Recorded 2010 Length 4:50 | Genre Hip hop, Naija Label Chocolate City | |
Released June 8, 2010 (2010-06-08) Format CD single, digital download | ||
"Oleku" is an Afrobeat song by Nigerian recording artist Ice Prince. The song features vocals from Brymo. It was released by Chocolate City on June 8, 2010. It is the first single from his debut studio album Everybody Loves Ice Prince, and the third overall single released by the rapper.
Contents
Upon its release, the song became an instant success, gaining positive reviews from music lovers. The song was one of the most popular songs of 2010 along with Naeto C's "Ten Over Ten" and D'banj's "Scapegoat". The song helped popularize the Minna native. Until the release of "Oleku", Ice Prince was relatively unknown.
Background, meaning, and composition
During a visit to Tim Westwood's BBC Radio 1xtra show, Ice Prince said "Oleku" means 'hard and strong'. In an interview with Factory 78 TV, Ice Prince was asked about the recording process of "Oleku". His response was:
"First of all, what happened was, at the time Chocolate City was on my neck to submit my single because they've released M.I, they've released Jesse. What they were supposed to release next is Ice Prince. They were on my neck for my single and there was no single. So, I got a beat from my friend. His name is Sarz. He gave me a beat and the first thing that came to my head when I was writing was "She feeling me boy yeah, she feeling me boy". That sounded good. I was writing it in the studio, just trying to write verses to that. Jesse came in and heard me singing that. Jesse started playing the chords to what I was singing and I like it. So we just put on the system, he recorded the whole instrument. Between God and men, Jesse made the whole beat under 30 minutes. He made it and stepped out of the studio. I wrote it there and thought I needed more melodies for soul. I started composing in my head...I wanted to put Yoruba words to that so I called Brymo to the studio, we sat down together, put our heads together and we wrote it. It came out the way it was. But I didn't expect it to be this big, trust me...I thought that it was an okay song...It wasn't even going to come out as my first single, but because the demand was too much, I needed to put it out real quick so we just tested it out on the internet. From the internet, it just went everywhere."
Music video
The music video for the single has eclipsed the 3.9 million views mark on YouTube. M.I, Jesse Jagz and Wizkid made cameo appearances in the music video. Prior to the release of the official music video, an unauthorized release of the unfinish music video surfaced on the internet. During the aforementioned interview, Ice Prince shed light on the situation. He said: "It was a very terrible situation for me. I was very depressed that period. The first cut that my director submitted leaked out. When he submitted it, I didn't like it and my record label didn't like it so we sent it back to him and asked him to redo it and which he did. What happen was, because we're all scattered, he sent us the link. He sent it on a private link and we got it and watched it. Unfortunately for us, someone got their hands on the private link. I don't know how. We emailed 4shared and they said they were going to get back to us, blah, blah, blah. We've not sorted it out up to now but it just went out like that. It was very very depressing."
Accolades
The song won an award for Hottest Single of the Year at the 2011 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. The music video for "Oleku" was nominated for Best Contemporary Afro Video at the 2011 Nigeria Music Video Awards (NMVA). Moreover, it won the Most Gifted Newcomer Video award at the 2011 Channel O Music Video Awards. "Oleku" won the Song of the Year award at the 2011 City People Entertainment Awards, and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2010 Dynamix All Youth Awards. Furthermore, "Oleku" won Best Rap Single and Song of the Year at The Headies 2011. Ice Prince was nominated in the Next Rated, Lyricist on the Roll and Best Collaboration categories at The Headies 2011.
Track listing, covers, and remixes
Since the official release of "Oleku" in 2010, numerous remixes and cover versions have been released. "Oleku" is one of Nigeria's most remixed songs of all time. It was covered by Kagwe Mungai, Vector, Mugeez of R2Bees, Victoria Kimani, Sarkodie and Yung6ix, among others.