•Fame intoxicated me
By Damilola Fatunmise
Olorunyomi Oloruntimilehin aka Bad Boy Timz is a singer and songwriter, who became a household name with the release of MJ.
Shortly after, Young Fela as he’s also called, featured in Olamide’s hit single, Loading off Carpe Diem (2), which won Rookie of the Year award at the 2020 Headies.
In this interview, the Computer Engineering graduate spoke about how he overcame his ex-label’s bullies, new projects, and freedom as an independent artiste. Please enjoy it.
How did you come about the name, Bad Boy Timz?
When I started making music, my stage name used to be Timz and it’s a combination of two of my names: Timothy and Timilehin. I added the Bad Boy because there was another artiste bearing Timz and I couldn’t continue using that name.
Tell us about how you came to work with Olamide and the type of person he is.
I made a freestyle video in 2017 for Davido’s ‘If’. I posted it on my page but it didn’t go viral. Someone else posted it and it went viral because he tagged Olamide, who retweeted the post. I reached out to him later; I told him I wanted to take music seriously but I don’t have a direction yet.
He invited me over and I did back up off some songs on the album, Lagos Nawa. Fast forward to after MJ and he (Olamide) said he was compiling his album and it would make sense for me to be on it. We made Loading and another song, but that one stuck out because at that time, Amapiano was just coming up.
For his personality, Olamide is cool, calm and reserved. He thinks twice before saying anything. For instance, we were having a normal conversation and he started playing old songs to prep me for the studio session. I feel like that is what a legend should do. Whenever you have an artiste over, prep them and don’t just jump into the studio with them. Olamide is a mentor and I look up to him because he is also a businessman. He is not just an artiste; he is also an A&R analyst amongst others.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on a new album and its goal is to remind people about old Afrobeats songs. I have seen that a lot of people are sampling foreign songs, but they barely sample old Afrobeats songs. That’s one of the things that I’m working on for my new album, sampling songs of veterans that include Lagbaja, Ebenezer Obey amongst others.
Talking about global presence, how do you intend to take these songs international?
Basically, I’m not going to be sampling only Afrobeats, I’m also sampling both Afrobeats and hip-hop. My plan is if I’m sampling a foreign song, I want to interpret it in an African way. That sets me apart from what everyone is doing.
Who are some of the musicians that inspired you while growing up?
The likes of Asa inspired me. I used to listen to a lot of her album. There was this driver that used to take me to school when I was young, and he always played Asa’s music. I soaked in a lot of Asa music, and my dad’s music as well. My dad owns a band that is active till today. It’s called Baba T International Band.
Any plan to sing with your dad?
Yes, definitely.
You have released a couple of big tracks, what is your thought process when making songs?
Sometimes I do freestyles; sometimes I write the songs without having any instrumentals for them. I have a formula for making my music. It’s off my reality, other people’s reality, and social awareness. I also sing about youthful stuff because I’m a youth, and that’s what my generation wants to hear.
There is this belief that musicians need to get high for inspiration, do you feel that way too?
I will speak for myself. If I’m making a club song in the studio, I will get high to be able to feel the way I would feel in the club. It’s not like I do needles, it’s just basic high. That’s the reason artistes like to take alcohol. It’s just to feel the same way they and the public would feel when they are in the club.
Like the late Mohbad, have you ever been bullied in the industry?
The kind of bullying I had was the arrest by my former music label, and I feel it’s the way the system is. The justice system doesn’t protect the average people from the rich. If a contractual agreement is breached, the police are not meant to be involved. It shouldn’t get to the point of arrest. The lawyer can just write to the artiste that you have breached the contract.
I feel there’s need to be more aware on bullying because it runs deep. The fact that someone is bullying you, you might sleep and out of fear you don’t wake up. Life is like that. For me, I say no to bullying.
How were you able to get over this?
I didn’t drop songs for a year. I couldn’t continue the contract because someone arrested me for breaching it. I didn’t know what to expect and it’s not a conducive working environment for me.
So, did you run out of the country as a form of therapy?
