The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday unveiled @FshawKingFisher as the “handler” that had entertained, enlightened and charmed it Twitter followers.
That ended one of the most guarded secrets on social media.
No sooner was his cover blown than Olufemi Olukayode Adeyemi, the rapper known as F. Shaw, become one of the most eagerly followed Nigerians on the micro blogging platform.
From a miserly 2,000, his followers have increased to 20,000 and counting.
But who really is @FshawKingFisher?
Here are seven facts every Twitter fan should know about him.
1 Background
The third child of a middle working class parents, Adeyemi was born and raised in Ipaja, Lagos. He nursed childhood ambitions of becoming a petrochemical engineer or joining the army but these fizzled out as he developed an interest in music and break dancing which became his new focus. Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, ABBA, Michael Jackson and The Commodores were some of his early musical influence as his father was a lover of country, soul and pop music. That list now includes Frank Sinatra, Fela, Nas, Tupac, Eminem, Jadakiss and Jay-Z.
2 Education
Adeyemi’s primary education was at St. Mary’s Private School, Broad Street in Lagos. He graduated from King’s College Lagos in 2001 and went on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in computer science, graduating in 2006 from Covenant University. He completed his National Youth Service in 2007.
3 Here comes the rapper
Assuming the name F. Shaw, his interest in hip-hop piqued in 2004, and started writing down and reciting his favourite rappers’ lines. He was friends with D’banj’s younger brother, K-Switch, who used to exchange bars with him on paper in class. One of his earliest recordings was ‘Bounce’, produced by Dr Frabz, featuring K-Switch and TIB. In 2005, F. Shaw took rapping seriously by first collaborating with rapper-producer Spellz to record a song titled ‘Get Low’, which was given its first radio airplay by DJ Humility.
4 Cobhams and Tee-y Mix connections
Shaw reunited with former high schoolmate turned renowned producer, Cobhams Asuquo, through Oliver Aleogena and together they produced a song titled ‘Let It Go’. for it content and newness of sound which was released in late 2007. The song was released late 2007 and received massive airplay from radio stations in Lagos and Abuja. Not satisfied with the progress of his career, F. Shaw took matters into his own hands and released a five-track EP in 2008 titled Avant-Garde, printing a thousand copies of the EP, selling some and giving the rest away for free. The EP contained the singles ‘Let It Go’, ‘Moonlight Serenade’ (produced by Tee-y Mix). This helped push him to a broader audience.
5 MTV Base contestant
In 2008, F. Shaw contested in the MTV Base reality show Advance Warning alongside 25 other up and coming Nigerian artistes. He also performed at the Can U? Concert in Abuja early 2008 which had Timaya as the headlining act. That same year, he shared the same stage with Omawumi, D’banj and the Mo’Hits crew at the West Africa Tour in South Africa. In 2009, he released a third official single titled ‘My Everything (Aya Mi)’.
6 Music break
He left the music scene after he was “brutally stabbed” multiple times by armed robbers. On recovering from the incident, he went to the UK to pursue his master’s degree. F. Shaw is currently working on his debut album, Royal Status, and will also be releasing a video for ‘Moonlight Serenade’ which he plans to release under his imprint.
7 Secret agent
His identity as the EFCC handler was kept from members of his family. He revealed in a tweet on Tuesday that his sister just found out about his secret service and was not talking to him at the moment.
Haha. My sis just found out. She’s not talking to me atm. ? https://t.co/hM5jlbGMRm
— F.SHAW (@FshawKingFisher) July 25, 2017
