Mutiat Lawore 
Ekenedirichukwu Ijemba ‘Humblesmith’, is a Nigerian Afro bongo singer signed to his own personal imprint ‘Show Bobo Music’ after his fallout with his previous label. Humblesmith achieved recognition upon the release of his hit single titled Osinachi in 2015. For some years, Humblesmith who had been quiet about his music, is now back bigger and better. He spoke with MUTIAT LAWORE about some his struggles, industry issues among others.
It’s been a while the industry felt your presence, what have you been up to?
I have been working in my own way and strategically waiting for the right time. Now I have a new project. I’ve been working on an album for years now. I have been working on just one album and as God would have it, I’ve been recording lots of songs. So now off the project, I decided to drop a song. This particular song is titled Sochi which means ‘Only God. It’s a happy song and it means so much to me. I actually decided I’m not going to drop any single again this year but this particular song just rose up in my spirit.
You have been in the industry for some years, which will you consider your biggest song as of today?
There is none of my song that I will say is the biggest because the biggest is yet to come. All my songs are big. Till date, my song ‘Osinachi’ will still be played across all platforms because I know there are still songs that will do better than Osinachi. Don’t forget that Osinachi is not just a song, it’s a powerful message of prophecy that has no end. Tomorrow something will happen to you and you will connect to the song. Every lyric in that song I didn’t write anyone, it came direct. That’s why I said it’s a prophecy. Most of the things I said way back in that song are the things happening to me today. I prophesied over my life through the song and it’s coming to pass.
You recorded Osinachi when you were with your former label. Do you still get royalties from that song?
That’s one of my biggest pain everyday but I’m trying to get hold of it. Each time I hear it played or I perform it on stage, I do cry inside because the proceeds are going to another person. If you see me performing Osinachi, I’m the happiest guy but inside me there is a part that is crying and those tears are not ordinary. The only thing is that anyone who works will eat. God says He will bless the work of your hands. When you have worked and other people are eating and you are not getting what you are meant to get, it is sad. And I also feel God has plenty ways He wants to bless me. We will get to that when the time comes.
How much of your growing up days shaped you to who you are now?
A lot. My growing up was rough. Those were the things that built me. I grew up in Abakaliki in Ebonyi State. I used to hawk in the street and sometimes I feel like it’s embarrassing but that’s what made me who I am today. My growing up is playing a lot of roles in my life today. There are a lot of sounds that after making when I’m on my own the spirit will take me back to when I was a kid. I will start seeing some sounds that I heard when I was a little boy. I will start seeing it in a song I just recorded. Osinachi that we are celebrating today is a sound that we created when I was six years old.
With the current economic situation of the country, what do you think of Nigeria at this point?
The truth is that at this moment, I have to talk for the people that don’t have the privilege to live the kind of life that they deserve or want, due to the way things are in Nigeria now. What will be their mindset celebrating the last Independence Day? Things are too expensive. There are people who cannot afford even one meal in a day. That means those who could afford two before can only afford one now, so those that were affording one before maybe they don’t even have anything now. There are people that are homeless, fuel price is crazy. People are selling their cars to survive. Some parents are so concerned about their kids now and they are getting ill. Do you know how many times I’ve spent money on my parents this year? It’s affecting me too. If I can feel this way what happens to other people. It’s very painful. I don’t know where they are taking the country with this whole thing, maybe they are trying to give our currency value but at the end of the day people that suffer are the poor people and the middle class.
Despite the harsh economy, have you ever had the thought of leaving the country?
I will never leave. Right from childhood I’ve always told myself there is nothing like Japa mentality in my brain. I told my siblings when we were kids that I will use my gifts to travel the whole world and come back. I am a warrior, we will stay in the fight; we don’t run away. We only go and work and come back. The truth is, I know that people that are facing the heat, God will show them ways to figure out how to survive. Saying Nigeria will change is just talk.
While you were on low and trying to find balance, did any artiste reach out to you?
The thing is most people that really care are those that I call family and they are around me. Because I’m not a social media person, I don’t really talk and people don’t know what I’m going through. It’s more like I’m facing my fight myself. The ones that really know don’t care. There are many of them that know but they don’t care. That’s to tell you that everybody is fighting for their own pocket and they don’t care. To be honest, nobody reached out to me.
What is your take on celebrities who put out their personal issues on social media for banter?
The truth is that as I grow, I learn. I am an introvert but because of this business it’s like I’m no longer an introvert. Sometimes you need to express yourself with the way the industry is. With the way the country is now, if you keep quiet you may die. I know how many times I needed to speak out but I couldn’t. At the end of the day, it’s because I didn’t grow up thinking a man will help me. Do you know how many people I’ve reached out to and nobody cared. Do you know how many proposals I’ve written, how many offices I’ve entered and nobody cared or responded. At the end of the day, you see that when you try to put your vision on people to help, you will delay yourself. I stopped reaching out to people. I came back to myself and started working on the vision. And I found out that since I started working more on the vision, I started having peace and the vision started being clear and today I am putting out songs with so much courage. I’m not even looking back.
What do you think is the future of Afrobeat?
I think there is no limit to that because what you have seen is a little to what is coming. If the people we are seeing now can be this productive then how much more those that you haven’t seen. That’s to tell you that there is no limit to where Afrobeats is going. Afrobeats is still going to produce a whole lot of sounds and stories and memories that will not be something that you can tell in a year or three years.
With the growth in the music industry; what is your opinion on our artistes been too pricey even in Nigerian concerts?
I don’t blame anybody because the country is crazy and pricey. Everything is expensive and mind you the creative side of our work is expensive. If you look at what we go through to put all these things out there, I feel like we are not even charging what we are supposed to because we are in Africa and Nigeria. Most artistes don’t make their money here. When you travel to where you are more valued you tend to be there for long before coming back home. I feel like the entertainment circle in this country doesn’t help artistes, rather it kills morale, dreams and you don’t need to be in a space where you allow your dream to die, you need to be in a space where they motivate that dream because that is the only way you can shine.
