Zaylevelten has become an internet sensation, gaining a loyal audience of listeners and drawing attention from top industry personalities. His unique sound—a raw blend of pidgin, street slang and experimental trap music (also known as opium)—sets him apart as a pioneer of a new wave. Before the breakout of Maye, before the guy who doesn’t “fuga fake” took over our feeds, there was Aizay—a name now evolving into a movement. Zay was also one of the standout performers at the Greencamp Festival 2024 and trust us, the energy hasn’t let up since. In this exclusive Creator Spotlight, we tried to unravel the mystery that is Zaylevelten—if that’s even possible.
Q: What’s up, star? What do you like being called?
People call me Zay, Tenski, Ten—I like all of them, to be honest. So, anyone works.
Q: We first got introduced to you as Aizay, but now it’s Zaylevelten. What made you change the name, and is this the final stage name?
Yeah, I used to be Aizay, but 4 out of 5 people always got the pronunciation wrong and I hated it. They’d pronounce it like “Eze” instead of “I-zay,” so I decided to change it.
I was going to go with Tenski, but people were already calling me Zay… and Levelten. So I just joined it together and got “Zaylevelten.”
Q: What’s your background like? Where are you from, and where did you grow up?
Both my parents are from Ebonyi State—Ohaozara Local Government—but I’ve only been there like three times my whole life.
I grew up in Ikorodu, Lagos. I attended St. Margaret for primary school. For secondary school, I went to Kith and Kin, which was a boarding school until my pops withdrew me in JSS3. Then I moved to Tindip, a day school like 5 minutes from home. I hated it.
Q: How would you describe the kind of music you make?
Swag music. I talk about swag a lot ’cause that’s one of the few things I really care about. If you chill like that, you’ll probably f*** with my music.
If you don’t, there’s a high chance you a lame (just kidding). But yeah, I like to make music that gets you turnt.
I want shows to go crazy, I want people jumping in the crowd. ‘Cause we’re young, bro—now is the time to do all of that.
Q: You dropped two solid projects last year—three actually, since one was taken off streaming. You also have over 10 videos on YouTube. That’s a lot of work, money, and consistency. What’s been pushing you?
Yeah, it’s a lot of work—way more than I thought it’d be when I first started. The tape that got taken down was Tenski. It had about 16 tracks, and it really hurt me ’cause I still don’t know exactly why it got pulled. Maybe one or two unlicensed beats, I’m not sure.
But what’s pushing me is just the love for the music, bro. As a kid, I was into everything artsy—drawing, dancing, rapping. As I got older, rapping kept overshadowing everything else.
So if I don’t at least try to do what I love, I know I’ll have regrets. Like, I don’t want to be old watching a young artist on TV and thinking, “Damn, that could’ve been me if I kept going.” That fear of regret keeps me pushing.
Q: As an independent artist, how do you fund your projects—production, videos, promo?
I’m also a producer and sound engineer, so I do all of that to make some bread—or hustle in other ways. And I’ve got creative friends I collaborate with; we help each other ’cause this s*** is hard when you’re doing it alone.
Q: You already have people who look forward to your music. How does that make you feel?
That feeling, bro? It’s everything.
It’s better than a warm meal after smoking on an empty stomach. Better than sex with your high school crush. Better than any drug, honestly.
It makes me happy—it reminds me I’m not standing still, I’m going somewhere. It might not be a lot of people yet, but I really appreciate and love every genuine fan out there.
Q: You dress very well. What inspires your style?
Thank you, bro. I don’t even know exactly—my style just goes through phases.
Sometimes I see someone’s fit or a silhouette I like, and I try to recreate it. If I feel comfortable in it, then I’m good to go.
I just started getting into fashion—I wasn’t always like this. I plan to start designing clothes at some point, but I’ve already got so much going on, so I’m trying not to add too much right now.
Q: The way you mix Nigerian slang and language in your music makes it really relatable. Has it always been like that?
Nah, not always. I do it a lot more now.
Before, I gave up on trying to sell to Nigerian audiences. I was aiming straight for the US, UK, SA—places where I know they genuinely have underground and hip-hop culture.
I looked at artists who came before me on this rap thing, and they seemed to vanish. I thought the sound had no future here.
But in the past 2–3 years, I’ve met a couple of people like me—and that made it easier to believe. So now, I try to make it more authentic, and that includes how I talk.
Q: What’s your typical creative process like? Do you plan what to say or just go off the vibe?
To be honest, I rarely ever plan anything I say in a song. It just comes to me in the moment—it’s like I let the air tell me what to say.
I haven’t written a song or verse since 2019. I just open my laptop and punch in.
Funny thing is, I haven’t even experienced some of the stuff I rap about—like love songs. I’ve never really really loved, but I know what it looks like. I’ve seen it, felt it secondhand from people close to me.
Outside that, everything else in my lyrics? That’s just me. It’s how my friends and I talk, the things we do—I’m just putting it in a song.
Thanks for reading this interview with Tenski. What should we expect from Zay in the next couple of years—bigger stages, global collabs, hardest tape out of Nigeria? Drop your thoughts in the comments, we’re curious to hear what you see coming. And if you haven’t already, stream his latest single Maye here to catch up on the wave.
