Sasha- Yetunde Alabi

Growing up as the last of eight children might have made it difficult for some to find their own identity but for Sasha real name Yetunde Alabi it was a platform of self-expression! Born on her father's birthday on the 21st of May 1983, an audience awaited her then and it therefore is no surprise that the case remains the same 21 years later. "My family was like the Vontrapp family from the sound of music and I became Grettle, my sisters would dress me up and record me singing my renditions of songs from Grease, Annie and the sound of music, I must have been like 5 or 6 when I started performing at family gatherings " She started off rapping with her family friends a group of boys, and realised her chosen stage name Sasha was more than just a name when her friend's Russian mom told her it meant Victory in 1998, it became a prophesy.

Sasha's first outing was at the Girl's nite out annual talent hunt 2001 where she emerged first runner up. Not easily daunted, she went on the next day to perform at the Lagos Lekki beach alongside other contestants to a crowd of at least 500 people, where she was clearly the crowd's favourite. A couple of months later she met Eldee of the popular rap trio Trybesmen and after listening to her rap he signed her on to Trybe records in a matter of days and in August 2002, the single "Work it " was released to the media, this had her rapping alongside her label mates 2shotz, Timi, Del and Eldee himself the reception was unbelievable and due to popular demand "Oya" was released in October of the same year, it went into the charts at number 3 the first week and became the Christmas anthem that year. The video debut was on BEN TV in England in January 2003 and then finally all Nigerian television stations, it got heavy rotation and Sasha became famous for her 8 bar rap. Performing alongside Trybesmen in a range of concerts including opening for International artistes such as R&B group DRU HILL in May 2003, and GINUWINE in September 2003 amongst others her performances wowed the audience adding to her steadily growing fan base.

It was therefore inevitable when her first single
"Emi Le Gan" released in October 2003
met a warm and receptive audience, and the video released on BEN TV in England in February 2004 for which she wrote the script
was directed by Eldee and
recorded for 5 days in various locations around Lagos including the prestigious Eko Le'meridian and Excelsior Hotel Casino. The video topped the charts for weeks and her style was compared with her international counterparts like EVE, Missy Elliot and Foxy Brown. Her own musical influences include the late Tupac shakur, Missy Elliot, Lauryn Hill and Beyonce Knowles.

"I definitely have a style of my own but all the same I take it as a compliment to be compared to already established females in my genre of music, I draw influences from people who are multi talented and not afraid to speak their mind, I m working on someday being able to attain the level of success if not more that they have achieved"

Although she hasn't achieved her main goal yet she's well underway, 2004 has been a huge boost for her career, performing in various states of the federation.she finally got her big break as one of the artistes at this year's MTN Y'hello television show where she shared the stage with big acts such as High life crooner Sunny Nneji, South African acts Tamara Dey and Mapaputzi, Lord Kenya from Kenya and other notable Nigerian artistes. The program is aired nation wide on 23 television stations every Sunday at 6pm and also on DSTV music station, Channel O. the reviews were breath taking and in the Sunday Punch music page the quote read:

"Sasha was the queen at the carnival her performance signalled a new voice in Nigerian hip hop"

She has been interviewed by a multitude of radio and television stations which include Cool Fm, Rhythm 93.7, Eko Fm, Brilla 88.9 sports radio, Premier Fm Ibadan , Cosmo Fm Enugu Mitv, Tv Africa, NTA, Galaxy television, ETV, Yotomi TV, Inside out with Agatha, New Dawn with Funmi Iyanda NTA 10 ,AIT, to name
a few. The print media has not been left out, she's been featured in the Saturday Punch, Sunday Punch, This Day, The Sun and Guardian newspapers also in Encomium, Fame, Excellence City people and
Hearts soft sell
magazines, Deeply, Phat Entertainment ,Bubbles , Reality , Exquisite magazines with stints in others, She was on the cover of the re-birth of Dynamix magazine, October 2004 and apart from being a music journalist for Hip Hop world magazine {Winner of best magazine at the 2004 Amen awards} she also manages a column titled Sashaspeaks where she addresses general issues in the society.

