5 Practical Lessons from Gaise Baba; His Groundbreaking Success

For the last couple of weeks since its release, the entire world has been buzzing with joy, pride, love, support. We have not only watched but have actively participated in this movement, further contributing to grand rising of Nigeria’s phenomenal urban and afro-gospel artist, convener and culture architect, Gaise Baba.

‘As is his custom’, Gaise Baba chose to do this innovative and strategic remix of ‘No Turning Back’, a 2024 release, in collaboration with you know who - the radical, ‘cantor,’ songwriter, gospel music artist, pastor teacher and ‘demon chaser’ Lawrence Oyor and it is Unbelievably believable!

What started with just a short reel with Gaise Baba dancing in, a cheerful crowd of young people in white chanting ‘no, no,’ as Lawrence Oyor’s growled in with his very serious almost nonsensical look (one that we love), as he called out -

‘I can never turn back o!

It’s already too late o!

It won’t make sense o!’

As simple as these lines may sound, to me, they echoed David’s words in Psalms 139, one where he spoke of his growing understanding of God’s presence, acknowledging His wonderful work of which he (David), knew too well. Like where else do you want to go away from that Sovereignty? It won’t make sense. lol!

Gaise Baba

Gaise Baba

The collaborative release of No Turning Back II, has led to a global outburst of consecration and pledge, this is too wonderful to comprehend. While some unbelievable humans judge the intention, God is moving, because we are literally watching a God-movement unfold. We can see outpouring of genuine love and support from gospel artists across the globe.

Africans and especially Nigerians in the diaspora (you know we are many, lol), have taken to those reels and now the full track; reimagining, recreating and re-echoing them. A lot of this movement started before the May 16th release and as the Gaise shared with Akah Nnani via Instagram Live, it led a lot of people who may have not heard the original to go streaming the original, garnering over 300,000 more streams on his YouTube page.

Observing Gaise’s trajectory and recent trend as an artists, I started thinking deeply, and I’m sure so many of you feel the same way. Some may say that Lawrence Oyor brought more success to the song or that it was social media that elevated the impact, etc, which are all true, here a few thoughts of mine that both my stem from my little research and the fact that I have been following him a little closely in the past years. I have tagged my thoughts as ‘5 Practical lessons from Gaise Baba!


1. Experimentation and Innovation
From the days of ‘Logo’, Gaise's journey has been largely characterized by hiswillingness and openness to experiment. He would NOT let a song rest! Lol.

Like seriously, I think he listens to his songs over and over again and for every time he does, he comes up with a name to collaborate with. I lost count of how many versions of ‘Elijah Level’ were done. From the acoustic and the country to the kid’s version, each on offered us a new perspective. He never confineshimself, his sound or his audience to a single style or medium. Instead, there is the bold and courageous experimentation using various techniques, blending sonic expressions with different artistic styles and humans painting. He teaches us to keep pushing the boundaries in our practice and to stay open.


2. Precision: Strong Online Presence & Swift Response
In this digital age, one can easily shy away from the demands of maintaining a social presence. But from this view, I see a well structured artist who has set things in place and is unafraid and unintimidated by the networks, he keeps showing up. Either through the podcasts, the church visits, the media, his songs or through his cureated festival. Gaise shows us the importance of ‘Show and Tell concept, one that I still need to learn. We all agree that a strong online presence is not negotiable. By sensitively and masterfully using his social media platforms, he tells a rich, diverse yet connected story about shaping a kingdom culture. He engages with other creatives across the age and diasporic divide through his Black Flame podcast, showcase his works, collaborations and more, engage with his audience as well, and builds a community around his art and the kingdom, an example is Foxes on Fire. From high-quality images and videos, behind-the-scenes takes and active use of his comments section, you feel connected messages.
We can agree that building and managing your online presence can help you tell your story appropriately and you can control your narrative and build real connections and a loyal fanbase.


3. Persistence, Consistence & Steadfastness
They say ‘Success does not happen overnight.’ While some have just discovered Gaise, he celebrated and and released the ‘Decade After’ album a couple years ago If you listen to the lyrics of his songs, you get a glimpse of his journey.

