Joeboy, a popular Nigerian artist, has spoken up about his early life problems, recounting a time when he worked at a clean water plant while on strike at university.
The Nigerian musician, who studied Human Resources and Personal Management, spoke of his difficulties to find work during a three-month university strike.
Faced with the scary possibility of unemployment, he ultimately found work as a marketer in a clean water facility in Lagos.
“I was looking so hard for a job and couldn’t find any. Is this how I’m going to end up when I finish school?” Joeboy said during the interview.
Joeboy described his life as a “miracle,” stating that despite some advice against signing him, Mr. Eazi, the head of his former record company, took a risk on him, resulting in his surprise signing to Empawa, where his musical career took flight.
Joeboy emphasized the unexpected aspect of his accomplishment, claiming that not even his parents had anticipated his entry into the music industry.
Despite early reservations, Joeboy has gone on to get what he calls “the best label deal in Afrobeats history in Nigeria.”
Joeboy just launched his own label, Young Legend, while continuing his relationship with Empawa.
In his words:
“I studied Human Resources and Personal Management. When I was in the university, there was a strike for like three months. So I decided to get a job and I was searching for a job for like three months in the whole of Lagos. I did not get one single job.
There was even a time I worked in a pure water factory as a marketer. At that point I was like, ‘I’m looking so hard for a job and I can’t find any. Is this how I’m going to end up when I finish school?’ So that was also a trigger. I told myself, ‘You really have to make sure you make it [in the music industry].”