Omoniyi Temidayo Raphael popularly known as Zlatan Ibile, is a Nigerian rapper, singer and prolific dancer. His musical endeavors can be traced back to his appearance on the Airtel one mic show, in which he emerged as the winner in 2014.
His kind of street inspired art has always been of high prospect from the onset, but it crept into the mainstream music consumption subtly. A truck load of Nigerian indigenous rappers identify with the streets as a source of inspiration, for some, it's an identity and for others, it's just cozying with a marketable group of audience.
His professional debut, My body featuring Olamide came in 2017 and the synergy and artistic pact achieved on the song birthed a new wave of Afro street hip-hop and i must say, it's been a hell of a ride without signs of notching it down anytime soon.
The Zlatan name started gaining some attention and popping on our radars and in 2018, he feautured on a smash hit by Chinko Ekun and Lil Kesh. A few basics of the almighty Zanku movement were bared to our viewing pleasures in the visuals and it was a game changer for him since then. He went further to drop the much anticipated Zanku single and a video dissecting the dance steps in bits and movements. Rhythmically ofcourse. His releases obviously appealed to Davido's taste for music and has since collaborated in multiple songs and built a seemingly strong friendship.

He entered 2019 with the mindset of crushing and coming for everything and obviously it has worked out for him as he is said to be one of the most featured and sought after Nigerian acts of 2019. In the line up of his features are:

Am I a Yahoo Boy (Naira Marley ft. Zlatan Ibile)

Chacha (Remix) (Harrysong ft. Zlatan Ibile)

Gelato (DJ Cuppy Ft. Zlatan)

Bolanle (with IVD)

Tetema Remix (Rayvanny Ft. Patoranking & Zlatan Ibile)

Gbeku (Zlatan Ft. Burna Boy)

Lock Up (Davolee ft. Zlatan Ibile)
And many more joints he gave a voice to. He has also done well to put A-listers on his own projects like, Killing dem - Ft Burnaboy, Shotan - Ft Tiwa Savage and a couple of more. He has been able to infuse his style of music into different Afro genres and still maintain his sound.

Now let's talk about his sound and style of music. He's a rapper but doesn't deny his content the merriment and benefit of a happy danceable tune within the confines of hip-hop and it bangs a buck for him.

Zanku as a song, replicated the expected level of energy from Zlatan and any of his songs but it also compartmentalized the tempos and areas where it spiked. And effects of this surgical placements in his songs are most definitely felt in party areas of dance routines. His delivery as a rapper doesn't bank on spontaneity and avoids the risk of mumbling many words as a lotta rappers are guilty of. He spits with clarity and in as much as a major part of his content is in yoruba, the rhythmic flow and energy cuts down on your reasons to stay seated while the song is playing. The energy and pace has been maintained and he also showed his versatility in his delivery for 'Tetema' by Rayvanny. He switched up and dropped some Swahili melodic rendition before switching back to his style in complete synchrony with the beat.
I must confess that i wasn't a fan at first but the Zlatan wave came in Whale powers and i gladly fell.
The Zanku movement is now a global movement and represented by every Nigerian act and some African artists on the world's stage and it seems like we're in, for many more. Bring it on Zlatan! AYI!

Thank you for reading.
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