Where is Slim Joe (Omo Alajo)? Party over after 'Oti Yan Yan'...

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Last Updated on February 13, 2023 by Okoro Daniel O.

So recently I’ve been on some couple of flashback researches (just like I always do), and I got led to projects from Wacomzy, Whiz Boy, Klever Jay, J’odie, Lace, Kas, and lots of others.

However, my major dip fell on Slim Joe (Omo Alajo) – Real name: Joshua Olonitan.

If you happen to reside anywhere in Western Nigeria back in ’08, ’09, ’10, to somewhat around 2012-13, and you didn’t know about Slim Joe, it’s either you lived in a place without electronic gadgets or you just weren’t in the West at all.

Starching my coordinates to the Western part doesn’t mean he didn’t infiltrate other parts, just decided to set the pins around that region to avoid falling into an unverified meronymy.

So, Slim Joe back then, before the cliché of Wizkid, Davido, Olamide, and the likes took over the industry, he was like the Justin Bieber of that era.

How do you want me to start? Is it going to a party with DJ bombing the speakers with ‘Oti Yan Yan‘, ‘Chocolate‘ or even ‘Omoge‘ (feat. Iyanya)? Or you would wanna host a show without having Slim Joe songs on your playlists? You wouldn’t even dare. You won’t have “sare wole ko wa gba chocolate o” ke? No, nah, not possible.

Yes, it was hot as that. In fact, there’s this sport program on the radio (can’t remember the channel frequency) that still uses his song ‘show your logo‘ as a soundtrack.

I know you might wanna ask, wasn’t Olamide, Wizkid, Davido in the picture then too? Yes, they were, but Slim Joe was topping the charts more than them without even releasing an album. Yeah, you heard me right. He was making charts with just two-three songs.

Somehow, this method of having just a blockbuster ‘single/s’ airing your name/project has sent many back to ‘upcoming’, it takes more than just tactics to draw you back to the light. Kas, Lace, Jodie, Wacomzy, the list is long. They all took off with a hit single but never made it up again, even after changing sound, it never rang their name. It’s why I’d always prefer to blow with an album instead of ‘single’.

So back to Slim Joe, he was everywhere. ‘Oti Yan Yan‘ was doing so great. The blockbuster rode almost the same pattern as ‘Yahoozee‘ (Olu Maintain – 2007), very hot.

“ilu Èkó ko ni baje nana” “Fashola ko ni baje nana“, you don grab bah?

After ‘Oti Yan Yan’, he debuted another song, ‘Chocolate‘, followed by the one he featured Iyanya, ‘Omoge‘ (anywhere I go, omoge), before ‘Show your logo‘.

Here’s one funny thing about all his debuts; they all treaded the same pattern of beats, only the lyrics differentiate them. Nigerians want to dance, so he kept giving them what they want.

Fast-forward to early 2012, the name “Slim Joe” started washing off and that was how it ended. Although he released couple of songs thereafter, but it was never the same again, people had moved on.

Slim Joe sick — Slim Joe Omo Alajo (Joshua Olonitan) is reportedly down with kidney ailment and needs N15million for surgery to rise to his feet again.
(CREDIT: https://tribuneonlineng.com/s-o-s-slim-joe-needs-help/)

This year (2021), somewhat around May, the name ‘Slim Joe‘ resurfaced again, this time, it was on the news channel, and not music channel, seeking for help, “#15 million for a kidney transplant“. How it later went, I can’t say, ‘cos I couldn’t follow the report, was busy with other things.

…and that’s it.

Looking back now, I realized plenty of things, and I’m stuck with plenty of unanswered questions too, like;

Why did he mismanaged his fame? He didn’t move on quickly when he realized the baton isn’t in his court again? He made lot of money, why didn’t he leave the country instead, just like others did – to start a new life? And lots more…

Yeah, I’m also aware that the transition to advance media and gadgets catastrophically transformed lots of ‘reigning’ artists back then to ‘less-sought’ after figures, probably because they couldn’t move with the flow. I think I had this discussion with someone sometimes ago.