Vibe.NG presents: The Rise and Rise Of Ycee

YCEE graces the cover of Vibe.ng magazine

Demilade Martins Alejo, popularly known as YCEE is the cover of maiden edition of Vibe.ng Magazine.

In the Interview tagged “The Rise And Rise Of YCEE”, the Jagaban crooner reveals the challenges he faced and how he overcame them to become the musician he is today. From going to cyber cafes to download beats for recording his freestyles, to signing a record deal with Sony Music West Africa.

The down-to-earth Omo Alhaji, reveals juicy details about his personal life, celebrity crush, relationship, and what his girlfriend should expect from him.

Speaking to Vibe.ng, YCEE talks about his first EP, which is to be launched soon, titled “The First Wave”, and the Inspiration behind the name.

Read the full interview on Here

Link: http://vibe.ng/ycee-covers-magazine/

A Creative's Mesh of A Mind.

Screenshot from Huffington Post.

In case you ever wondered what goes on in the minds of creatives, or you are a creative yourself and you wonder if you are normal, this post may help with a little demystification.
This is my honest definition.
Creatives are professional mad people. Civilized psychopaths. Introverted extroverts and every other paradox available. The mind of a creative is a sacred mesh of beliefs, emotions, traits, knowledge and a whole lot of other jargons unspoken: with every single streak of thought fighting endlessly for attention. A mind drunk on the wine of dopamine and bile.
Unlike some tasks, creativity dwells solely on inspiration. Matter of fact, I like to liken a spark of inspiration to sexual intercourse. Some happen and that's it... while some lead to actual fertilization. Thereafter, you have gestation and finally, birth.
Best believe that everything that comes with actual birth except the 9-month time period comes with creativity; whatever kind it is. The hormonal imbalances especially.
That sudden rush of excitement to follow a thought through is normal.
That anger and frustration and withdrawal is normal.
That meaning you find in meaningless things is normal.
That sudden mental block where all the beauty in your ideas seem bleak and unachievable is normal.
That passion with which you dissect situations is normal.
People saying you are abnormal, is in itself normal.
You being the cat that curiosity may kill is normal.
I read somewhere today about a woman who had regrets about not enjoying her pregnancy process because she now realizes that was her chance at assisting God with a miracle.
It then hit me... every time you create something that reaches out to the human race... be it one person or the entire 7 billion, you have in your own little way helped God with a miracle.
Write that song...
Cook that recipe...
Design that website...
Design that outfit...
Work on that business idea...
Just be creative at whatever illuminates your mind.
Because, the goal is to leave the world a better place and to have contributed, in your own little way, to God's grand design.

Quit Stuffing The Pain.

Image from www.baypins.com

Although today's topic may seem somewhat contradictory to my regular theory of "Oh, do whatever you have to do to help ease the pain", but it is indeed different. It is one thing to do constructive and expressive stuff to help pass time and channel the hurt out pending when you feel better, but it is an entirely different thing to try to fill up an emptiness created by the pain you feel. I mean, eventually, the emptiness will have to be filled up but only with raisins, sunshine and peace. This is not always the case...scratch that. This is NEVER the case when we are not patient enough for organic healing.We tend to fabricate all sorts of lies to ourselves about what we can suffocate the pain with. 

We try sex. Meaningless intercourse with people we are meaningless to. Even worse off, meaningless intercourse with meaningful people who we mean something to but mean  nothing to us... We see them, but we do not see them. We touch them, but we do not feel them... When it is over and done, we say goodbye and we actually mean it.  This is a typical case of being bad at maths. Emptiness x emptiness= More emptiness. Slow down. Absorb the uneventfulness of life in the moment. Sadness is one of life's many viruses. It takes it's full course; after which, you will be just fine.

I'm currently trying food. "That must be safe to do when you're sad", you're probably thinking. Who am I really kidding? It is as destructive as it looks safe. Might just even be worse than sex because at least, you get to lose some weight while getting your jiggy on. Lol. If not for anything, what I can confidently tell you right now is that you lose more confidence when you are in emotional turmoil and out of shape. Your fears will seem harder to face. Your goals might seem harder to reach. This is a note to myself. Work out. Work your ass out. You can start tomorrow after being a glutton today, but no later than tomorrow. If you can fill the emptiness with a few lean muscles, then that's a much lesser evil.

We try drugs. here's how it works. You dwell in an utter valley of sheer hurt. And then, here's this beautiful helicopter that will make you rise to a level where you can see mountain ranges. The copter takes you upwards and dives sideways and around and around and then it starts to lose gas... And like a noisily deflating balloon, it brings you lower, and lower, and lower and delivers you into such a beautiful bed of the exact same problems. Now you prefer the view up there so you're like "hey, why don't I stay up there a while?".  Nobody will eventually care about how much pain turned you into an addict... Do you want to do that? Spend a lifetime explaining how you got there?

Although alcohol is a drug, it deserves to stand a bit apart as its main aim is to draw gibberish lines on that empty page in your life and make you admire it as art. You just want to keep scribbling. Scribble so hard, you can hardly decipher the whiteness of the page from the blueness of the ink. Pain may not be directly harmful to your liver, but alcohol is. 

I can only imagine the excruciating screams in your soul and all the above may serve as a great bite down, but at some point, we have to endure it. Moderation is key... Don't be caught neck deep.

Channel It Into Creativity!