In August 2004, Sasha added another feather to her hat when she was selected alongside top selling artiste Tuface Idibia to represent Nigeria in the KORA West African preliminaries held in Ghana {the first of it's kind} and came tops in a stiff competition aired live on Ghanaian television station TV3 where she competed against Ghanaian well known acts Batman and Miss Belle, Togo's Orcyno, Benin's Kessim and Cote d'ivoire's Guizo winning a nomination as West Africa's representative for the category of Most promising female in Africa
at the 2004 KORA awards ceremony that was
held on the12th December ,2004 at the Sandton Convention centre in Johannesburg, South Africa .It was
broadcasted live to an approximated 700 million viewers across Africa, Europe ,the United States and the Caribbean.

"It is truly an honour to be a nominated and I'm looking forward to the experience"

This was not
her only nomination in 2004, she was nominated at the 2004 Amen awards for her Single "Emi le Gan" in the category of best upcoming artiste. Her performances have been labelled inspiring and have been aired consistently on television,
worthy of note was the Naija Repesentin' concert held in June 2004 by Rugged man a fellow artiste to bring together other hip hop acts during the visiting tour of Nigeria's number one hip hop group in England JJC and the 419 squad {winners of the best African group Kora award 2004} which contributed to her emergence as one of the acts to perform at the
MTN Y'hello fest held in Enugu in September 2004 where once again her performance was quoted to be a show case of hard work:

"Sasha's performance was highly impressive and she brought down the house with soulful tunes from her soon to be released album!" Mary Ekah The Punch

"She went on and on I was so excited, we couldn't tell what she was going to do next, we were all just screaming she's Nigeria's Eve" an excited fan

Sasha is currently a Law undergraduate at the University of Lagos, and apart from her musical and writing career she also designs most of her stage costumes and outfits through her developing clothing line Eclectic! She has customers cutting across various higher institutions ranging from University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Babcock University, Igbinedion University, and Osun State University amongst others. She is multi talented and always willing to give back to the community.

She performed at the Miss Commonwealth benefit concert in November 2004 opening for the project fame all stars of the widely watched and recently concluded Project Fame Academy on DSTV's channel 37.Also in the works is her pet project To educate young females in secondary schools and universities on the increasingly prevalent disease of Breast cancer.

Sasha has collaborated with a number of artists including Tyrbesmen, Sound Sultan, Faze of the former Plantashun boiz , JJC and the 419 squad, Dare Art-Alade, Azadus , Wale Thompson ,Asa , Modele , Niyola
to mention a few. She has also written songs for some of the artistes which include Freestyle of the Trybesmen and Niyola
and
has been featured on their albums
some of
which
were released
in 2004 and others
to be released
early 2005. It is obvious that this budding new talent is not just another pretty face , she means business . Sasha's highly anticipated album "Finally here" will be released in
2005 , she is set to conquer the world with her hard work and determination.

SASHA PRESS QUOTES 2004

"If someone asks a music journalist what good song he has heard recently, he expects two things, first that he will name an artist many people have never heard of, second that the said artist will be cool, creative and un-usual- my current answer to that question is Sasha, Her single "Emi le Gan" is wooing hip hop and rap enthusiasts nationwide including dee-jays!"
Sunday Punch July 25th, 2004


If you call Sasha the hottest female rapper around today you may not be far from the truth. …She's got rare skills that are bound to take her to the top and her single "Emi Le Gan" is loved at home and abroad"
Notes and tones


"Sasha is Nigeria's first lady of hip hop…She's got the world at her feet"
DYNAMIX

"Sasha has become the toast of the music industry , she is Nigeria's queen of hip hop!
CITY PEOPLE


"Though she is new on the scene critics are already tipping her to be going places as her stage performances stand her out"
THIS DAY


"Sasha is the hottest Nigerian female rapper to ever grab a mic…she seems set to attain and surpass heights that have eluded her predecessors in times past"
ENCOMIUM

"Sasha stole the show with her performance and robbed the audience with her yet to be released soul moving tunes and dance"
THE GLITTERATI oct17-23, 2004


"Sasha's nomination for a KORA makes me very proud, think MTV and the Grammies cos that's where she belongs"
Eldee CEO TRYBE RECORDS