No, I had to leave Nigeria because I was seeing my mates performing and I couldn’t. I was recording songs but I didn’t know when I was going to drop them. I went out of Nigeria to clear my head and see things from outside. Traveling out of the country really helped me bounce back, because I saw things from different angles. I thought about how I would package myself as a new artiste, and it’s by God’s grace that I bounced back.
On your ex-label’s bullying, did you at any time open up to any industry mentor?
I couldn’t really open up to the industry OGs, because there is this mindset that artistes are ungrateful. I need people to understand that artistes are human beings too. Arresting me didn’t make me feel safe any longer. Everyone just felt I wasn’t loyal.
Nobody knew what I was going through and they didn’t care.
How were you able to sort out things with your former label?
We had to reach an agreement and I had to pay them off. I had to give them some shares off my last album for everything to settle. I’m just recovering from it.
For someone whose dad is also in the music industry, how did he come in to help?
My dad being in the picture made things a lot easier for me. Even though, I did not drop music for one year, it made a lot of things easier for me. However, my dad was not that active in the industry, he’s just this talented man that owns a band and people give him shows. He is an accountant who loves music. He is my accountant basically. So, my dad couldn’t really do much but he made sure I was in the right frame of mind.
I feel time sorted things out and Empire Music came into the picture as my distribution company. They helped with some part of the money because I still had to invest in music, I had to drop music videos, do radio shows. I was paying a debt and I was investing in music, so I had nothing. I’m just getting back on my feet.
At what point did your parents know about your music career?
I was making music but I didn’t let my parents know about it. They found out through the freestyle video I did. One of their friends in the UK sent them a screenshot from Facebook and asked if they knew about it. They forwarded it to me with the message, but luckily for me that was the same night I was getting an award from school. When they sent the screenshot to me, I just snapped the award and sent it to them also.
In all of this, what role did your mum play?
First of all, I am mommy’s boy. She supported me with a lot of prayers and she still does. She’s the one that takes me to vigil.
How do you handle fame?
Fame intoxicated me a few years back. There are some things that I did then that I couldn’t do now. I’m growing, I’m learning. It was when I couldn’t drop music for a year that I had to reflect on my life. It’s not something I’m used to and I get it, it’s like that for artistes that became popular when they’re young.
Being from a Christian home, how did your parents react to your stage name, Bad Boy Timz?
Till now, they are not cool with the name but it’s not the right time to change the name. They wanted me to change to my original name, Timz or Timilehin or even Timmy. The rebranding cannot just happen now. The street might not welcome it. People know me for this, so let me just stick to it.
You acted in Prime Video’s new series, She Must Be Obeyed, tell us about your experience, and how will you describe Funke Akindele?
Funke Akindele was one of the people that helped me with my label issue. The lawyer that helped me, Funke Akindele was the one that introduced us. She is a really great person and she has been awesome. We had other artistes on set that did just cameo appearances without uttering a word, but Funke Akindele made sure I acted fully in the movie, and that is one experience I cannot trade for anything being my first time acting on big screen.
Any plan of exploring the movie industry more?
Definitely. At some point in my life, I really want to be a director like 50 Cents.
What do you have to say about artistes who sign contracts without legal backing?
For my contract, I made use of a lawyer but he was not an entertainment lawyer, and that was something I got to know about after I was in. Getting out of the deal would still have had k-leg because the people I was working with probably didn’t want me to make music again, but they just had to let me go.
What was it like to win Headies award?
Winning Headies added to the issues I had with my former label. While being presented with the award on stage, I was so excited that I forgot to give a shout out to my record label. I didn’t see it coming because I was ‘gassed’ that day. That’s one of the reasons they say that artistes are ungrateful, but you should understand that they are human too. I didn’t go on stage with the mindset that I wouldn’t mention their name; my manager was beside me and I didn’t remember to mention him. The emotions were just too much.
As an independent act, tell us about your new single, Lotto.
The song is like winning someone’s heart, equating to the feeling of winning lotto. That was my perspective. When you win a lottery, you are at your happiest and when someone new comes into your life that is making you happy. I sampled one of Pawpaw’s audios where he was professing love to a lady in a funny way, and I just made it into a love song that relates to winning lottery.