s the rest of the journey for me, letting everybody know.