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, 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

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

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

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

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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 as one of the most streamed artists for Nigeria of that week alongside Asake, 1ucid and Kizz Daniel. 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 ...

's Ọjà and Amapiano which is in English, Igbo 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