Meet the man who makes music inspired by Ifa, owns Yoruba Records, and has DJ Khaled sampling his music with Jay Z and Beyonce.
DJ Khaled’s new single, ‘Shining’, which features power couple – Jay Z and Beyonce – got its source material from a Yoruba-influenced man named Osunlade.
An American who hails from St. Louis, Missouri, Osunlade’s single ‘Dionne’, was sampled by DJ Khaled in the single. The track was released on the night of February 12, 2017, following the Grammy Awards (with the producer’s infant son Asahd on the cover art). The song is currently in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it currently occupies the 87 position.
But the entire melody of the song was sampled from Osunlade’s ‘Dionne’ single, which was released in 2013.
Osunlade discovered music early. Aged 7 years, he discovered the piano and the instrument crafted his purpose and destiny, and by the time he was 12, his interest in writing music has been born. Armed with that desire, her taught himself several instruments, studied further and created local bands.
In 1988, the 17-year old Osunlade, began his professional career during a visit to Hollywood. On that visit, he was discovered by choreographer/performer Toni “Mickey” Basil who offered him a role to develop musical pieces for several projects. One of those projects was the popular TV series, Sesame Street.
He later moved to Los Angeles, and kicked off his career. He was the producer for the first album of Interscope Records. On that project, he produced for Gerardo, who was his friend and also an actor/dancer.
With her encouragement he quickly moved to Los Angeles and began what would become a long history of music production. A few years later he would produce the very first album for the then independent Interscope Records.
The artist who owned the project was Gerardo, a long-time friend and aspiring actor/dancer. “Rico Suave” one of the very first Latin pop songs and novelty catch phrases to date was born. Now with a multi-platinum album and four gold singles to his name, it wasn’t long before he was afforded many opportunities to master his craft. That album became a multiplatinum album.
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In 1999, he founded his record label – Yoruba Records – to create music for the elevation of the soul. In 2001 he released his debut album on the respected Soul Jazz Records label. “Paradigm” quickly became one of the biggest house albums that year and dubbed him the messiah of ancestral house music.
To date, he has 8 albums, and 7 mixed compilations. He is known for his legendary DJ sets, remixes and albums including several mix CDs.