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Fan archive · Not affiliated with Olamide or YBNL Nation
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OlamideVerse — Era 02Fan archive · Not affiliated with YBNL
YBNL Nation is bornEditorial Dossier

First of All

He left the label that discovered him to build one of his own — and it worked twice in two years. This isn't a warning shot. It's the founding document of an empire.

2012 — 2013

YBNL Nation founded · 2012 · YBNL · 2012 · Baddest Guy Ever Liveth · 2013 · Durosoke · Best Video, 2013 NMVA

The context

Betting on his own name

In 2012, Olamide left ID Cabasa's Coded Tunes — the label that discovered him — to found YBNL Nation. Going independent this early was a real risk: no more borrowed infrastructure, just his own name on the door. He named the launch album after the label itself.

YBNL didn't just survive the leap — singles "First of All," "Ilefo Illuminati," "Stupid Love" and "Voice of the Street" turned the label's first release into a Headies and Nigeria Entertainment Awards winner. By May 2013, when rumors surfaced of a rival label courting him, Olamide shut it down on NdaniTV's The Juice: it was, in his words, too late for anyone else to sign him.

Then, in November 2013, Baddest Guy Ever Liveth confirmed YBNL wasn't a fluke. "Durosoke" took Best Afro Hip-Hop Video at that year's Nigeria Music Video Awards. The upstart had become the standard.

Archival photo — First of All, 2012 — 2013Photo: Yellowcrunchy, CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab)

The albums of the era

YBNL cover art
2012 · AlbumFirst of All
Baddest Guy Ever Liveth cover art
2013 · AlbumFirst of All
He left the label that discovered him to prove the discovery was his own.

The moments

Four beats,
two years

2012

Exit and founding

Leaves Coded Tunes, founds YBNL Nation — the beginning of the empire he'd go on to build for a decade.

2012

YBNL wins big

The label's debut release takes home top honors at both the Headies and the Nigeria Entertainment Awards.

May 2013

"Too late to sign him"

Denies rumors of a rival label deal on NdaniTV's The Juice — a sign of how much leverage YBNL had already earned him. That same year, Cîroc names him Nigeria's first ambassador for the brand.

Nov 2013

Baddest Guy Ever Liveth & "Durosoke"

Third album lands and sweeps The Headies 2014 — Album of the Year and Best Rap Album both; "Durosoke" also wins Best Afro Hip-Hop Video at the 2013 Nigeria Music Video Awards.

Share a snippet

Bars from this era

All snippets →
Audiogram · 2012First of All
“It doesn't ask for a seat at the table. It builds a new one.”

The mission statement of a label that had just been born — infrastructure carrying his name from now on.

YBNL·First of All
Open
Audiogram · 2012Voice of the Street
“The song that made the label's acronym sound like a constituency.”

Less a single than a roll call — YBNL as place, people, and politics on one beat.

YBNL·Voice of the Street
Open
Audiogram · 2013Durosoke
“Confidence as choreography — a street chant turned national muscle memory.”

The clip that took Best Afro Hip-Hop Video at the 2013 Nigeria Music Video Awards and made Durosoke a movement, not just a single.

Baddest Guy Ever Liveth·Durosoke
Open

From the media archive

Watch this era

Keep following the fabric

Around First of All

Jump from this chapter into the people, places, and shareable bars that sit beside it.

Next chapter

Era 03 · Live nowThe Street King Run (2014 — 2017)An album every year

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First of All

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