It all began from a famous, college boy—who happened to be the “life of the party.” to working with the government, to owning his own label, where young stars gear for greatness. From a career in promoting acts in the music industry, to establishing a niche for himself and working tirelessly to create a legacy with the Chop Life Crew, Peju Adewusi tells us about his journey to becoming.
He explores the different layers of his life journey, explaining in depth, how each one influenced him, and made him who he is today.
For those experiencing seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their journey to becoming, Peju Adewusiʼs story is a mirror through which you can see yourself, and just maybe—pick one or two strings of hope and confidence.
49th Street: We would love to know a bit about you. Who is Peju Adewusi?
Peju: You have to be specific, cos, Peju Adewusi is a very general scope, make I no go dey tell you the one wey no concern you. Make I no go dey tell you my problem. (laughs) You have to be precise.
49th Street: Tell us about you in the industry.
Peju: My name is Peju Adewusi, I rather refer to myself as “King Peju” ‘Cos I basically grew up without anybody. I never had a dad and my mum passed away when I was young. So, most of what I know was from the streets—not the streets streets, but you get.
I’m Mojo’s manager, and I am the president of Chop Life; safe to say I manage almost all of the artists. For my background, when I was in school, I was always the ‘happening guy.’ When my mum passed away, I moved in with my cousins. There was a wide gap between my cousins and I. The nearest person to me was older by five years. I grew up watching a generation of happening people. I always had the latest clothes, I knew the latest music, everybody was a Rockstar in their own way. Music was just always a thing in me, it took a while to understand though. I never thought it would get to this stage, I just knew there was a connection with music.
Everything really started towards the end of highschool, early university days. I was first in Babcock, but I did like three years in Unilag. In Babcock, we didn’t have access. When you’re in Babcock, you’re in Babcock. People always came to me like, ‘Peju, what’s happening? What can we do, where can we go?’ I’m the guy that got them into the clubs, knew all the celebrities. So, it started with parties, from promoting parties here and there. My first encounter with music was when Asa and I met. He told me about his artist, God-willing , it was Davido. We started the groundwork of Davido together, the promotions and everything. I was just always the guy in the background. From there, I got a job at Mavin Records, when Don Jazzy was arranging his team, he called me to come and handle Public Relations. Obviously when I was there, I worked with Wizkid, DePrince, Tiwa Savage, Donjazzy, Wande Coal. Back then, it was one team, one family, before everybody became successful. Davido and Wizkid were best friends. That’s why everyone was able to blow, because of the family vibe. It was so easy, ‘cos we could all be seated in the living room, it’s 1am and nobody is asleep. Donjazzy is like, ‘Omo, let’s go somewhere now, since nobody is sleeping. Peju, what are we doing?’ So, I literally just walk outside, call the promoter and be like, ‘I have Donjazzy, Tiwa Savage…’ and we run the parole.
Afterwards, I got an appointment with Lagos State government, I worked there for four years, my mind wasn’t really there, but it was just something I had to do. It didn’t exactly go well, towards the end one or two things happened. I mean, when everyone else is wearing all black, I’m wearing a suit with pink socks and pink tie. I just knew I had to leave. Eventually, I left. I went back to promoting music and that was where I met my wife. I started Vlogging. It was when my son was about coming, I realized that, ‘Yeh! This boy can’t know me as a club promoter.’ So, I started looking for what to do. That was a very spiritual time in my life, when I found Jesus again, found my faith, and I prayed to God like, ‘God I don’t know what next o, but I know I like music, so whatever it is, please lead me this way.’
One day, I went somewhere, we were having drinks, and I found myself in the midst of these people, with three artists in my front. Boli lomo was there, Ajebutter22 came in, just then everyone started talking about music and the industry. Then, a name came up; Mojo. It caught my attention. His song was played and I liked it. On my way home, I kept listening to the song. The next day, I called, requesting to meet him. So, that’s about me and the industry.
49thStreet: This briefing was beautiful. We appreciate the details, every bit of it.
Peju: Yea, it’s important, so we don’t miss anything.
49thStreet: How do you balance being a boss and being friends with your staff?
Peju: To be honest, Chop Life crew right now is like a university. Everybody’s role is defined. Everyone is still learning. As an executive leader, I am also learning. So, I’d say the relationship I have with them is more like…family business, because there is respect involved. It’s very decent, I really don’t know how to explain it.
49thStreet: Okay, let’s put it this way, is it hard sometimes to coordinate everyone?
Peju: Everyone is respectful and respectable, everyone is level headed and calm. I’m obviously more experienced and all, so I know how to judge a situation. If someone talks back at me, I know that it’s not their nature, it’s out of mind. Also, I’ve had a bit of training. While I was a civil servant, I went for a leadership course. I had to do a lot of leadership with my vlog and as a promoter as well. I already knew how to deal with people. The most important thing is that the respect is there no matter how the matter gets. They are my friends and when it’s time to work, it’s time to work. When it’s time to play, let’s fuck shit up.
49thStreet: Mojo has, ‘Joker of Lagos but he no dey play with them, zero jokes to ba kan more dough.’ The ‘Joker of Lagos’, is there a story behind the name? We’d love to hear it.
Peju: (Laughs) It’s very simple now. No time, I don’t have time for rubbish.
49thStreet: But, the ‘Joker of Lagos’, how exactly did it come about?
