The very first time I heard any of BadBoyMarz’s music was at the end of last year or towards the end of it. I remember he had popped up on my Instagram for you page because someone I was following had interacted with one of his posts which was a freestyle. Anyway, I turned the audio on and that freestyle was fire. Naturally, my interest was piqued, so I scrolled through his page and watched some more reels and kept it moving.
Fast forward to the first quarter of this year, I came to discover that he has just been signed to Anonymous Music. This new discovery made me further interested in who this artiste is. If you don’t really know much that goes on with people in the music industry, a lot of the time when industry people gather to “hang”, you could find yourself in a room where unreleased songs are being played. You might hear some tunes that go so hard that you immediately ask who the artist is, and when the track is scheduled to be released.
As fate would have it, I was in one of such events, and in a room where the very first song that came on Again. Again happens to be the lead single off Marz’s debut, somewhat-eponymous project titled Mars. Its lyrics are teasing and light and could maybe even trigger some form of vulnerability in its listener. It had a catchy beat, emanating rhythms that immediately drew my attention to the tune.
I met with its creator, the artiste BadBoyMarz, and at first glance he looked familiar but I couldn’t place the face. Probably because the name he introduced himself didn’t sound like the name on the Instagram page I stumbled on a couple of months back. As I’d already witnessed and have now come to conclude within myself, this budding superstar was an interesting figure to meet and a decent person to know. Much more important to me is the fact that I have literally watched him grow, both as an artiste, and as a person.
I decided to have a chat with him about his growth so far, and all other topics related.
Elvis Nwobu aka BadBoyMarz grew up in Surulere, a Local Government Area in Lagoswhich has produced quite a number of superstars. He is currently studying Building at the University of Lagos. He is shy and reserved as a person, only until he’s in the studio trying to create music, then you will see his more expressive side.
I asked him why he decided to practice music professionally and he replied,
“If not music what else? I have always had a passion for art and music and these are mediums of creativity that allow me to express myself. I’ve just always had a passion for creating music and that’s what made the decision to pursue a career in music much easier for me to make”.
Our conversation was a seamless one, and through it I came to a few unexpected realizations about the artiste.
Anyone who first comes across Marz through his music cannot deny the depth of his talent. My first observation about him outside of this is a certain nervousness about his persona. It seemed to me that Marz is in a phase where his current reality is still novelty to him, and he still is in the process of trying to navigate through it all. Seemingly new to him is that new access to resources that may have been out of his reach before now.
Something else I observed about this young artiste was his rate of hard work, and his commitment toward his creative processes.
“My environment majorly affects my creative process. I can also say my experiences, and understanding the experiences of [the] people I’m close to [helps too]”
Though it’s starting to become more common to be able to virtually watch a new acts’ progress, seeing Marz in real time is so fascinating because you could tell when he finally got signed to his label, a lot more intentionality was added to his content creation and curation process. I asked him how getting signed helped his craft as an artist and he was really appreciative of the fact that it allowed him to do things that would’ve cost him in some way if he was still an independent artist.
“I have a lot of time on my hands now to write music and really be intentional about the songs I want to put out in a non-stressful environment. This was the turning point in the choices I have made so far”.
Following this line of conversation, we start to get into how social media is an important tool as far as marketing and strategic positioning of some sorts. This line of conversation is easy for him to flow on because he was discovered by his current record label via Instagram which is almost quite identical to Ayra Starr’s discovery story by Don Jazzy (and her trajectory is quite phenomenal). We also talked about how it helped his just starting career.
“I would say that social media made a huge impact in my career trajectory. The exposure I got really surprised me because at the time, I was just majorly concerned about getting enough clicks and that was what brought me to the attention of my current record label.”
So far, I’m very excited about listening to and talking to him about his forthcoming project. With the only feature on the entire project from Zlatan Ibile and producer credits from Soundz and Ibkissleek, Marz says that we should expect timeless music from him, the type that will levitate him toward greatness . Regarding his expectations following the release of this project, Marz says
“I’m honestly expecting the best. I would really appreciate more exposure because as an artist I believe this is one of the most important things that I can have. Also, I’d really like this project to bring collaborations with top talent in the industry.”
My Thoughts
Personally, with a lot of emphasis on the personally, the lead track does it for me. As a hard guy who’s actually a real-life softie, Again is an anthem for me. His sultry voice and the stirring lyrics beguile me. Surrender is the second track on the project and he follows through on his gospel of being able to transpose honest conversations to lyrics that move the listener. He does this seamlessly on a percussion infused afrobeat beat.
On “Operate” he reminds us why the prefix of his name is “Badboy” and lets his love interest know that “it is what it is and he wants what he’s seeing.On the last track of this project he features Zlatan - and I think I’m almost more excited for the feature than he is. I feel like it was the best blend with the “lamba” from Marz and Zlatan’s unending barrage of adlibs in the background. Marz sang his heart out on this track and Zlatan Ibile did what he does effortlessly on this track so it’s safe to say that Love Song shows promise to be a banger.
This afrobeat packed project promises to serve as a proper introduction to the music industry for BadBoyMarz that also highlights his strengths as a singer/songwriter and a Bad boy primed to take the world at its helm.
This Article was Written by Rotimi Michaelson
