Zlatan: I Was Supposed to Be a Footballer

Zanku dance pioneer, Temidayo Raphael, otherwise known as Zlatan, has disclosed that he wasn’t supposed to be an artiste.

Speaking during an interview, Zlatan said he was supposed to be a professional footballer, adding that being unable to gain admission into a higher institution on time changed his focus.

The music star said, “I wasn’t supposed to be an artiste. I was actually meant to be a professional footballer. But sometime in 2011, I didn’t make my papers to go to a higher institution, so I had to sit at home and rewrite my exams.

“While I was home, I got a call from a friend who didn’t do music before. He had a video, and I marveled because the guy sang in church choir the same way I used to drum in the choir. I was surprised he was now an artiste with his music video getting played on LTV [a popular local channel then]. So I told him to take me with him to the studio the next time he went, that I wanted to make music too. It started as an unserious thing ‘til it became serious.

“That’s how everything started for me. I remember my first song being called Hustling With Swag…”

Further explaining how music started professionally for him, Zlatan added: “I got admitted two years later to a Polytechnic, and before my first semester, in 2014, I won the Airtel-sponsored One Mic talent show held in Abeokuta, in the midst of about 140 rappers. I just said to myself that if someone that doesn’t have more than three shirts and two pairs of trousers can make it this far, then God definitely has a plan for me with the music. Ever since then, I took it very seriously; that’s what’s kept me going.”