Shallipopi, the Benin-born singer, has shared how his colleague Rema encouraged him and other musicians from Edo State to believe in their abilities.

In a recent segment of The Zero Conditions podcast, the ‘Elon Musk’ singer referred to Rema as a ray of light for vocalists in the country’s southern states.

He claimed that because of the celebrated artist’s ascent to fame, they began to think that they, too, could transcend.

Shallipopi said; “Benin as a place, none of us get hope to blow. We thought musical stardom was only attainable for Lagos and Abuja residents. We didn’t had the hope that we too could achieve spotlight.

“It was after Rema came, after D’Prince signed him to Jonzing World, that was when he realised that is also possible for Benin artists to hit stardom. There’s hope. If Rema cross over, we go fit cross over.

“When Rema went to Lagos, we were watching him. We are his day-one fans. He knows. We’ve been following since when he was posting freestyle videos on social to his trap EP to his new height. He was the one who gave us hope that we too can make it.”