In this interview, Adeyemo Gad Ifeoluwa, popularly known as MakaMusic, speaks on how he balances his budding music career with his academic life as a law student at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).
Having transitioned from singing gospel songs to making secular music over the years, MakaMusic explained that he had always been a lover of the art right from his secondary school years, noting that he began rapping actively in 2019 following the rise of Naira Marley.
Maka has released five singles during his four years on campus, with his most popular track being ‘SCATTER’, and now, more recently, ‘JUBA,’ racking awards for the OAU Street Hip Hop Artiste of the Year (2024) and OAU Artiste of the Year (2025) during this time.
When did you first realise you wanted to pursue art seriously?
This would have been Senior Secondary School (SSS) 1; my father is a lover of gospel music, and he has a few gospel releases himself. I grew up in this atmosphere and started making gospel music myself around JS3, but later started secular music alongside in SSS1. I started rapping in 2019 when Naira Marley blew up because I was heavily in love with his sound. It was around this period that I started catching up on all the secular music I had missed out on and started listening to new ones, too. I started composing my own raps and started to perform them in class at SSS2, and it was around this time that I decided to become a music artist.
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How do you define ‘chasing a dream’ versus ‘pursuing a degree’?
While I see my dream as my life, I see the degree as something ephemeral, but necessary as well. It is necessary to be well educated and well read, but under no circumstances will it replace my music career.
Do you see your art as a hobby, a career, or both?
I see it as both, it is a hobby because it is something I enjoy or love doing, it is a career because, as mentioned earlier, it is my life and what I want to use to put food on my and my future family’s table.
How do you split time between classes, studio/practice, and gigs?
It’s really not that hard. I go to class when I can/have to. I mostly record on weekends and when there are no classes, most shows are held at night when there are no classes so I am good.
What time-management tricks help you meet both academic and artistic deadlines?
I just do things when I have to do them for the music; it is spontaneous. I do what I have to do when I have to because I enjoy doing the music. For the academics? I just try.
Have you ever missed academic commitments because of an art project or performance? How did you handle it?
I do not think I have, well, not any important one that I can recall.
Who supports you most in balancing school and art (and how)?
Nobody. I support myself.
Has any lecturer or department supported your artistic pursuits?
At all o. I even try to stay out of their way.
Would you ever consider dropping or changing your course to focus on art full-time?
I am in the fourth year of my law career already, and I have just one year left. I will complete my course and get the degree so I can focus on music full-time.
How do you respond to family or societal pressure to prioritise a ‘safer’ career path?
I try to explain it to them. They do not for now, but I believe they will come around later.
There are times I have arguments and fights with my parents about this career path I chose, and my reply is always the same. ‘Everyone will reckon with me when I become successful. No one likes to be associated with failure.’ My hairstyles or the way I dress or live will not be frowned at when I become successful, I say.
How has your time at university changed your artistic style or goals?
Well, yeah, it has. I have been exposed to relating with other artists, as it is in the big industry. Learnt what it meant to have fans, how to perform and just how to carry myself as a public figure in our little space lol. I believe these are skills I will need when I finally become the big shot I pray to be.
What is the hardest part about trying to succeed in both academics and art?
Trying to succeed in music is crazy. The hardest part is the uncertainty; nothing is certain, but we keep on pushing with the hope of a better future. For academics, they really go far lol. Read, and you’ll pass. Trying to balance them both is quite dicey, but we try our best.
What coping strategies help you recover from burnout?
I just take a break and continue later.
Is there anything you wish people understood about student-artists?
- Stop comparing us with blown artists. No superstar became a superstar overnight. Asake was once a student, too. We will grow, evolve and develop in our respective crafts, so stop holding us to the same standards as Wizkid and Burna Boy.
- We are humans too. Put this at the back of your mind before you enter X, and just tweet your poison about us.
If a fresher asked how to balance a degree and an artistic pursuit, what three steps would you give them?
- Venture into a course you know will be easy for you to do alongside your music career.
- Read when you have to, do your music when you have to.
- Do not study Law. If you are an artist and you are a fresher or aspiring to be a Law student, sharply change course before it is too late.