SGawD: A Symphony of Passion and Resilience

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“SGaWD sees her music as more than just a means of expression; it is a tool for empowerment and change.”

SGaWD, sometimes referred to as Seddy [the GaWD], has recently garnered attention and credibility as a rapper to be watched at the forefront of the emergent African acts. However, her journey to this point has been driven by a deep love of music. From the vibrant harmonies of a vernacular choir in her early years to the disciplined pursuit of a law career in Miami, SGaWD's path has been anything but linear. Her story is one of a powerful drive to overcome adversity, a strong insistence on expressing her true self, and a penchant for continuously making a splash in an industry that often seems willing to underestimate her.

Born into the rich cultural heritage of the Efik people in Nigeria, SGaWD's introduction to music was deeply rooted in the spiritual and communal traditions of her family and church. SGaWD's early years were spent in her father's village, surrounded by extended family in a bustling compound.

Here, her musical influences began to take shape. Her mother served as the director of The Triumphant Choir, their church choir. With this station, she played a pivotal role in nurturing SGaWD’s musical talent, instilling in her a profound religious connection to music. In the harmonious confines of the church ensemble,

SGaWD learned to read music and sing both soprano and alto (contralto).

Beyond the technical education she received here, the choir was a conduit for her relationship with her mother, bringing them closer together through shared activity. Her mother instilled in her a love for the art of singing. It also endeared her to her community as hymns and songs were performed in the native dialect as well as English.

Her father’s tastes were more secular. He had a penchant for powerhouse vocalists like Mary J. Blige, Sade, and Celine Dion. A young SGaWD remembers time spent with him and his CDs, delving into his library and exposing her to emotive songwriting, catchy melodies, and strong-belted vocal performances.

She would sing along with these greats and began to try her hand at writing her songs herself. Unknown to them, her parents inadvertently created a unique foundation for SGaWD’s musical journey. The early exposure to both secular and sacred sounds inspired a love of music that touched both the spiritual and the earthly emotional dimensions. This unique blend, coupled with experience singing in English and traditional tongues, coalesced into the beginnings of a versatile and rich musical understanding.

Another angle of her childhood that would contribute to this artistic origin was her involvement in community engagement. Between the ages of 7 and 13, SGaWD was steered towards advocacy by her mother, who ensured she was deeply aware of her social environment. She served in the Nigerian Children's Parliament, where her commitment to society, activism, and difference-making would shine brightly. These different facets of her person first crystallised as music when finally, at 13, she recorded her first song with a friend. Together, they composed a piece about showing love, and while this song made her mother immensely proud, SGaWD felt a bit underwhelmed by the outcome.

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Perhaps this feeling was the root of a desire for greater output. Either way, these early efforts were dismissed by her family as fleeting interests and childhood exuberance.

Secondary school brought a new set of twists for SGaWD. Avi-Cenna International School is where she would discover the thrill of performance. The school hosted an end-of-year show that had become a middling, seldom-attended formality before students could finally go home.

Our budding superstar decided one year that this end-of-year show could be spiced up by a dance routine, so she danced. This dance routine turned out to be a polarising incident that solicited reactions from the few people in attendance. These reactions attracted passers-by until the auditorium was filled for maybe the first time. Parents and staff had their opinions about the dance, but whichever way those opinions swayed, suddenly, there was interest in the end-of-year show.

After reviving the dying occasion, Seddy would headline the show another year, flexing her singing talent in a gripping rendition of Mariah Carey’s “Hero.” The performance was impressive enough to win her an award, a sponsored ski trip to Switzerland that marked her first trip to Europe. SGaWD says that this experience was a revelation, showing her that music could be more than just a hobby—it could reap significant rewards.

While SGaWD was discovering her affinity for musical performances, her time at Avi-Cenna also served to broaden her musical horizons by introducing her to rap. She found herself in a friend group almost singly motivated by a love for the Fugees. It was in this group that she was first exposed to the intricacies of rap music. With a lengthy, strong background as a singer, she was enthralled by the artistry, creativity, and penmanship rife in the genre. The Fugees gave way to Method Man, Nas, Andre 3000, Outkast, Lil’ Kim, and Ludacris. This expanding list of influences deepened her appreciation and understanding of this energetic musical genre.

She added this informal education to continued formal instruction in music, as it was often joked that she was probably the only person who actually enjoyed music classes in school.

SGaWD left a mark on Avi-Cenna when she graduated.

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Some people still credit her for revitalising the school’s end-of-year shows, and tales of her academic and extra-curricular exploits are still whispered in the halls of her alma mater.

However, her time in Avi-Cenna also left a mark on her. The spark for rap music was ignited in that institution, and that spark was fanned somewhat serendipitously when she moved to the UK to continue her education.

SGaWD would always be drawn to musicians. Birds of a feather and whatnot. This meant she was continuously around others who loved music the way she did. Broadening her music tastes led her to discover the early vestiges of the Alte scene on SoundCloud, and she began to discover and befriend people in those spheres. Many of these friends would grow their way into the music industry in their unique ways.

While visiting a studio with friends Gabriel (GJ the Caesar) and Junior Ishaya (who were, at the time, in a rap group called Retro Revo), SGaWD found herself randomly lending her vocals to a song that was being put together.

What began as a “why not” moment amongst friends was soon released on the internet as "Stand Still," to surprisingly encouraging reactions and even radio play. This marked the beginning of her proper foray into music. Further collaborations like “Jersey” with Jossy Dee and “Resistance” with Jess ETA would follow, gaining traction and entrenching her deeper in the music space. However, she felt a bit like an outsider without her songs. And then, she experienced a personal trauma that forced her to withdraw from people. It was here that she relocated to Miami, focusing her efforts on herself and her law education.

