“Skin Tight,” “Bankulize,” “Pour Me Water,” “Leg Over” — more than just being some of Afrobeats’ most notable songs of the past decade, these are the titles of some of the songs that made Nigerian singer and producer Mr Eazi a household name, and what represented his signature sound — the combination of minimal, mid-tempo production marked by a distinct 3-2 clave rhythm and sparse, colourful melodies. Popularly known as the “pon pon” sound, he brought it all together with singalong-style lyrics in his sultry tenor, creating anthems that existed fluidly at the intersection of easy listening and intense jamming. This sonic framework went on to become the sound that defined an entire era of contemporary African pop music, even seeing adoption by some of Afrobeats’ biggest stars such as Davido and Runtown.
Mr Eazi takes us back to that place on 2025’s Maison Rouge (emPawa Africa) his first project since 2023’s The Evil Genius, a combination album and visual art experience that was a concerted effort to break away from expectations and embrace his true inner self. An entrepreneur in every sense of the word, Mr Eazi is known for his business pursuits outside of music — venture capital, sports, real estate, fintech, events, and more — yet the need for a creative outlet saw Mr Eazi book a flight, call his producers, and lock himself back in the studio.
In 2023, the artist born Tosin Ajibade traveled to the sunny coastline city of Cotonou, Benin. A serene location called Hotel Maison Rouge became the creative hub for this project. He invited producers E Kelly and P.Priime to join him at the hotel, and together the trio cooked up a project that showcases a familiar Mr Eazi, down to his signature “Zagadat” adlib. From the romance-turned-sour motif of “Violence” to the emotionally charged “Love Me Now,” Maison Rouge is an expression of what it means for Mr Eazi to make the music he enjoys making the most, without the industry pressures of streaming revenue, performance metrics and overall commercial success.
In an interview with Billboard Africa, Mr Eazi unpacks the creative process behind Maison Rouge and the events that led to his personal and sonic renaissance.
Billboard Africa: It’s been two years since you last dropped a project. What has life been like for you since The Evil Genius — what have you been up to?
Mr Eazi: I’ve been getting married. I’ve been spending time with family. I’m producing music; doing a lot of production work from Tekno, to oSHAMO, to the Major League DJz Balcony Mix project, and then just a lot of other stuff. But majorly, you know, family.
How did you come up with the title Maison Rouge?
Maison Rouge was the place where I recorded most of The Evil Genius. So, Maison Rouge is two places, right — it’s a hotel, and then there was a villa called Maison Rouge. And Maison Rouge means “red house” or “red villa,” and that’s where I was recording most of The Evil Genius. And then in between, I had P.Priime come around and we made like 90% of those records. And we just knew it instantly. You know, when P.Priime came in he was like, “Yo Eazi, I want to make some nostalgic shit, you know?” And by the time I came to the first session, he and E Kelly, I think they tricked me, you know. Because it was just chords and drums; just two instruments. And that’s where I thrive the most — I have a lot of fun recording on empty instrumentals. And so, I guess that’s why if you listen to the records, you can feel the nostalgia from them, because it took me back to a place that I hadn’t been in a long time, which is minimalist production.
There’s obviously something fresh and new about each song, but I couldn’t help but notice that this sound is classic Mr Eazi. So was that intentional? Was that what you were trying to achieve or you were just going with the flow?
I mean, that’s what the producers [wanted]. I think that’s the importance of working with producers in that, if you work with a producer, not just a beatmaker, a producer will help you craft the sound. And it’s always better when the producer knows what they want to achieve. With E. Kelly and P.PriIme, they knew from the get-go, “Okay, we want to make that nostalgic sound. But if we tell Eazi, ‘Oh, let’s make that kind of 2016, 2017, 2018 [sound],’ he’ll tell us to f**k off.” So what they just did was trick me by just playing minimalist beats. They only played beats that had maybe a chord and drums, and I would just flow on it naturally. I guess they took me back where I didn’t want to go to, and I really enjoyed it. On the day I made “Love Me Now,” my late mom was going into surgery. And you know when you’re tense, you go do something to maybe distract yourself, or to deal with the tension. I just went to the studio with P.Priime and I recorded.
How did that kind of sonic headspace contribute to other themes across the project? If you see the themes I was talking about on The Evil Genius, it wasn’t a love-based project. But on this one, I got to be more emotional. So I got to say some of the stuff, like if you listen to “Violence” and what I’m singing about in that song, it’s real. So I definitely brought experiences in there, like when I’m singing on “Corny.” “Love Me Now” is literally singing about my mom and realising that, “Hey, you need to love somebody. You need to show love whilst the person is alive, because you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow. You need to be in the present.” And “Casanova” is [also] where my head was at. So it’s like still doing therapy, right? But talking about specific topics. Like in “Wait For Your Love,” that’s a true story: “I met this girl in Cotonou / She think say I be ogbono / She get bobo and I know.” I’m expressing myself, but in a different way, and it’s a little bit cheeky, whilst Evil Genius was a very serious project. So I think that’s basically what I tapped into.
I also noticed that there’s no collaborations on the project. You’re someone who can get access to basically any artist across the globe you want to work with. So what’s the story behind that?
Yeah, it’s like I’m making music. When I started making music, I was making music for fun. It wasn’t because I wanted to be a musician, and I wanted to blow up. It was because it was fun and it was my escape. And so I’m back to that place, and it’s like I don’t have a pressure of a label saying “You need to make a radio record,” or “You need to make a record that will be in the clubs, or “You need to make the kind of record that” — no. I’m making the kind of record that I want to hear by myself and I think that’s a privileged sort of place I am in. It is Banku Music 2.0 and it just defines where my head is at now. And that’s the reason there’s no features. That’s the reason for the tempo.
What’s next for you? Any plans for a tour or a special Detty Rave ‘Maison Rouge’ set?
So Maison Rouge will be more of visuals. Detty Rave is not a Mr Eazi concept, so you might not even hear any song from me. I don’t know what set I will play at Detty Rave. I want to pick a new venue, because it will be the seventh edition and I want it to be crazy. But next year, there’s going to be more live experiences. After Maison Rouge, there’s another single that’s dropping, and then a project dropping in March [2026], and then a tour in May.
You recently celebrated the 10 year anniversary of “Skin Tight,” which is one of the songs, if not the song, that basically changed everything for you. Have your goals or dreams for the music have changed since then?
You know what’s so funny is that when I made “Skin Tight,” I wanted to give the song to somebody [else]. It was almost like I made “Skin Tight” as me writing a song for somebody. And really, there was no expectation. So in a sense, that’s where I am with my music right now, in that there’s no expectation. I just want you to hear what I’ve made. And so creatively, I’d say I’m in the same place, in the sense that I’m creating with no pressure. I’m even using TikTok more actively, because now I’m back at that place where I’m having fun. It’s not like I’m not pushing a song for it to blow, I’m just making music to share with the world.
