22 year old Joshua “Stackalot” Adedokun was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He grew up shifting between Lagos and London. He grew up in a humble, middle-class family with strong family values. Growing up in those two countries allowed him to see and appreciate the depth and value of culture, which makes him a better person.
He started his music journey first, through writing – journaling every day helped him find a rhythm with his pen and made him a better songwriter. He is a self-certified wallflower and an emotional soul, and this allows him to attribute his attention to detail to being able to just observe the situations around him while growing up and finding himself.
Stackalot is the artist and fellow co-founder of Color Me Wild Entertainments, an artist relation and management firm. Stackalot and his manager, who also doubles as his co-founder, Brai, have decided to self-fund their label, and this allows them to have full creative control over the music they release. This modus operandi is becoming a trend among other emerging Nigerian artists, as the industry’s barrier to entry is lowering by the day. Stackalot and his label are focused on putting out high-quality content, and this sets them apart from other new artists in the industry.
When Stackalot first began his journey, he found the industry to be not so welcoming to new talent, and this helped him find the drive to pursue his passion even harder. You could also talk about how Stack’s determination and willingness to self-fund his own label have helped him overcome these obstacles and succeed in the industry despite the lack of support.
While speaking with this rising star, the key themes of overcoming adversity, being a self-starter, and the importance of self-funding in the Nigerian music industry are the overarching message he’s preaching. Also, getting help with putting his music on music streaming platforms with the help of DSPs was quite expensive, as the ones that were affordable didn’t really provide him with enough reach, and the ones that could offer the reach he needed were way out of his budget.
As we all know, music promotion is one of the hardest and most important aspects of any musician’s career. As an individual he found it hard to get support from established players in the game and OAPs and DJs.
The difficulties he faced in getting his music heard by a wider audience affected his ability to gain popularity and build a fanbase. Which is quite a common challenge for independent artists but Stack’s determination and focus on quality content helped him overcome these obstacles and start to gain recognition in the industry.
Despite the challenges he faced in getting his music heard, Stackalot recently released his first official single, “Undercover,” and it’s starting to garner some attention. This is an important milestone for him and it showcases the potential of self-funded artists in the Nigerian music industry. “Undercover” is a single worth listening to, and it showcases the talent and potential of Stackalot.
