BNM Red Alert: Boogey

Boogey (real name David Iye Odey) is a fast rising Nigerian rapper set to carve his own niche in the music industry and has been on the BN radar since 2011. This Cross-River native found Rap at the age of 8, when he and his female cousins playfully came up with lyrics about his daily primary school routine. Who would have thought that a gift would be discovered from a mere joke?

From that point, little David fell in love with Hip-Hop and took in all genres of music in its pursuit. So, he started dubbing radio shows  and started playing his large catalog religiously to understand this new found language. With this new found passion, he soon found himself in his school choir at Federal Government College Lagos where he graduated in 2002.

2003 found David on his way to Morocco for university as he had won a scholarship for a program there and that, was where “Boogeyman” was born. Being in an entirely new French/Arabic-speaking environment, with no family and no old friends, he struggled to adapt to his surroundings. After a whole year devoted only to learning French, academic and personal problems arose fast and he turned to the music for therapy.

In 2005, he started writing verses again and by 2007, he stormed a studio shared by two of Morocco’s Hip-Hop heavy weights at the time, Fnaire and Brada asking for a chance to show what he could do. They let him get in the booth and they were not disappointed. He chose the name “Boogeyman” because he was a big fan of the horror character but it was later shortened to just “Boogey”. Boogey recorded a few songs, one of which became the number one Hip-Hop song on Morocco’s top radio station, Hit Radio.

He graduated in 2009 with a BSc. in Biology and finally returned to Nigeria in January 2010. During his NYSC programme in early 2010, the young and passionate Rapper tried to spread copies of his first promo CD to no avail. That’s when he made the trip that emboldened his career – he made a drastic impromptu decision to move to Lagos.

Boogey moved in with an Aunt in Lagos to continue chasing the dream and by August 2011, he emerged the winner of the 6th Edition of The Inner Circle’s Underground contest. {read his exclusive interview with BN here}

From then on, he gained the confidence to take on the Nigerian music scene and decided to start working on a mixtape. While he was studio-hopping, his music caught the attention of M.I. Abaga, who offered him a guest spot on “Ridiculous” for M.I‘s “Illegal Music 2” mixtape.

Play M.I Feat. Boogey & Hench – Ridiculous

This collaboration triggered a lot of attention from Hip-Hop fans and saw Boogey work with the likes of Terry Tha Rapman, DJ Klem, Modenine and many more that same year. By October 2012, Boogey released his first compilation, the “Art-ificial Intelligence” mixtape, which went viral online and in November 2012, he got signed to AbOriginal Music, which also houses Ese Peters, Barzini, Eclipse and Bonnie.

With a record deal now, Boogey is ready to show and prove his worth to the Nigerian music industry as he’s been dropping a lot of heat for the streets. Recently, Boogey put out a single, “Sanctum” in which he addressed issues that many have deemed controversial and dropped great visuals to go with it.

“Sanctum” is a single off the “S.A.D.” (Something About David) project which will be released later this year and we’ll definitely be waiting for more of Boogey.

Check out more Boogey music right here

For more on Boogey: Twitter – @Boogeythat | Instagram – Boogeythat | Facebook – David Boogey Odey