28th April, 2021
By Taiwo Okanlawon
Award-winning Nigerian Disc Jockey, Ayorinde Kehinde Okiki popularly known as DJ Kaywise has narrated how he made his first N1,000 from his mixtape at the popular Alaba market.
The “Highway” crooner made this known in an interview with Pulse NG where he talks about Alaba, growing up in Egbeda, Phyno’s hot collaboration and feud with his dad.
According to the DJ, he was still renting equipment and speakers to thrill his Egbeda hood, but said one day, somebody walked into his parent’s home to ask him for a mixtape, adding that the man also asked him to come to Alaba.
“I was shocked and also scared because our mindset about Alaba was very sinister, like they kill people there. Even my mom was apprehensive,” he reminisced.
“But I gathered money, took a bus and got to Alaba. I met a marketer who asked me for my mix because he doubted my ability due to my age and how young I looked.”
The next day, Kaywise brought in a mix that made everybody in the shop dance, both intentionally and unintentionally. That was how Kaywise earned N1,000 for his first mixtape.
“This was because I didn’t think I was ever going to make money from DJing, I just knew I would have prestige from it,” he says.
“Now, I realize that they ripped me off because they were selling thousands of that mix. But at the time, I didn’t care enough to realize. I was just happy with making music.”
The following day, Kaywise brought another mix and it became a routine that became bigger and bigger.
According to him, he was doing 20-30 mixes every day and grew smart enough to work with multiple marketers and his name became bigger.
“I’m serious, that was my life because I want to be here. Sometimes, I would use two laptops simultaneously. Now, it’s soft work because I only work for three to four hours on radio or at gigs. But back then, I was only getting two hours of sleep every day because I was making money off the tapes, saving, buying equipment and I saw a way to a better life.”
By the time he was 18, he was as popular as DJ Kami Kami, DJ Real, and a few others in the mainstream mixtape market.
“Some people think that I’m new, but I have been part of some of the biggest records. I was part of pushing Afrobeats from the ground up,” he said.