Yet, even after graduating Summa Cum Laude, beginning a blossoming legal career, and shouldering the familial responsibilities of being the first daughter, music remained on her mind. Her friends were making moves, and she could see them starting to attain success and live their dreams. She cites the career of producer Genio, in particular, as an inspiration. He was in her high school and she always looked up to him. She finally caved and created a SoundCloud account under the pseudonym “A” for Anonymous.

Later rebranding as “A Major,” she began to post material to the SoundCloud account. The audience for her work grew steadily, but it was a track titled “Are You Dumb” that first garnered real traction. Another song with Jess ETA called “Like Me” got people talking online. Considering she was still anonymous then, she couldn’t take credit for the work people were responding to.

She still didn’t quite want to do music. She convinced herself that she was content living her life and practising law. Music remained simply an outlet and a hobby for her, at least, until the year that the Earth stood still.

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When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, being forced to stay home gave people time to think and reflect. For Seddy, this reflection brought into focus the growing successes of the musicians around her. Increasingly, she found herself tormented by the fact that her love for music was not finding expression.

Increasingly, she found herself tormented by the fact that her love for music was not finding expression. And so, finally, inspired by a growing itch to fulfil her passion, Seddy co-opted her nickname “SGaWD” and decided that she was going to make music. In 2021, SGaWD would further solidify this decision by boldly moving back to Lagos to pursue her music career.

This transition was challenging. She faced resistance from her father, who could not understand her choice to abandon the life he had worked so hard to provide for her. For this, he kicked her out of the house. She struggled to find willing collaborators as a newcomer to the industry, and the Afrobeats-centric environment proved to be a difficult space in which to propagate her rap-centric sound. And unfortunately, she struggled to be taken seriously as a woman in male-dominated spaces. She went from living and earning comfortably in Miami to hustling in Lagos as a musician without a substantial discography. With all this going on, she found a haven in the burgeoning Alte scene that welcomed her and her unique personality, experiences, and expression. She found a group of like minds like Yinka Bernie and DJ Camron, she found other enterprising, fearless women, and she found open-minded fans.

Nestling into this new community, she put her head down and spoke through the music. With more consistent uploads on SoundCloud, she quickly made a name for herself with a string of viral freestyles and collaborations. Her output piqued interest and turned heads, leading to several record label offers that any Summa Cum Laude lawyer would instantly identify as unfavourable.

She rejected these offers and continued independently carving out her path.

She stamped her arrival concretely with her debut EP, Savage Bitch Juice. SGaWD intended this project to be an attention grabber. With the help of people like Don Ozi, Somadina, and TrillXoe, she was able to put a couple of songs together.

Recorded between her apartment in Lagos and her family house in Akwa Ibom, she was able to channel the defiance of her challenging circumstances into a bold, audacious bravado that was evident all over the EP. Weary of disingenuous industry folk, she had to be intentional about the people she chose to work with. But where she felt comfortable, she reached out, even gaining her manager this way after reaching out to a publicist she had enjoyed working with previously.

Along this path came a little scandal when SGaWD was called out online for buying a fake Telfar bag through a personal shopper. Clearing up the misunderstanding wasn’t pretty, and it was quite public, but it then inspired a song titled “Telfar.” Not only did the single take off on its own accord, but the braggadocious style of the song caught the ear of the Telfar brand who reached out to express admiration and support across social media and also materially, providing Seddy with several products that would feature in the song’s colourful video.

However, even that highlight was met with its difficulties as her distribution partners didn’t believe in the song at first. This led to a quiet falling out that SGaWD stayed silent through. She observed that speaking up in the music industry could just as well get you punished. In waiting for the now sour distribution agreement to end, she released “Intermission” and retreated to London to rest, recoup, and “rap her ass off”.

This was where “Dump All Your Worries” was made, and she began to lay the groundwork for her next project, Side A.

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According to SGaWD, Savage Bitch Juice was a great debut project, but it might also have been a bit one-dimensional and monotonous as it only showed one side of her. With Side A, she wanted to create a project that revealed more of herself. She had grown more comfortable and confident in her standing and skill as an artist and no longer felt the need to prove herself as she did on SBJ.

So, she set out to express the breadth of her range with a style she described as “that cheeky joke your guy tells that makes you laugh and you repeat it for months until it becomes an inside joke” or “having a party in your room alone and you’re just having a good time cleaning.” When asked how she felt about the end product, SGaWD recounted the development of her process and how it meant her output could take any form. She expressed that “Dump All Your Worries” was her favourite song to create, but she feels like “Boy Toy” is her most robust offering with its witty lyrics, great rhythmic pockets, and humorous tone.

While she continues to develop her musical gifts, she wasn’t shy about confessing that she also sees herself transitioning to other art forms and media. She expressed a love for film that she hopes will see her making films at some point in the future.

Selflessly, though, her thoughts on the future didn’t seem to revolve around her alone. She indicated a strong desire for the industry to evolve so women can navigate it more easily. She would love to facilitate this through charity work, legal means, and perhaps even infrastructural changes. She expressed admiration for women like Tiwa Savage, who are able to reinvent themselves and stay relevant in an environment that isn’t always forgiving of women who aren’t the quiet and humble archetype.

She communicated disdain for the fact that rap seems to be the only genre where gender is important, and as such, female rappers aren’t afforded the same level of embracement as their male counterparts. What was evident to me was that SGaWD wants to make an impact and be remembered as someone who contributed positively to the current and coming waves of music coming out of Africa. After hours of conversing, I see SGaWD as a driven, resilient, intelligent, and passionate soul. Her journey is a testament to her resilience, passion, and unwavering commitment to her art. With each new release, she continues redefining what it means to be a female rapper, challenging norms and inspiring others to follow their unique paths.