I wept, fasted before God gave me Osinachi – Humble Smith

Ekene Ijemba, the artist popularly known as Humble Smith has revealed he wept and fasted before God gave him his hit song, Osinachi, which has become a sort of national anthem.

Humblesmith told TheSun in a new interview:

Before Osinachi, I had about four singles. I had a feeling that I was going to be a star because I have worked hard. Nothing was actually working for me after those singles. I even had to travel to London to shoot two music videos. So, at a stage, I was confused if the thing I have been doing was the right thing for me. 

One day, I went to church; I fasted and prayed but it was as if nothing was happening. Some people advised me to go back to the east, to go back to the village that there was no room for me in Lagos; and that music wasn’t my career. So, I went to church on this fateful day, I went to pray but ended up not praying. I was just thinking. 

At a point, I began to cry and then something just came to my mind, that ‘young man, you are here crying, wasting your time. When you are supposed to be out there hustling, creating good songs, you are here crying and complaining, when you have hands, legs, brain and everything. Stop complaining and appreciate God for the little He has done for you, let Him know you still appreciate Him and use what He has blessed you with to encourage people’. It was good news to me. 

So, I thought about doing something different from what I have been doing. I wrote the song, Osinachi, there in the church, came back home and told my producer, who produced the song featuring Phyno. The song went viral. Thank God for that. I never knew God had bigger plans. 

At the beginning of the year, Davido called me to do a remix of the song. But meanwhile, last year when I dropped the song, I personally took it to Davido. I gave him my CD and he said that he has been seeing my work and that the song was going to be a hit, and finally the song became a hit. So, he called for the remix. God bless Davido. Today, Osinachi is one of the biggest songs in Africa if not the biggest.

• In the song, you talked about your ‘loving daughter’; do you have a child?

I don’t sing for myself, my music is for everybody. I sing songs that when you listening to them, you can also sing them to yourself as if they are your songs. I don’t have any child. I said ‘I go name my first daughter, Osinachi’. So, for those of you who have kids out there, you can name your first daughter Osinachi. But if you don’t have and you plan to have, you can say ‘I go’ which is what I said. Maybe, my first daughter would be named Osinachi by God’s grace.

• What do you think about Davido bringing his personal issues into the song?

That’s music for you, that is the way I understand music. For example, I told you about my story, what I went through that gave me inspiration for Osinachi, and how I poured out my anger, my experience, and my feelings into the song. I told you that I fasted and prayed, went to church crying and something came to my mind, telling me that I was wasting my time, when I was even better than many people in the street. That is being creative. It is not easy to recreate what is happening around you into music. Music is not all about I can sing, music is business; you need to make it commercial, something that would make people talk about it. That’s how you make your money. So, in essence, Davido did justice to his part in the song.