Peju: Okay, so this one, you guys decided to ask for it. For Joker of Lagos, I’m a nice guy. If it’s not working, it’s not working. If it’s working, let’s do it. If I’m hot, I’m hot, if I’m cold, I’m cold. If I’m on good terms with you, we’re guys. If I’m not on good terms with you, fuck you. I don’t have time. I knew what I was doing at a point, for everybody that was around me. I didn’t have to do it. Some friendships were affecting my relationship, and I made my babe understand, these are my family, these are my sisters and brothers. Nobody was doing any shit for me.
At one point in my life, two of my friends, we used to have plans, buy land, build houses and stuff; cos I don’t have too many friends and family, the few I have, I try to keep them close. But then, things unfolded, everybody started revealing themselves. The money wasn’t like that before, and it got worse when my babe came. Obviously, now she’s here, it’s not the same, you have to respect our space, because I intended to take things serious, and I made everybody understand my intentions. I still showed up to the club and all, but they began to see the seriousness in my intentions, and I probably wasn’t of any value to anybody anymore. They just made me seem like a clown. I started feeling like, these people wanted to turn me to a clown. Me, Peju, that knows what I’m doing. I know where I’m headed, but you people want to turn me to a fool. Apart from that, so much was going on in my life at the time. I’ve also always had a fantasy about the Joker character, so I was like, since that’s how we want to roll, these people want to turn me to a clown, I adopted the name Joker of Lagos. (Laughs) Afterwards, the name just stuck. Back in school, I was also always the class clown, funny guy, I always had that element of comedy in me.
49thStreet: You have such a keen eye for fashion. Do you have a stylist or you style yourself?
Peju: I style myself.
49thStreet: Nobody extra?
Peju: Nobody extra. Nobody can style me.
49thStreet: How would you describe a typical day at CLC HQ?
Peju: You’re looking at it. It’s a typical day. It’s just because it’s Sunday. We make music 24/7, you know. There’s Meju, there’s Elo, Dare, AYLØ & Fasina, Blackbeatz. The family is big.
49thStreet: Interesting, so everyday in and out, music is being cooked up.
Peju: Yea, exactly. Just yesterday, they came back from Dare’s studio. Typical day is, we wake up. Everybody does their morning ritual, come back here to the studio. There are a lot of interviews, just like this one. Laughs, chills, vibes. But, 60% of our time is music.
49thStreet: Chop Life Crew is becoming a household name, how did that come about?
Peju: It’s very simple. Everybody seems to forget that before I started this, I was the biggest promoter in Lagos. It’s what I do. Promotions. Apart from that, I’ve worked with Mavin. Credits to Qudus as well, that’s my publicist. And Caleb, my creative director. We are the Powerhouse, and we actually know what we’re doing. We also have to give the name and the song credit as well, Mojo did a good job on that, it was hard. Before then, people call me Chop Life King, Chop Life Bastard. It’s always just been a name that lingered.
49thStreet: We can see you’re doing a very good job so far, what is your long term vision for the Chop Life Crew?
Peju: Ah, if I tell you people that one, una go mad o. Long term is what it is, you know. If I want to be political about it, my long term goal for Chop Life Crew is to create jobs for the youth. I want music to be a profession. I want people to respect artists, for artists to have a social status and a recognized career. We grow bigger everyday, learning and figuring out each other. As you can see, we don’t look like we’re here to play. At some point, we should be the biggest recording label in Africa, by God’s grace.
49thStreet: We look forward to seeing that. Music is becoming more diverse, with streaming and the online service generally. CLC seems to have taken major advantage of that with the rigorous work ethic and releases. Is that intentional?
Peju: It’s intentional. You can see everybody in Cho Life Crew. We want to break all the boundaries. Anybody that has a talent can blow. What we’re doing is very intentional.
49thStreet: We noticed you take workouts seriously and recently developed an interest in boxing. Tell us a bit about that side of you.
Peju: Like I said, Chop Life Crew is like rehab. It’s like an institution, like college. Being around these guys for me, is like me reliving my youth. While I’ve been around them, a lot of things I never did, thanks to Corona too, I’m trying them out; a lot of things that have just been hidden inside me. I actually used to box before, but it wasn’t everything I took seriously. I knew I liked it but it was just vibes. I got a trainer two years ago, I did one or two sessions, but I didn’t have the time. Being a promoter too made it difficult. I go out and come back tired and hungover. This period, I started boxing again. I’m also working out, but I don’t want to lift weights because, back when I used to lift weights, it was making me really stiff. I actually like boxing, it’s gradually becoming a passion, and there’s a bit of opportunity there. We’d see how it goes.
49thStreet: Okay, so this is the last question. Tell us a bit about your family, your personal life, outside of this sphere.
Peju: I’ve actually said a lot about me already. I’m just an easy-going guy. If I had a mission in this world, it would be to enjoy myself and help as many people. I’m very weird in my way. I did a lot of research about myself, one time I was getting really scientific before I came back to my Jesus ways. You know, you have to believe in something and I chose to believe in Christianity. After I became the Joker of Lagos, I realized I had helped a lot of big guys in becoming who they are, then I also realized, I can’t always help everyone and at some point, I just have to be there for myself too.
49thStreet: Thank you so much for this exposition, we really enjoyed it and we wish you success in all your endeavours.
