As part of his Up Next deal activations with Apple Music, Mr Eazi got to host a special pop-up show on Beats 1.
During the show, presented an Afrobeats 101 session with the genres biggest tunes, delved into the Diplo remix of his track “Leg Over,” and discussed how he could do 12 more tracks with Diplo. He further expressed how he wants to work with Justin Bieber and DJ Khaled, and called Wizkid “arguably the biggest Afrobeat artist right now.”
Turns out Mr Eazi has recorded the remix for ‘Leg over’, one of his biggest records yet. The new release was produced by Diplo, a member of Major Lazer. It also features vocals from Hip hop stars French Montana, Tory Lanez, and Wizkid collaborator, Ty Dolla Sign.
"Shout out to Diplo, the remix for this record is dropping this month, any time from now,” Eazi said during his pop-up show. “Shout out to Torey Lanez for his verse on this one, shout out to French Montana for his verse on this one. Shout out to Ty Dolla Sign for his verse on this one.
“Shout out to Diplo and the production for this one. Leg Over worldwide remix is gonna be madness. That’s the one with him, another one with Diplo/Major Lazer. I’ll get to the studio and we’ll knock out another 12 records, probably do an album. 'Mr Eazi and Diplo.’ Mr Eazi and 'Major Lazer'"
Eazi also talked about a number of topics. He delved into different subjects, going on about Wizkid, Fela and others. See some of them below.
Eazi on the Sons of Fela Kuti
"Most of the popular African music you hear right now is drawn from Fela's inspiration. Everything Fela was to Africa to the world. All of us are just like sons of Fela in that in one way or the other we draw inspiration from him. His music in my opinion was the perfect blend of African sounds and World-Wide sounds because you hear a lot of jazz influences, you hear the African percussions, you hear beats of Ghanian rhythms to it. He was the first to really blend African music and fuse everything into one spiritual redeeming madness. Beautiful madness by the way."
On D’Banj and Afrobeat
"The number one guy you know, the guy who embodied Fela and became that global superstar is no one else but D’Banj. He's a son of Fela and I feel everybody doing it right now for Afrobeat is a son of D'Banj. He held it down nonstop he was number one for like 10 years straight. You know so D'Banj the legend. Shout out to D’Banj."
On Wizkid
"Moving on this is my brother my friend my senior colleague another son of Fela you know. Arguably the biggest Afrobeat artist right now."
Mr Eazi shouts out Fuse ODG and Ed Sheeran
"You know shout out to Fuse ODG he's the most decorated you know. He shut down the UK not one song not two songs not three songs. He was even on Ed Sheeran's new album. I met Ed last year and it was in Fuse’s house in Ghana. You know people don't actually give Fuse his respect but low key Fuse has done so much for the genre. You can't talk about Afrobeat without mentioning Fuse ODG."
Mr Eazi talks Rita Ora
"I remember one day I just got on Instagram and get a DM from Rita Ora. I thought it was a scam. She had heard this song and she was going crazy she was playing this song Shout out to Rita Ora my friend, very good friend. Rita we need to make one Afrobeat record. I like your new song though but we need to make an Afrobeat record you know that."
Mr Eazi on Felabration
"Shout out too Femi Kuti I performed at the shrine some weeks ago and it was iconic. I could even retire right down like once you perform at shrine you go retire time you've done it. So the shrine is the most iconic Afrobeat venue and every year you have Felabration where we celebrate Fela's life and his music and his legacy and that venue is the most iconic venue and I performed there some days ago and it's just beautiful.
If you really want to go on a school of Afrobeats you should visit the Fela shrine. It’s just a vibe. And the thing is that the Fela shrine is very symbolic you know and that’s where Fela performed back in the day. People used to come through and sing all these songs about the government you know because
Fela was an activist you know. So the shrine's still standing today. And it just means so much even beyond the music. Shout out to Femi Kuti shout out to the monument of the Fela shrine. You should visit Felabration in October go check it out."
On the subgenres of Afrobeat
"So in case you don't know Afrobeat is from Africa made by Africans and Africa is the most beautiful place in the world. You could generalize it and say Afrobeat, but we within Afrobeat there's Afro Pop there's Afro Soul there's Afro dancehall. There's Afro Pop there's Afro fusion. It's music and it has subgenera and that's why I felt it was important to put rap in there there’s dope rappers out there."
Eazi talks Up Next program and wants to work with DJ Khaled and Bieber
"So amazing how the Up Next is coming right at this time as I’m about to drop the worldwide mix for this record and I feel like from now it’s going to be like the introduction of Mr Eazi to the world.
Some of the songs like Skintight I’m gonna do remixes. A short EP of Mr Eazi to the world and have a massive push. It’s crazy how independently we’re doing this shout out to my team shout out to everybody supporting, shout out to the fans. I feel like right now very soon I need to work with Justin Bieber.
I want to work with DJ Khaled. I'm trying to reach Khaled, Khaled are you listening to this? I need you to come with me to Africa in December. I need to show you something. Shout out to Asahd. Asahd needs to come to Africa. Shout out to E-Kelly, producer extraordinary. This is the best of Afrobeats."