ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Arizechukwu Okolo is a star in the making.
The Georgia State senior writes sings, and produces his own music.
“I’m trying to bridge the gap between southern Hip Hop and African-influenced music being that I’m Nigerian,” Okolo said.
This year, Arize debuted his first single, Blood Diamond, for GSU’s new student-run record label ‘MTM Standard.’
“You know, pressure makes diamonds, but blood also makes diamonds. And I think I’m a product of that. My family’s still back home and it took a lot of them going through and experiencing a lot of things that they experienced through the struggle for me to come to America,” he said.
Arize’s dreams, along with nine other students signed to the label, are now a reality thanks to professors, Al Thrash and Ben Yonas.
“It’s like an incubator that we’re creating for them, but we certainly want to compete. This is not just a school project. This is not like a class project. We are putting real records out and launching real careers,” said Thrash.
Aside from the label, the pair created a ‘SyncHouse’ to license music for film and TV. Both projects are funded by Georgia State University’s Research Innovation and Scholarly Excellence Challenge.
“[In] every street corner, there’s some portion of downtown Atlanta being used to cut or record a film. We’re striving to be part of that movement to keep a lot of that post-production work here in Atlanta,” said Yonas.
As Arize works to create an album, he says he’s thankful to share his art with the world and for the university’s support in making it all possible.
“If they see something in me then it’s like, it means that I have it. It gave me that confidence to really pursue this,” he said.
Copyright 2023 WANF. All rights reserved.