Michael Chimeruche Alozie (born 28 March), known professionally as Snazzy the Optimist or simply Snazzy, is a Nigerian-born singer, songwriter and rapper. An alumnus of International College of Creative Arts, he began as a rapper, covering songs and began his music career professionally in 2021.

Early life and education

Alozie was born in

Imo State Imo () is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its name from the Imo R ...

, a state in the south eastern region of Nigeria. According to him, his mother's dream for him was to study Medicine and has described his father as his biggest musical influence. He graduated from high school in 2018, prior graduation he moved to

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

the following year.

Career

Growing up, Alozie began

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

as a young boy at home and in school where he often battle rapped with his friends and often participated in school competitions, he initially began as a rapper before singing. In late 2017; he officially started covering tracks. He covered tracks by diverse artists and also recorded on beats he downloaded from

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. One of the established tracks he covered is Teni's 2018 award-winning single "

Case Case or CASE may refer to: Instances * Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design * Special case, an instance that differs in a certain way from others of the type Containers * Case (goods), a package of relate ...

". In 2021, two years after moving to Lagos State, he began his career with “Seluna”. He received mainstream attention the same year following the release of "Seluna" as part of his Mars extended play in 2021 which is yet to be released. "Seluna" debuted on

ITunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Chart, and peaked at number #35. It also received support and gained airplay on radio stations including

Cool FM Cool FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. The station is owned and operated by Bauer and forms part of Bauer's Hits Radio Network. The station began broadcasting in 1990 when its parent station ...

both in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

and

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

Beat FM Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

and the Nigerian Info. The following year, ''GBA Africa'' in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

profiled him as an artiste set to make a name in the country's music industry. In January 2023, he was listed by '' P.M. News'' as one of the "musicians to look out for". The following month of that same year, he was shortlisted by

Audiomack Audiomack (often stylized as audiomack'')'' is a music streaming and audio discovery platform that allows artists to upload music and fans to stream and download songs. It is especially popular among emerging artists, offering a space to share th ...

as one of the most streamed artists for Nigeria of that week alongside

Asake Ahmed Ololade (born 13 January 1995), known professionally as Asake, is a Nigerian singer, rapper and songwriter. He was previously signed to YBNL Nation and Empire Distribution. His stage name "Asake" is his mother's name. In September 2022, ...

, 1ucid and

Kizz Daniel Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe (born 1 May 1994), who is better known as Kizz Daniel (formerly Kiss Daniel), is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. He rose to fame in 2014 with his debut single, " Woju". He signed a record deal with G-Worldwide Ent ...

. In February 2024, Alozie released "Asa", gaining traction on social media and achieving airplay, produced by platinum record producer Eternal Africa. A fusion of the

Igbo people The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and historically also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', / / ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group found in Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. Their primary origin is fo ...

Ọjà The ''ọjà'' is an integral part of the rich cultural heritage of the Igbo people and continues to play a significant role in their musical traditions. The Igbo people, who are indigenous to Nigeria, are renowned for the utilization of the ọ ...

and

Amapiano Amapiano is a genre of music from South Africa that became popular in mid-2012 with an earlier regular occurrence on South African radio stations in the early 2000s. It is a hybrid of kwaito, deep house, gqom, jazz, soul, and lounge music char ...

which is in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a t ...

and Zulu languages and features non lexical vocables. Ifeanyi Ibeh, writing for ''The Guardian'', describes the song as original, unique, nostalgic, fresh and a tone that is up for future musical samples.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Optimist, Snazzy the 21st-century Nigerian male singers Nigerian rappers Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Imo State English-language singers from Nigeria Living people Nigerian soul musicians Igbo singer-songwriters Nigerian Afrobeats musicians Igbo musicians