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Kyla Cole, The Voice Behind Shaku Shaku Chinese

Digital music and social media have completely overhauled the music industry, globally. A long-lost song can boom on all of our faces out of nowhere. The popular trended music cover of Jermaine Edwards’ Beautiful Day by a child, Rushawn in Kingston, Jamaica is a typical example.. It blew the song and earned the artist a Sony deal. A Nigerian artiste by the name, Kyla Cole is enjoying this feat.

When Kyla Cole’s 2017 single “Shaku Shaku Chinese” went viral on Tiktok in 2023, it was like a dream.  He began to receive calls informing him that his long-released single was going viral on Tiktok with over 150,000 videos. The song has become a trend and blowing up. Even Ayra Starr and many top celebrities have vibed to the song.

The music however has been in bad light owing to criticism by mostly Chinese. They consider the song derogatory, racial and baseless. It has somewhat become a tale of much ado about cultural appropriation. The artiste has mixed feelings about this, that it wasn’t in his intention to speak down on any group of people. One may wonder how the song came about. He described the moment as,

It was just a freestyle in the studio and I was in the mood to do music, though have been wanting to do something unique, iconic and different because I think that is what will make my sound stand out since mostly everyone does the same sound in the Nigeria music industry. Shaku shaku is a slang in the street and also a dance step.

As the saying goes thus, one man’s food is another man’s poison. As creative, there should be a sense of social responsibility. A guide as regards the impacts of the kind of work we put out to the people for consumption.

Kyla Cole whose name is Ibikunle Lekan is the last child of his parents. He discovered his love for music during his teenage years. His influences are D Banj, Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy, Wande Coal, Brymo and many others. He considers himself a versatile artiste and does what suits his soul but majors in Afro-hip hop. He draws inspiration based on his mood and what’s going on around him.

Kyla Cole is reaching for the stars and has worked with a couple of artistes such as Zlatan, Reminisce, Remi Aluko, and Small Doctor.