Bad Boy Timz Takes Us Into His Planet Of “No Bad Boy, No Party”

The African music scene has taken the world by storm in recent times and offered us a colossal amount of musical geniuses over the last two decades. From the energetic D’banj to the phenomenon called Wizkid to the barrier-breaking Burna Boy to the all-conquering Davido, African music has continued to advance by leaps and bounds, breaking into the music markets and establishing itself as a major player in the constantly evolving music business. Another soldier has emerged from the scene’s new vanguard amid the ongoing emergence of fresh artists, and he is none other than Bad Boy Timz.

The chart-topping music star is on his way to establishing himself as a worthy candidate in African music’s upper echelons. He’s made huge strides over the last two years, earning accolades like “Rookie of the Year” at the Headies Awards, amassing 70 million streams worldwide, performing to over 15 thousand fans at a concert in his home country of Nigeria, and landing a spot on the Billboard US Afrobeats Song Chart.

Over a Google Meet call, I [Ralph Okobz] had a lively conversation with the positive energy-exuding Bad Boy Timz about his early days, musical foundation, possible future collaborations with American, British, and Caribbean acts, his forthcoming album “No Bad Boy, No Party,” working with African music great Olamide, and touring.

RO: Pleased to meet you Timz, can you tell us how your musical journey began, like what got you hooked to music?

BBT: Great to meet you. Music runs in my family, my dad makes Tungba music. While growing up, I used to follow him to some of his gigs with his band. Consciously or subconsciously, I started writing my songs. I started singing other people’s songs like Mo’Hits and Asa. I began recording my song unprofessionally from high school. But when I got into the University, I did a freestyle on Davido’s If and it went viral on a someone else’s page and I just felt like that’s sort of my green light to know that I wanted to do music full time and grow my talent making music.

RO: Do you consider yourself an Afrobeats artiste or do you have a specific music genre you’d like to be identified with?

BBT: For now, I’d say Afropop artiste not just Afrobeats, because I make Pop music as well.

RO: What was the creative process like when you recorded “Loading” and “Skelele” with Olamide?

BBT: It was a really great experience. Olamide is like my big brother. Oh my bro, it was mind blowing for me. We recorded “Loading” physically, for “Skelele” I had to send the song over for him to record on it. On making Loading, Olamide records like a spirit, he just goes to corner and vibe, vibe, vibe, and before you know it; he’s out with 12 bars. It didn’t take him long to drop the verse on Loading. Naturally, for artistes if you aren’t writing the song like 20 times before you think it isn’t perfect [that was my thought]. Olamide just does it at the snap of the finger. He made me realize that you don’t need to think these things (creative process) to be that deep, just do it and move unto the next one. Right in that recording session, we knew that “Loading” was going to be a smash hit single because the energy was insane. When we made “Skelele” I sent the song over to him, and he said “this song is bad oh. Send my open verse.”

RO: I see that you are getting set to drop your album, what should we be expecting from the project and what was the creative process like?

BBT: The project is a compilation of a lot of emotions from 2019 till dat. I feel like the album has a lot of replay value and it’s just all amazing music including Afrobeats, Amapiano records and Pop music. I’m really excited for this one. The creative process consists of what I’ve been through, the good, the bad and the ugly. There’s a particular song on the project titled “Igboro,” I’ve always been talking about this particular song. That song is going to touch a lot of people because it just speaks about my story from the beginning up to this moment and it is relatable to everyone. It’s the last track on the project, so you can imagine how much energy is coming off the project if that’s the last track on the project.

RO: Sounds great, are there any notable collaborations on your forthcoming album? and what should your fans be expecting from this project?

BBT: Yeah! I have Olamide on the album for sure, I have Zlatan, I have an international artist but I don’t want to spill the tea on who he/she is. There’s a lot of surprises on the album. I’ll even surprise myself because I haven’t decided on what sounds would be on the album but expect the best.

RO: I’m curious to know if Bad Boy Timz would be touring soon?

BBT: Definitely, Bad Boy Timz is touring soon. The official tour would start after the project drops. I’m currently touching base on the countries that have been listening to my music for awhile and I’ve not been able to go to due to a couple of things. I’ll be in Dubai, The United States and The United Kingdom before the end of the year.

RO: Do you have any particular city on a global level which you are looking forward to performing in and connecting with your fans?

BBT: Right now, it is New York. I know I have a lot of friends and fans in New York and I’ve never been to the city. I know it’s going to be an amazing show and there are a lot of Africans there that I relate with and talk to. I feel like New York and Los Angeles, whenever I do my events there, I know it’s going to be fire!!

RO: What was your most memorable performance and in what city?

BBT: I think it was in Lagos State University when over 15 thousand people came out for me. Wow, it was a full house. It was a memorable performance for me because I didn’t know I had that much fan base in the school.

RO: Are there any American, British or Latino artistes you’d like to work with and why do you want to work with these set of artistes?

BBT: In America, I’d like to work with Drake or Polo Gee because they are the artists I listen to the most from the US and I can relate to their story. For the UK, I’d like to work with J Hus because my first freestyle video was quoted by him on Twitter and I didn’t know who he was, so I’d like to work with him. For the Caribbean, I’ll pick Popcaan!

RO: I’m sure none of these names are on your forthcoming album since you are keeping the featured acts on the album private for now, right?

BBT: Not yet, (jokes) shey you go help me pay the money? (laughs) Empire got me covered (laughs again).

RO: We know the media get to judge people wrongly a-times, has there been anytime you’ve heard something false about yourself and would you love to clear it?

BBT: The only time was when I got arrested by my former record label. I don’t really want to talk about it now, I’ve moved on but if I’m ever going to talk about it, it will be in a video interview because I want people to see the emotions on my face.