Sodiq Abubakar Yusuf (born May 6, 1985), popularly known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

CDQ, is a Nigerian indigenous hip-hop rapper and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

best known for his single "Nowo E Soke" featuring

Wizkid Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (born 16 July 1990), known professionally as Wizkid, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. A prominent figure in the modern-day Afrobeats music scene, Wizkid is regarded as one of the biggest and most influential Afri ...

and Masterkraft's

Indomie Indomie is a brand of instant noodle produced by the Indonesian company Indofood. Indofood itself is the largest instant noodle producer in the world with 16 factories. Over 15 billion packets of Indomie are produced annually. Indomie is also ...

where he was featured alongside

Olamide Olamide Gbenga Adedeji (born 15 March 1989) is a Nigerian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. Widely regarded as one of the biggest and most influential artists in Africa, he has been instrumental to the launching of the careers ...

. While the former is instrumental for launching his career into the Nigerian music industry, the later won him his first career award at the 2016 Nigerian Music Video Awards. Signed to his label No Struggle No Success Entertainment, CDQ's

repertoire A repertoire () is a list or set of dramas, operas, musical compositions or roles which a company or person is prepared to perform. Musicians often have a musical repertoire. The first known use of the word ''repertoire'' was in 1847. It is a l ...

of music includes rapping in

Yoruba language Yoruba (, ; Yor. '; Ajami script, Ajami: ) is a language spoken in West Africa, primarily in South West (Nigeria), Southwestern Middle Belt, and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the Ethnic group, ethnic Yoruba people. The number of Yoruba speake ...

with addition of ad-libs such as the popular "Woss Wobi" which he invented.

Early life and education

Sodiq Abubakar Yusuf is a native of

Ilorin Ilorin is the List of capitals of states of Nigeria, capital city of Kwara State in Western Nigeria.. Retrieved 18 February 2007 As of the 2006 census, it had a population of 777,667, making it the List of Nigerian cities by population, 7th ...

Kwara State Kwara State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Kwárà), is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger state, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the internation ...

, Nigeria; but was born in Orile, a suburb of

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

. Upon moving back to Lagos State from Ilorin where he had completed his secondary school education, he proceeded to further his education at Lagos State University where he graduated with a B.Sc in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

. The rapper shocked many as he floats the initiative by giving back to the society. He travelled to Kwara State, where he hails from to launch the scheme. The singer also paid a courtesy visit to the Emir of Ilorin during the first day of his arrival to discuss his intentions and plans for the secondary school students within the state. His 2-days trip was filled with activities as he and his team were well received by the school as the Principal of the school organised a special assembly gathering to receive one of their own. The musician gave writing materials and wall clocks to the students. Speaking on the initiative, the musician’s publicist said; “The (CEEI) project is targeted at solving writing materials problems in the state as all the secondary schools in Kwara State will get to benefit from it.”

Career

CDQ started music professionally in 2008 when he used to be a back-up singer for

Da Grin Oladapo Olaitan Olaonipekun, also known as Dagrin (25 October 1984 – 22 April 2010), was a Nigerian rapper from Ogun, Nigeria. A film of his life entitled ''Ghetto Dreamz'' was released in April 2011. Early life Olaonipekun's home was in Mei ...

before he started

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

in English language with M.I. In 2013, he signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with Masterkraft's General Records after winning a rap battle at the weekly Industry Nite in December 2012. In 2014, he released his breakthrough single titled "Indomie" which featured vocals from

while the

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

of the song featured

Davido David Adedeji Adeleke (born November 21, 1992), popularly known by his stage name Davido, is an American-Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. His music blends traditional African elements with global mainstream pop. Davido is widel ...

. The Masterkraft-produced song brought CDQ's career to limelight and further earned him two nomination spots at the

2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards The 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards was the 10th edition of the Nigeria Entertainment Awards. Wizkid won the most awards while Olamide received the most nominations with three across 39 award categories. Kiss Daniel won the Best New Act to Watc ...

and a nomination in the Best Street-Hop Artist category at

The Headies 2015 The Headies 2015 was the 10th edition of The Headies. It was held on January 1, 2016, at the Landmark Events Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos. Themed "Flip the Script", the event was hosted by Bovi and Kaffy. It was previously scheduled to hold ...

. In anticipation of his debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

titled '' Quality''
CDQ
enlisted the service of

with whom he released "Nowo E Soke" as a lead single off the album. The music video for the song was directed by Unlimited L.A and went on to win the Best Afro Hip Hop Video category at the 2016 edition of the Nigeria Music Video Awards. On 16 August 2016, he unveiled the cover art for the album before it was released through General Records on 22 August to positive critical reviews. On 11 November 2016, he launched his own record label N.S.N.S, a short-form for No Struggle No Success Entertainment. On 1 Feb 2017, he dropped his first official single under the platform titled ' Say Baba ' which was produced by Jay Pizzle.

Discography

Selected singles

Studio albums

*'' Quality'' *''Ibile Mugabe''

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:CDQ 1985 births Living people People from Ilorin Nigerian rappers Lagos State University alumni Nigerian songwriters Nigerian hip hop musicians