Checkout 5 Nigerian Musicians Who Have A Side Hustle Apart From Music

Although music by itself pays artistes lots of money, some musicians have been found out to be engaged in side businesses.

Back in the day, there was a worrisome trend among Nigerian artistes. Those who were in the limelight and considered to be rich because they are the ‘rave of the moment’ would become broke just a few years after no longer being in the limelight.

The sad trend would be amplified should a life threatening ailment befall such artiste or his standard of living became quite deplorable. Then our internet would be filled with cries for help and claims about how the industry is unfair and does not recognize the contributions of the said artiste to it’s growth.

Thankfully, this is fast becoming a thing of the past. The new generation of artistes have taken heed to the advice of getting a side hustle. Music might be paying the bills but these artistes have used some of that money to invest in businesses that would supplement the moneys they make from music. Infact it now seems that once an artiste makes it with music, they never again go broke in their life time.

We went digging to find out the side hustles of some of these Nigerian musicians some of them you may know already, some might just be as surprising to you.

Here are 5 Nigerian musicians who have got a paying side hustle apart from the music:

1. Eldee The Don



Eldee is a long time Nigerian rapper who relocated to faraway United States for greener pastures.

Side hustle: Playdata. Play data is a an online technology that keeps track of the amount of times a particular song gets played on radio. This helps artistes and radio advertisers to track revenues. Playdata is also the source of data used in some online music charts on popular websites in Nigeria.

2. Mr Eazi



Mr Eazi has always been a businessman. Before the music, he used to sell Gold in Ghana and organize campus rave parties. Before the fame, he and his business partner ran a now defunct phone trading company which got about $30,000 from investors. He quit the business due to co-founder issues.

Side hustle: phonetrader.ng – another phone trading and repair startup which he runs in partnership with Airtel Nigeria.

3. IllBliss



During my previous interview with him on Buzz’r TV, IllBliss told me (off camera) that he regards himself as an investor. He claims music does not pay the bills. Prodded on his side hustle,IllBliss said apart from being an investor, he also has a couple of Uber cars. Cool one!

4. 2Baba


Someone predicts 2Baba will retire from active music in 2017 (we’ll only watch and see). As for his side hustle, y’all know 2Baba runs the popular Club rumours which has branches in Festac Town, Ikeja GRA and now Victoria Island.

5. D’Banj


The Koko master might be struggling musically but his bank account keeps getting on the rise. D’Banj has leveraged the ‘Koko’ brand to come up with succesful ventures like the Koko Garri, Koko water etc. Plus he’s got huge endorsement deals with power brands like the Bank of industry.

Do you know the side hustles of other Nigerian musicians? Let us know in the comments area.
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Written by:- Olumuyiwa George | Twitter ➮@Delurge | Instagram ➮ @Delurge1