Did you know that there are approximately 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide? Can you imagine all the different ways in which we all use the internet? Obasanjo’s Internet is our interview series where we speak to some of our internet favourites on how they relate to the internet and what it means to them and their work. This week, artist and creative entrepreneur, SolaRhymes talks to us about how she uses Obasanjo’s Internet.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
On a good day, I will go for a walk. I love my morning walks. They’ve become a part of my routine and it just sets me up for the day. Most times I probably tune into a prayer live session as well so I make it a prayer walk or I listen to my unreleased music while I’m walking.
How do you use the internet for work or pleasure?
Both actually, especially more recently with my job as a marketing professional. I find myself using the internet both for work and leisure. I can literally be watching a reel and be laughing, laughing and laughing, next thing I’m sending a work text saying, oh, “We need to contact this vendor.” So Instagram is the best place for me because I literally play and work there. I’ll be playing, and watching videos, and then I’ll see a vendor or a creative I want to collaborate with and things just start moving from there.
What moment or episode in your life would you say captured the essence of the internet?
Definitely 2020 during COVID. I feel like once I saw certain creatives blow up overnight, like Elsa, I just realized that, wow, the internet is such a big tool. But I feel like the regular hustle and bustle of daily life before COVID made you oblivious to the power of the internet and made you see the internet as something you only do if you have time. Meanwhile, from 2020 it became the only thing you should do when you have time because of the amount of reward that comes from investing in the internet. And so I feel like 2020 revealed to me the power of the internet because of the number of people I got to know just because they put themselves out there.
Your favourite social media platform and why?
Instagram. The thing is, I find it hard to answer this question because I don’t think I know why. But what I think is the reason is because I like how Instagram is kind of intimate. So with Twitter and TikTok, when you put things out there, you’re very aware that a bunch of strangers can see it. But with Instagram, it’s almost like with that algorithm, which I know a lot of people think is a bad thing, it kind of makes you feel a bit sheltered from the world because you know not everybody is going to see it. And so you kind of are able to take ownership of that free thinking ability or like, you know, realness in just posting whatever you want to post or at least that’s what I use it for. So I feel like Instagram makes me feel safe. I don’t know. Whereas TikTok and Twitter are just a bit more explosive I think.
Do you remember the first time something you posted went viral? What was it? How did it make you feel?
The most memorable time I went viral was when I released Real. There’s a particular clip I released first which was a dance clip of the chorus. I was shocked that it had like 13k something views. I was like, “Oh my God, this is the most we’ve ever gotten.” So that was very exciting. I released some other clips but that is the particular one people like and so that felt really good because I liked it too – that’s why I released the first.
What’s the most outrage you have ever generated over something you posted? How did you react to it?
I’m not really a controversial babe like that. I feel like I’m a very “always want to keep the peace and make everyone happy” type of babe. Although recently I’ve become an “I don’t really care what you think” type of babe.
What rules do you live by on the internet?
I live by the rule of sending reels even though you haven’t really spoken with the person you’re sending it to. So like me and my sister, we would not have called in weeks, yet if you check our chat, you’ll see reels reels reels, laughing face emojis. So I subscribe to using reels to keep up with my relationships then I also live by the rule of tweeting my thoughts on Twitter because they are my thoughts. And if you don’t like them, keep scrolling.
What is your guiltiest online pleasure?
My guilty pleasure online is scrolling. You know when you just enter a deep scroll and you can’t stop. Instagram knows all the things I like and they put all of them in a nice buffet and I’m just scrolling and scrolling. “Wow. Wow. Wow. Babies, babies, babies, funny content. Babies again, babies, funny content.” That’s literally most of my feed: babies and funny content.
Would you say you have an online persona?
I would like to think I do. I feel like it’s still building but what people see is someone who is trying and that’s fine to me. I’m not afraid to look like I’m trying because that’s the only way to actually show up as my real self in my current state. I feel like I don’t subscribe to the whole thing of trying to look more than you are and hoping people will buy into it because that doesn’t work and even if it works, you won’t be able to keep up with it. So I’d rather be real and vulnerable and just be my real self because that’s how you attract the people that are going to help you even get to that place. So I think my online persona is “trying artists,” “trying creative and entrepreneur” and I’m OK with that.
