Legendary Nigerian singer Alexander Akande, fondly called 9ice, revealed that in the early days of his career, his music closely resembled the sound of Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean.
The ‘Gongo Aso’ crooner acknowledged that he wasn’t the only Nigerian artist influenced by Wyclef at the time, but he believed his imitation was superior.
In a recent interview with SPS, 9ice shared that he eventually moved away from copying Wyclef’s style after discovering his unique sound.
He highlighted that his music is now a blend of influences from legends like Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Bob Marley, Ayinde Barrister, Kwan1, and Pasuma.
“My inspiration was Wyclef (Jean). If anybody listened to me at the beginning, there was a time I was sounding like Wyclef 100 per cent. And other people were sounding like him but they felt that I sounded better than them when it comes to sounding like Wyclef,” he said.
“And from sounding like Wyclef, I got to my original sound. Bob Marley, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Ayinde Barrister, Kwan1, Pasuma and Obesere are the people that I listened to while growing up and they formed my blend in music.”