Buzz Exclusive: Bizzle Osikoya Opens Up About His Career And Why He No Longer Manages Artists

By Excel Joab

Bizzle Osikoya never planned on being in the music industry but the music called out to him and he answered in his own way. Today, he’s one of the key players in the African music space with an ever-growing list of clientele under his management company, The Plug, which he formed in 2016 with his business partner and friend, Asa Asika.

“I grew up in Obanikoro and my secondary school was in Gbagada. My childhood was fun. I never thought I would be in the music industry. I always wanted to be a soldier. If you can find any video from my primary school graduation. When they asked me what I wanted to be in the future,m I said I wanted to be a general”

As life would have it, Bizzle Osikoya didn’t become a general but rather, became one of the key players in the African music scene. It became clear to him that he wanted a career in the music industry when he was living in England. He noticed how Jamaican music was the talk of the town while Nigerian music and African music, in general, was not really recognized in the UK. He made a decision to change that. “I told myself that I needed to be part of the movement to make African music global,” says Bizzle and he put in the work to achieve this. He would buy CDs whenever he came to Nigeria and upload the videos on his Facebook page. He slowly became the go-to guy for Nigerian music and people started sending him their songs for him to post on his social media pages.

Over the years, Bizzle has worked with a lot of artistes. He recalls the first artiste he worked with. Baba T. The son of Frank Kuboye. He worked with him when he was in England. When he came back home, the first artiste he worked with was Naeto C. At this point in the interview, he gives a shout out to Obi Asika. “Obi gave me a job at Storm Records to be their head of social media and I was also Naeto C’s road manager. I worked with Naeto C, Ikechukwu and Sasha”. He would later leave Storm records to work with D’banj and the rest of the Mo’hits crew. With the dissolution of Mo’hits, he joined Mavin Records as the head of A&R where he got to groom a new generation of stars (Reekado Banks, Korede Bello, and Di’Ja). He recalls being a part of the team that discovered Reekado at a music competition. “He came to the studio that same day. I can never forget that day. He did 6 songs in one day. I immediately knew that the guy was talented… it was fun being the A&R at Mavin. We put out great music. I remember the first Mavin album we put out. Solar Plexus. People didn’t get it. I guess the album was ahead of its time. Now I see tweets about people saying this song or that song from that album is dope”

Someone like Bizzle Osikoya who has been a talent manager and an A&R person is in the best position to speak about the difficulties of managing creatives. “I no longer manage creatives. The hardest thing about managing artists is that artists are divas. When they start, they’re humble. Once they get money, they change. A lot of them will tell you that they won’t be like others but I’ve worked with a lot of people so I know better. All the top guys right now, Wiz, Davido. I’ve seen them when they didn’t have money and when they got money. So trust me, I can tell you that, money definitely changes people. I’m not interested in managing an artist. I’d rather be an A&R, help you develop your talent, help you find your sound and connect you with the right people but as far as artist management, that’s not my thing. I’m the kind of person that does not take nonsense and once you start to be rude and disrespectful, I’ll walk away”

He goes on to discuss in detail the concepts of A&R and Talent management.

Watch the first part of Boombuzz NG's exclusive interview with Bizzle Osikoya