Official DMW Disc Jockey, Ebianga Ikpeme aka DJ Ecool, recently shared his experiences in interview with The Nation Newspaper, where he reveals his actual ambitions for himself before the turntables took him down a different path. He talks about influences and what it’s like working with DME honcho Davido.
On his journey into music journey, Ecool said; “Coming from a musically inclined family, I was introduced to music while I was in London in 2006, by my uncle who is a music promoter. He used to promote Dru Hill and other big stars in that era. Though, I was very young, I followed him to most of the concerts because I love dancing and seeing Dru Hill perform on the big stage made me lose my mind. So, he helped nurture the dream that one day, I too would perform on a world stage. My uncle also owned a studio, so I started learning music production before venturing into DJing.”
On why he chose being a DJ over dancing or production, he said; “Aside being a deejay and dancer, I was into computer graphics and software engineering. With all these skills, people would always come around for me to help them download songs and burn it into CDs because as a software engineer I have some apps that enable me to download a lot of songs. So, I started do a mixtape and people started liking it. They are the ones who encouraged me to choose DJing though I had no passion for it at that time. I preferred to be a dancer or music producer.”
Talking about challenges DJs face in Nigeria, he said; “People don’t really respect the disc jockey’s pricing, people prefer to pay artistes more than DJs who can also move crowd. For whatever reason, artistes are of more value than disc jockeys and this is why I was trying to establish the other side of my brand. That is why I’m out with my latest single. Since I already have my fan base, I was like, let me invest my money into a single and see if I could make some profit and benefit the brand.”
Commenting on his latest single, “Personally”, on which he sang, the DJ shared; “I had to each out Peter of PSquare before releasing it. People don’t accept that you can diversify your craft, they often ask: ‘Are you not a DJ, when did you turn to an artiste?’ It was hard to convince people but we need to change that orientation. Since actors can sing, there is nothing wrong if a DJ does too. I think, there should be no limits to craft.”
Read the full interview here
