Paul ADEPOJU

If adding her on Facebook and following each other on Twitter suggest friendship, then I can say we are friends. But I don't have her phone number (yet) nor her residential address. But I've been following her for quite a while and we worked together briefly on The Nigerian Eagle project.

I see Chika as resourceful, creative and focused. Of course you can't deny she's also visually appealing.

It didn't come as a surprise that she is interested in so many things and would readily transform anything on her plate into something worthwhile - including music lyrics which is the focus of her current project - Decoded.com.ng

We talked extensively and exclusively for HumanIPO.com and I would like to share the interesting story of the genesis of Decoded from the perspective of Chika who will not hide her love for Omawumi and Mr Incredible.

Paul: I've followed your various projects, what led to Decoded?

Chika: A friend named Julies Sea who is my current partner reached out to me to work on another project called Keejul. One day randomly we started talking about lyrics and how they are highly sought out on Google searches. We also thought the website called rap genius was really cool and knew that Africans could benefit from a similar website. So we did the research and saw that a lot of Africans are looking for lyrics to their favorite song and that is how we started working on decoded.

Where do you get the lyrics from?

Different methods we reach out to the artists and get lyrics directly from them We also have users that submit lyrics and we edit them to make sure they are correct.

Let's look at some specific African musicians such as Sarkodie who is very fast. How do you “decode” his lyrics?

We have not posted Sarkodie lyrics on the website yet. We have only posted songs in which he is featured. But in those instances we either reach out to the artists to get the direct lyrics or we write them out ourselves and then get the artists to verify that the lyrics are indeed correct.

What's your view about African music lyrics in general?

I believe a lot of culture is discussed through the lyrics of African songs. I also have seen how a lot of slang derived from African songs. I think it is important that we talk more about African lyrics because there is a lot of interesting things we can learn from the lyrics. I will say there are also complaints from fans that African artists have nonsensical lyrics and only care about the beat. I do hope that with time the will put more thoughts into their lyrics.

Why are African lyrics are not easily gotten like those of international superstars and other foreign artistes?

Well I believe that in the US there is a structure that is set in place for lyrics. There are agencies that copyright lyrics as well as a system of supporting song writers. Song writers in the US get huge recognition such as winning awards for their works as well as collecting royalties.  In African we have not explored the use of song writers. I also feel that we have not really held artists accountable to create better lyrics. We enjoy the best and rarely analyze the lyrics behind the song. I feel that as the music industry continues to progress these changes will occur.

On the website, I saw Chinua Achebe's works. Are you also diversifying to literature?

Yes we also hope to post short stories, speeches, and poetry where our users can also decode these as well

What's the long term goal for the website?

To be a media platform that engages the music community. Also helps artists no matter big and small build a fan base that they continue to engage with, and fill gaps that our missing in the entertainment industry

What gaps have you identified so far?

Upcoming artists really do not have a platform to showcase their music and to be easily discovered. We are hoping to fill those gaps to aid in the discovery of music. Also we will like to provide the correct lyrics to songs as a lot of websites currently have the lyrics wrong

Any commercial plans?

Yes we do of course we hope to make money through advertisement and working with other organizations like telecom companies to make revenue

What’s the average daily hit?

We just launched in February so currently we have 1,500 hits on average with a continuous increase as we continue to improve the website

What is the strategy for expansion?

We want to create a website version of Decoded that will be friendly to feature phone users. We also plan to partner with other music companies to offer our services to use on our website

What of app development, anyone currently ongoing?

No we want to focus on creating a solid website. A lot of our traffic comes from Google searches so we want to work on optimizing that traffic. We also want to launch video interviews as well to talk more about lyrics

Which music companies have you approached so far?

I can not disclose that information because they have not launched yet. When they launch we will provide an update to the formal partnership. We also want to work with music blogs as we created an embdeed format of our lyrics that they can post to their blog

What should we expect from decoded very soon?

A revamp of the website in order to make it more user friendly and more lyrics from different countries. Also more content to the website including a blog that will have lyrics annotated and music reviews.

Who is your favorite African musician?

That is very difficult but right now I love Omawunmi

Why Omawunmi?

Has a lovely voice and her lyrics speak to me. I can listen to her all day in my car. I also love her infusion of afrobeats 

What of the rising stars but are yet unpopular?

I like Blackmagic and Boj. Very cool unique voices 

Which songs have the best lyrics?

There are a couple of songs that have good lyrics. Many of Rukus's songs like questions and stay fresh. Vector the Viper We Made Oh has some good catch phrases, and of course I love MI Chairman especially when he says “Have you eaten today then why are you hating?” 

What is your favorite music genre?

Overall I like Afrobeats and R&B

What else would you like my readers to know about you and the Decoded project?

Decoded is a music platform that is filling the void of lyrics websites for African music the right way through accurate lyrics. We also are heavily endorsed by many artists who have shared our website on social media platforms like Banky W, MI, BEZ, Flavour, and the list goes on. We are excited for the future and have a lot of cool features that will be coming out in the new few months.

Thank you for your time

You're welcome thank you