Mi Oni choice, I go narrow

dem think say I no no road o!

The lines above could both attest to his faith in God but also, the ‘dem’, could mean that he had been despised for choosing gospel music. We seem to struggle with the unfamiliar but we can no longer call Gaise Baba the unfamiliar.

This success reveals the amount of work that had been going on. In his words, ‘I have been building.’ Referring to the Black Flame podcast, the Lightsout movement to schools, Aramanda festival and Lounge 464. However, they remained persistent, honing their skills, refining their style, and relentlessly pursuing opportunities. They understood that failure is a part of the learning process and used it as fuel to improve.
Lesson: Rejection is not the end; it's an opportunity to learn and grow. Keep creating, keep submitting, and keep pushing forward, even when it feels difficult.


4. Expanding Reach while Staying True to The Vision
Gaise Baba builds. We see how he builds community in very unique and connected ways. These connections do not take him away from the music. Rather, they give further expression to his arts and draw more attention and appreciation for his musical works. The same Gaise who some may have only known as the guy who sang follow follow from back in the day has grown. He has been lending his voice to culture shaping and redesigning conversations through his podcast - Black Flamed, leading a movement to reach the youth in schools and maintaining a unique platform for gospel artists to reach their unique audience through their music in what he calls Aramanda. Gaise Baba teaches us as artists that it is important to look beyond just making music to building community crucial to staying true to your artistic vision. More recently, after his return from his UK Tour, he gathered a group of young creatives he tagged Foxes on Fire. His work resonates with audiences because it is authentic and even more because of his diversified approach to work - remixing, collaborating, reimagining and growing his reach through several platforms. Gaise uses several mediums to reflect his unique perspective on culture, spirituality and creativity. Gaise’s sound is unique, he has stayed focused on creating art that is meaningful to him.


5. Collaborations o!
Now, the success of this incredible work - No Turning Back II, has brought a fresh appreciation for collaboration. These two artists - Gaise Baba and Lawrence Oyor, seem like two creative, opposites both in sonically and physically. We have come to know Gaise Baba as a collaborative artist but we often see him work with other Afro-urban, gospel artists including ones from outside his direct genre. He remixed Jesu ni logo with Limoblaze, recoded Particularly with Tope Alabi and countless versions of Elijah Level. If you have ever encountered him, you know that he sees no walls, Gaise Baba’s chats give him off as a grounded, open-minded and ‘unintimidated’ person. With this addition, we can safely say that he These collaborations helped broaden their horizons and allowed for a new perspective on their work.

Elijah Level cover image from Gaise Baba


Thoughts...
While some may see trend, some of us who understand what is happening can see depth. A vessel that has yielded to pruning only goes from good to good yielding more and more fruit. (John 15). In one of his Channels interviews, Gaise emphasized the importance of consecration and intimacy with God, the giver of life and light. We can clearly see a man who God saved has equipped and has now gone from being saved to drawing others to the cross, and some people still don’t see this?

Now I understand why although the people saw Noah in the Bible building an ark so massive, maybe even something out of his occupation, no one marvelled or asked him, nor did they even respond to his invitation when he invited them in until they were destroyed by the flood. We see an artist who through embracing experimentation; continues to create in various forms, cultivates his online presence, stays true to his vision, and insists on collaboration, increases success and impact across the globe.

“Gaise Baba” – Akinade Ibuoye – is a polymath, an entrepreneur and an award-winning Afro-fusion artist who performs in Yoruba, English and the West African Lingo, Pidgin. He has a first degree in Economics and holds a diploma in Music Business from Berklee College of Music.

Beyond writing, recording and performing music, he is the founder of social impact platforms that serve youth audiences & communities, and the nation at large. Some of these include LightOut – an Initiative that tours High Schools, leveraging Music & Art to engage and support students in their educational, social and personal development, and has reached over 29,000 teenage and pre-teen students. He is also the founder of ARAMANDA – an Afro-Urban Music and Arts Festival that connects young Africans to alternative Christian sounds, genres and expressions. In December 2020, Gaise Baba founded Lounge464, a residency for his music, art and essence with his growing audience and community.

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