Hello people,

Before we go knee-deep into how my September went, how was yours? I hope you loved it and I pray this new month is kinder to you. 

For the first time in like 5 years, I am actively retrying to gain weight. All my life, my weight has always been between 49kg and 50kg, never above. I have tried all types of methods, from Ensure to Complan to Apetamin etc, nothing has worked, but I’m trying again. My target is to add 10kg by the end of January 2023. So, I’m going to need you to be my accountability partner on this journey. 

Currently, I weigh 50.5kg. My friend Bosola told me the easiest way to gain weight is by going to the gym. I thought it was a counter-productive endeavour, but here we are. It’s crazy how much impact just two weeks of regular visits to the gym can do to your overall well-being.

I’m entering into a new season, so this weight-gain journey is part of my efforts to be ready to reap from it. I believe I need to be physically, mentally and spiritually ready to fully benefit from my new season. Therefore, I’ve also started to take my therapy and spiritual sessions seriously. 

Seriously, everything is coming all together: I no longer wake up feeling exhausted; I’m feeling more confident about my body; my mental well-being is getting better; my career is growing. I’m more motivated than I’ve ever been.

In other news, The Sarz Academy was on last month, although I have retired from active daily operations, I serve as a member of the advisory board now. I’m really proud of how far the academy has grown since we started in 2015. At the third edition this year, we received 10,000 applications in less than two weeks and selected only 14 artists and producers. This is significant because TSA started as a producers-only academy. I’m proud of my partner Iredumare Opeyemi, whose belief and efforts got us this far. I’m equally thankful for our donors Warner Music and United Masters for making the third edition successful. The talents from this edition are guaranteed superstars. Follow @thesarzacademy on all platforms. 

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What are you listening to?

See you again!

Hi,

I met a lot of fine Igbo men in the month of August. I’ve never seen that many fine Igbo men in a single place all my life! But this is the thing: I went to meet them in their zone. 

My visit to Onitsha, Anambra State, happened really fast. One minute, my assistant was booking a meeting with Ralph, my potential client’s representative in Lagos. Next, I’m being asked if I’d like to fly to the town for another meeting.  

I’m a travel junkie and the thrill of adventure gives me the kick. But Ralph’s briefing to me offered more: He wanted me to create an artist development path for his new record label. This label focuses on indigenous artists from the East and since I haven’t done anything like this in a while, I agreed to travel to meet the label owner at his base.

The fear of the unknown stops us from experiencing life in itself. I told my friends and family that I was going to Onitsha for work and everyone became very frantic. I tried to be chill but the warnings about kidnappings increased. But I typically have a coconut head and I wasn’t going to skip on an opportunity to experience a new place so I just ensured that all security checks were done and didn’t cancel.

However, in my case, I still flew to Onitsha through Asaba, Delta State. The trip from Asaba to Onitsha was grueling. The roads were horrible and crying Godu Abego! The traffic was horrendous on that particular day. I got to the potential client’s office at 5pm and I didn’t get to meet him, only briefly, until like 6pm. He was in and out of meetings until 9pm that day and by 11pm, he was able to meet me to discuss business.

Our meeting lasted until 1:30AM and by the time it was over, they wanted me to go out to experience night-life in Onitsha. I had to return to Lagos that same day. So, I declined with a promise that when I come back to town, we’ll have a better opportunity to explore. 

Of course, I didn’t leave the town without tasting their street foods Ugba, Abacha and Okpa. I never leave a new town or city without tasting their local dishes and in this particular case, I’m coming back for more. Chukwu goziem!

Oh, so, about the fine Igbo men. I didn’t remember to mention the wealthy men. No, scratch that, calling them “wealthy” doesn’t exactly do justice. Let’s call them “stinkingly rich Igbo men”, there’s an air of humility about them. They dress in shorts or pyjamas, you know, anything that doesn’t leave a hint of the size of their pockets. There’s no open display of wealth, but they do love their beers. 

August has been truly cool for me. I had a lot of informal meetings and I enjoyed them. Two of my favourite Ghanaians, Malcolm Nuna & Yaw Tog, were in Nigeria to promote their new singles which are featured on this month’s playlist. I had an interview at TVC earlier and it was dope! Shoutout to the brilliant women at Television Continental! Watch it here. Shoutout to you as well, for always following and watching me, I saw many tweets on mini quotes from my last letter, let’s coordinate it with a hashtag…. I am thinking #FozaSays?? Help me out.

This month I decided one song doesn’t do justice, so let’s curate a playlist! 

Daalu (Thank you!)

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