Trafic may not be a household name in music yet, but spend a few minutes talking to him and you will see that his future is bright. It is no surprise then that he is signed on to 323 Entertainment, the same label that has Tiwa Savage.
The hit maker responsible for ‘Samboribo’, which was a darling on the airwaves in the recent past, was at TheNiche head office last week.
Born Chukwuka Okafor of Delta State origin, after a hiatus ostensibly to pursue music, he returned to finish school at California State University, Los Angeles, in America where he studied Business and Marketing.
Trafic, who just released a single titled ‘Quality’ after doing several collaborations with other musicians in the country, said he was two years away from getting a degree when the success of his single, ‘Samboribo’, changed his plans.
“But after that era, things did not quite work out as planned. Although the song was quite successful, the industry was not as flourishing as it is right now. So, I just took a step back and had to go back to school. But while in school, I was still part of the industry; I was always around, at every event, still in the studio, but I just never released any material,” he said.
He explained that returning to school made a lot of sense, since school is not just always a good thing, but that it has also helped a great deal in his chosen career: music.
“I learnt something about merchandising, branding and things like that, and to also infuse that into music because music is not just music; we have the business part too,” he stated.
For someone who has a degree from an American university and considering that young people are lining up to get out of the country in droves, he came back. If you ask him, his reason may be that charity begins at home.
“Everything begins at home. The original reasons people go out is to study for four or five years. I think there is a lot going on at home right now. I love home. I have always been home,” he said.
Everything may begin at home, but Trafic, who says the competition in his industry is not as easy as people out there think, explained that he has always loved what is going on in Africa.
So, is music working for Trafic? The answer is in the affirmative. After all, he has a deal that holds a lot of promise.
Trafic, who got his stage name over 10 years ago from perpetually blaming the traffic for coming home late after running errands with the family car, said the video for ‘Quality’ was shot in Lagos.
The young musician, who writes his own songs, is raring to go and would like to do much more concerts than he is doing at the moment.
“I will love to do like three, four shows a day; but right now, we are doing shows, we are travelling,” he said.