The Pen Never Lies: Ladipoe is Back With Many People

Patience Iziegbe Odighizuwa

Nigerian rap has had many voices. Very few have said something worth remembering on every single record. Ladipoe is one of them, and Many People is the latest proof. Ladipo

Eso aka Ladipoe, was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and found music while studying Biology and Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

He came back to Nigeria with something to say and the pen to say it. In 2017, he became Mavin Records' first rap signee since the label rebranded from Mo'Hits. If there is one thing that defines Ladipoe's career beyond the lyricism, it is his gift for collaboration.

Not just featuring on songs, but choosing the right people, at the right time, so that every collaboration adds something to the story he is telling about Nigerian rap. It started before Mavin.

His early feature on Show Dem Camp's Feel Alright put him on the map and gave him his first national audience. His debut album Talk About Poe in 2018 featured Tems, Efya, Seyi Shay, Funbi, and Sir Dauda, a diverse, carefully curated list that showed he was not interested in making one kind of music.

He was interested in making good music. Know You featuring Simi in 2020 became his first number one single and won Best Collaboration at The Headies. It was a masterclass in pairing, his measured, intelligent rap alongside Simi's warm melodic pull.

Feeling featuring BNXN followed in 2021 and became the song of the summer, topping the TurnTable Top 50 chart three times. It earned him a BET Hip Hop Award nomination for Best International Flow and won Best Rap Single at The Headies 2022.

His Providence EP deepened the pattern. Six tracks. Rema on Afro Jigga, an explosive record that matched Rema's energy without losing Ladipoe's. Fireboy DML on Running, smooth, cinematic, and undeniably replayable.

Amaarae on Love Essential, a crossover between Nigerian rap and Ghanaian alternative that felt completely natural. Three completely different sounds. One cohesive vision. Beyond his own projects, Ladipoe has featured across some of the biggest collaborative records in Nigerian music.

The through-line across all of it is this: Ladipoe always sounds like Ladipoe. No matter who he is standing next to, the pen stays sharp, the flow stays deliberate, and the storytelling stays intact.

Released June 5, 2026, Many People is exactly what you would expect from a Ladipoe collaboration and yet it still surprises you. Featuring Ema Onigah, a rising artist who has been building one of the most interesting catalogues in the Nigerian alternative scene, the song opens with his haunting hook that sets the entire emotional register of the record before Ladipoe says a word.

And when Ladipoe steps in, he delivers. Sharp observations about fake friendships, two-faced people, and the exhaustion of navigating relationships built on status and image.

By the second verse, he is warning about industry connections that blur into liabilities "Keeping enemies close is how they get mistaken for friends." The production by Ucee is clean and cinematic, built on a smooth jazz-hip-hop framework with a double-bass line, boom-bap hi-hats, and warm keyboard chords that give the song the feel of a private conversation in a dimly lit room.

Many People is not a party record. It is a thinking record. And it is another collaboration that stamps exactly who Ladipoe is a rapper who chooses his features with intention, brings out the best in whoever he works with, and never compromises the pen.

Stream the Ladipoe Best Mix on Mdundo and catch up on every era. Download it now on Mdundo.