What’s your favourite emoji and why?
My favorite emoji is the heart emoji because I’m a unicorn. I always love sending positive vibes to people. It’s rare that you’d be talking to me for a text chain and I won’t send that heart emoji. But you know, aside from the heart emoji, I feel like the other two I really like are the laughing one and the googly watery eyes.
Are you particular about your feed?
I’m not, you know, and I just realized that I wasn’t always like that before. Literally, I’ll make sure everything is looking okay but now, I’m more interested in the content on my feed than the aesthetic of it because it’s the content that I believe is more valuable. Obviously, that doesn’t mean I’m just gonna put like, a clown and a bank beside each other. That doesn’t mean I’m going to put random shit together, it just means that I am the feed and I am the curation on the feed. So as long as each post features me, what I’m doing, and what I’m trying to tell in that post, then the feed is created because I am the creation and I am the feed.
Youtube or TikTok? Which do you prefer and why?
I want to say YouTube because I like that YouTube would always be a resolve for me to watch long longer videos. If I see a video and the option says click for YouTube, even if I could watch the video there I’d still click on YouTube because I just feel like it’s that resolve for longer videos. I think for me with TikTok, there’s a lot of content on there and I don’t really want to look at all the content. I like how on YouTube I’m not exposed to too much content. I can just go there, look for what I want to look for and go.
Which Nigerian creator do you think the world needs to see and hear more of?
Me. I feel like I have a lot to offer, but I’m still working out the kinks on how to tell my story.
But I just know that once I do, they’re going to get a lot out of me and it’s going to be something that may change the way people consider music from a Nigerian. And I think that’s important for the next generation because if this generation has opened the barriers for Nigerian music to be heard, then the next generation should be opening the barriers for Nigerians to be heard. So not just the type of music we are providing but us. What we have to offer within ourselves, outside of our culture. Not being identified solely by your culture, but by your individuality is what I’m trying to say.
And I feel like that’s what the next generation is going to bring in because before, we weren’t even being identified at all. Our stories were not being told authentically. So now, we’ve broken that barrier and we’re telling our stories based on the culture that precedes them. But I believe that we’ll be telling our stories based on the individuals that we are – the individual that has multiple experiences, both in their culture and outside their culture.
Who is the coolest person you follow and the coolest person who follows you?
Hahaha. I want to say my brother (Donawon). I have a very unconventional view of what cool is. A lot of people might see someone who maybe dresses really hard or maybe has all the designers and think that person is so cool. I don’t actually see that as cool. My definition of someone I find really cool is someone who is able to exist as themselves and get other people to buy into that. For example, I can find a comedian who is being very razz cool because for me, I just feel like you’ve been able to be yourself and get other people on board with that and that’s the coolest thing ever. So for me, I don’t find the whole, maybe someone that has the most followers or someone that is the most exclusive person or the most unavailable person to be the coolest person. I find the person that is able to exist as a human being first of all, doing what they love, and getting people to love them for that. I find that cool.
I feel like that’s what my brother has done because it took him a long time to get here and him being here, he did it as himself. He didn’t conform to anybody’s standards. So that’s what I feel like is the coolest thing to me. And that’s the coolest person that follows me and I follow too.
What is your favourite Nigerian podcast?
This is where you people will catch me. Me that I don’t listen to podcasts. Obviously I’ve listened to With An S majorly because my friends are on it but the only podcast I’ve ever actually listened to based on “I need this podcast. I want to hear this podcast” – and even at that, I can’t finish my 10 fingers to count how many times I’ve listened to it. But it’s the podcast by this amazing confidence coach who’s also my friend. Her name is Tiwalola Ogunlesi. She has a brand called Confident and Killing It and she has a really nice podcast. Sometimes when I get in those really low states I just want to listen to her give me a pep talk. So I really love her podcast.
Have you ever hooked up with someone you met online?
NO.
5 people you’d love to see answer these questions
Tiwalola Ogunlesi, Donawon, Funmbi Akinsoyan, Ajoke Bodunde, DJ Oreo.
Read previous Obasanjo’s Internet entries here