I am most baffled when I hear people talk about how they do not have any form of creativity. I do not even want to go into the details of how impossible that is. If you say you are not very creative at a particular thing, I can totally understand as I have so many creative deficiencies. For instance, I have a very warped idea of aesthetics when it comes to design. I mean, I can totally recognize an awesome job well done, but having to whip it up myself is another story for Tales By Moonlight. (Whatever happened to that show though?)
Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that we are naturally creative beings and I do not need statistics to prove that to you. Just take a twirl in your current environment and you will affirm this.
Now if you have at least mapped out one of the many things you are indeed superbly creative at, then this post will make sense to you. If on the other hand you are not very sure of what you are capable of being creative at, then you will need to find that thing and come back to this post. Then it will make sense to you.
Positive and negative energy affect my creativity in their respective ways and I am certain it affects yours too...Except of course you all are aliens or just a figment of my imagination.
Prior to the time I knew I could control the flow of energy (personal and external), I allowed negative energy rid me of all my creative abilities. It made me sit around and brood, waiting for a burst of excitement before I could birth my abstract fetus into a reality baby. Sometimes, it took this burst of excitement weeks or even months to show up which was detrimental in all sorts of ways because creativity like many other things, needs consistency for better output.
You can actually turn your dark moments into sublime art. Finished work may be dark but it will brim with brilliance and emotional authenticity. Paint that negativity as is, using words that come from your innermost being or with whatever it is you express yourself through.

Life As A Potted Plant.

Image from thenewdaily.com.au

This is as random as random can be but do you really ever wonder what it must be like to be a potted plant? Your purpose is to beautify and amplify an ambience but to the detriment of your actual growth. You are pruned when you try to stretch out a little more than the boundaries set for you. Your foundation is confined and dictated. Limited by the clay or the steel or whatever material your pot is made out of. Your dreams of becoming wild and free are almost invalid except of course someone kicks you out into a forest or a bush which is most likely never going to happen. As for your feeding? Oh if you are lucky you might have a dedicated waterer. Who probably feeds you more out of wanting to earn a living. One who sees you as a chore. Oh and for the ones who claim that their sole passion and duty is to cater to you? Yeah the ones called gardeners. If you are super lucky, you'll find the one who prunes you beautifully and still has the decency to get you some manure just so you do not miss your natural habitat too much. If for any reason, luck runs out on you, you probably will be stuck with a house owner who only waters you according to his or her mood.
It really must be saddening for all potted plants around the world; that you must always wear a beautiful smile even when you are where you do not desire to be. Smile even when you are underfed and under-nurtured. Smile even when it starts becoming obvious that your end is near.  Until you really cannot smile anymore and all your flowers are withered and your leaves,pale. Until you really cannot smile anymore...and you are replaced with yet another soon to be unfortunate potted plant.

How to make a "Frakpaccino"

image from http://thepioneerwoman.com

I am generally not a coffee person but one of my best friends is an addict while another one of them does not mind spending thousands on bottled frappuccino. I wanted to really know what the exact craze was about as all I ever get is  a sip from theirs because of how possessive they are of it.lol. Anyway, got to work sometime last week and found my boss' previously brewed coffee. So I thought to myself... Is this drink not just cold coffee with plenty milk? So I decided to get creative with my boss' coffee, his milk and his sugar and his ice. I shook things up literally and voila! Homemade(more like office made) "Frakpaccino". I decided to give it that customized name to reflect the indigenous and ingenious nature of my creative love child lmao. Okay enough of the silliness. I did actually love the idea and I think I might just be taking to coffee more. I mean, you still retain the effect of being alert and energetic through the day but only this time, it is with creamy, milky and sugary goodness. Shout out to all the sweet toothed people out there like me.

Anyway, for those of you who want to disregard my amazing re-invention, I did stumble upon a wonderful blog that teaches you how to make proper frappuccino the right way: Starbucks standard actually. *rolls eyes to Jupiter*. So here goes aaaaand thank me later. .Actual Proper Frappuccino. Actually. you're welcome ;) lol

Your Eyes Are The Camera.

Image from quoteaddicts.com

Your eyes are the camera.
What are they constantly filming? Pale colored ceilings? Boring bathroom walls? Scenes of utter seriousness and absolutely no fun? Is it focusing on some print material without its consent or trapped on the set of societal dictated religion? Why is it not capturing the allures of a fanfare? Why not the goofy laugh of happy  children or the sweetly annoying splatters of a waterfall? Every beautiful moment craves your attention like a needy girlfriend. Waiting to be complimented...Waiting for its beauty to be gushed about and captured and framed and gazed upon on the walls of your heart and the hallway of your mind . No one buys a camera just because they want to capture "ordinary". The only ordinary shots should be for you to only remember how ordinary "ordinary" feels.Tell me, how do you shut those lenses every single night? Do you shut them out of a whole day of filming basic details? Do you shut it out of only playing back beautiful footage instead of taking in new ones? Do  you waste its self cleaning fluid by subjecting it to picturing flicks of love lost? Flicks of pain? Flicks of regret? Shame on you if you do that. Shame on us all...that we were all given the highest definition of all lenses yet we woefully fail to use it to its maximum. What would the angels say? When after many years of spending time on this location called life and you shut the lenses for good...and it's time to retrieve the data and view what life is like on the other side...and all the angels can see are pale colored ceilings and boring bathroom walls with scenes of utter seriousness and absolutely no fun. You would have cut their very high expectations way too short. You would have deprived them of your P.O.V. of this awesome life you had a privilege to be a part of.  Most importantly, you would have deprived yourself of exploring the amazing playground put together, just for you. Remember, if you see this, your eyes are the camera. Film wisely.