It is really hard to place DJ Ecool in a box, the disc jockey who is known for being
Born Ebianga Ikpeme, DJ Ecool is also a music producer and artist, who is affiliated with Davido Music Worldwide (DMW).
Ecool recently stopped by the Pulse office, where he spoke about working with Davido, his coming album and experiences performing around the world.
Who exactly is DJ Ecool
''Ecool is a multi-talented brand and a worldwide entertainer, a lot of people think I am new, but I have been around since 2009, been pushing the culture, performing at Naija DJ's summer jam and making my name in the United States.
I used to come home every December from 2013, working and performing with different artistes. I am not still settled here fully, in a year, I can fly to Nigeria like 50 times for events.''
He further shed light on his nomination for Best Disc Jockey at the Nigerian Entertainment Awards in 2011.
''The NEA was big then, everybody wanted to be on it, but sadly they have failed to evolve and have been left out, I lost the Best World DJ to , and for me who was fresh on the scene, it felt good to be nominated.''
Speaking on how he met Davido
''I have known Davido for a long time... We have been doing a lot of work back in Atlanta since 2010, I do a lot of events, deejaying, hosting events, I have known him far back, way before he became this big.
So you know how as an artist you always need someone on ground for your road tours and concert, I had already made my name on the scene, so whenever he came, we were always doing things together.''
On when they decided to work together
''It was in 2016, we did a tour, like there were shows when I was booked and he was also listed to perform, so at-times, he asks me to run his set, then later he was like, he was going on tour and wanted me along, that is how we started.
Then in 2017, we also did some tours together and that was when it became more official.
Davido is the cool cat, all that Internet stuff that makes him look cocky is actually part of his brand, the industry loves him.''
Narrating two of Davido's biggest events this year
Davido broke the Internet in May when he performed before a crowd of 10,000 in Suriname, South America and the disc jockey shares the experience of performing at the relatively unknown city.
''Suriname is actually like a poor place in the South of America, the adrenaline there was mad, To me, it was one of the best shows, it was one of those shows that confirmed that we (DMW) had gotten there.
From the airport to when we were setting up, the energy was mad.
And then we got on stage, it was packed and I had not even started and people were screaming, it burst my head and we ended up doing the full set and even performed longer.''
He then spoke on the controversy during Davido's Wireless festival experience.
''You see Davido wants to give the best at his performance, and the stage was built in a way that it had a hole in the middle, which was a signal for 'don't cross'.
But seeing how much the crowd was, as Davido was performing, he moved beyond the hole and that was when they tried to cut off our set, so they turned off the mic.
At this point, it was just like 17 minutes into our set and that is when Davido came back and the little argument happened, me I was already packing up my laptop sef, when all of a sudden the crowd started shouting 'FIA', that is when I immediately dropped the song and everywhere went crazy.''
He further shed more light on things that happened before they went on stage and difficulties he faces as a DJ.
''We made a massive gamble on our performance, we were initially supposed to perform at 2.45pm, but because of the game (England vs Sweden 2018 World Cup Q-finals) starting at 3pm, they asked us to perform at 12noon, so we said 'No', that we were not performing, it would be better we don't perform at all than at an empty venue.
So they gave us another option, that we can perform after the game, but if the game goes into extra time, we don't get to perform again, and behold England won and imagine getting on stage when everybody was high, the energy was mad, like 50,000 plus fans.
It was a major scale, at some point, it looked like I was going to mess up, my rider was not there on time, they took extra minutes setting us up, eating into my time, I wasn't even sure if my laptop will work.
As at when I was on stage introducing Davido, my laptop wasn't on and I didn't know if it was even going to play, and at that point, I can't go tell Davido say see what is happening o, I just had to figure it out and luckily it all worked.
On DJ Ecool as an artist and his upcoming album
''I am a producer and an artist and I want to put out albums, my album will see me work with a lot of international and African artists, you will get like 8-10 songs of different sounds.
Like the Carribean sound, I have travelled so much, so I want to make my album a collection of experience. It should be out by the end of November or in January 2019.''
In the words of the disc jockey who has consistent for nine years, he shares his secret saying, ''It is hard to stay consistent, but if you are a natural, consistency is a state, if you are yourself, you will surely stay around.''
The disc jockey concluded the interview by stating that he will be going on his tour of America throughout the month of August and plans to drop a new single in the coming weeks.