When you search for Laycon on Google you would see Rema, Chinko Ekun, Omah Lay, and Wizkid on the “People also search for” corner. And no, Laycon’s title on Google is given as musical artist, not as Big Brother housemate. Of course, Laycon is a Big Brother housemate as at now but it is now evident that his profile supersedes a reality show of 71 days. He is more of one we would hear about for years upon years to come.
If you think this introduction was written by a Laycon fan, you are right. But there are three of us in the writing team for this so when you see any bad thing said about Laycon it is the Erica fan or the Dorathy fan among us. Let’s do this.
Humble beginning and education
Laycon was born in Lagos on November 8rd, 1993. You may have seen his year of birth given as 1994 elsewhere. This is an error that emanated from the fact that Laycon is 26 so they remove 26 from 2020 and arrive at 1994 (journalism is not for everyone). Laycon was born Olamilekan Agbeleshe Moshood. His first name can be literally translated as my wealth has increased which is usually given to mean this one would bring me wealth by parents who are not what you would call rich.
Laycon’s was a humble beginning as is evident from his statements and disposition in the lockdown house (this may as well be all strategic but he has the benefit of doubt). Olamilekan is the kind of Lagosian who may think of Nigeria in a dual prism of Lagos and other places. He was born in Lagos, he had his primary and secondary education in Lagos, he had his university education at the University of Lagos, served in Lagos, and began earning a living in Lagos.
While we are sure Laycon graduated from the Department of Philosophy, we are not sure he graduated with a first-class as mouthed in many quarters. But as for the fact that he graduated as the best graduating student, this one is not true. In fact, Laycon was not even the best graduating student in his department.
We are sure of this because we researched and found the person who actually graduated as the best in Philosophy. His name is Anichebe Tony. And you don’t have to take our words for it. Go read about him, here. Anichebe graduated with a 4.64 CGPA. This CGPA does not look like the best in the whole school. Unilag is not a university that wallows in the misery of their students’ failures. First-class abounds and just a year before, a certain Ayodele Dada graduated with a perfect 5.0 CGPA (go read him here). The point is while Laycon may be a top student, he is far from the best even in his department.
Laycon’s time in the house
Laycon’s time in the house (at least the first half which is still ongoing) is one that is too dominated by his relationship (or lack of it) with fellow housemate Erica whom he wanted a romantic relationship with but who wanted more than his fans and media handlers would have found amusing.
Erica likes Laycon but made it clear that this was not in a romantic way. She once said she was physically attracted to Kiddwaya but mentally attracted to Laycon. Laycon’s fans seemed to be enraged by this rejection and accused Erica of going for the money/looks rather than for the one whom she truly cared about. There were those who felt that Erica was leading Laycon on as part of her strategy to win the show.
See also: All about Trikytee the housemate with nine lives
Some, still, just wished for Laycon to leave Erica alone and concentrate on his business of winning the 85 million naira on the 71st day.
Laycon told Erica to stay away from him as he couldn’t deal with staying close to her and not have her. While Laycon asked her to stay away from him, he didn’t seem to want to stay away from her at first (he even dreamed of kissing her), leading BrightO to say and we paraphrase: “You are trying to curry pity so that Erica would have sympathy for you and consider you.”
At the time of writing, Erica had just been given two strikes by Big Brother for breaking the house rules and she wondered why Laycon hadn’t come to sympathize with her. She seemed to want to eat her cake and have it.
Eviction votes by Laycon
Following the new format of voting in which the bottom four voted by the public are put on the line of fire for housemates to ultimately evict one or two of them, evicted housemates’ fates have been decided by fellow housemates.
On the first eviction night, Praise, Ka3na, Lilo, and Eric were up for eviction. Laycon voted to evict Ka3na and Eric. Lilo and Ka3na were evicted and sent away.
On the second eviction night, Trikytee, Eric, Kaisha, and Tochi were up for eviction. Laycon voted to evict Eric and Trikytee. Tochi and Eric went home.
On the third eviction night, Trikyee, Kaisha, Wathoni, and Neo were up for eviction. Lekan voted to evict Trikytee and Kaisha. Kaisha alone went home.
On the fourth eviction night, Trikytee, Praise, Wathoni, and Vee were put up for eviction. The rapper-housemate voted to have Trikytee and Wathoni go home. Praise alone went home.
Laycon’s music career
Laycon’s early life and up to his time as a youth corps member and even as an office worker, one thing has dominated his consciousness and art. Being a musician and music. Laycon was said to sing and rap as a form of expression since his primary school days. It was however in 2019 that he broke the studio jinx and made a song. We do not know which song he released first but we know the most popular one is “Fierce” in which he featured Reminisce and Chinko Ekun of “Able God” fame.
Naij.com reports that the song made MTV Base Top 10 Nigerian songs and stayed there for weeks.
In April 2020, Laycon released an EP (extended play) of eight songs titled “Who is Laycon?”. You can go listen or download the songs on this site. An extended play is the professional name for an album which is below thirty minutes in its entirely. A full album is expected to sum up to at least 30 minutes and Laycon’s release is 23 minutes long.
Some of the songs in the EP include “Who is Laycon”, “Motivation” in which he featured Tinu, “Accolades” featuring Yusuf Kanbai, “Hiphop” with Deshinor, and the hit “Fierce”.
In mid-August, Laycon’s IG handler posted on the platform that the album which was released under the imprint of F.N.E Ltd Record label had hit and surpassed two million streams across the platforms of Apple Music, AudioMack, Spotify, Boomplay, and Deezer.
The Big Brother house is built to give ordinary Nigerians fame and give them a platform to launch whatever careers of their choosing. Laycon is not yet out of the house and the platform is already playing its famed role. Laycon is yet to come out of the house but he is already cashing out from the Big Brother avenue.
The story of Laycon’s rise in music has just begun.
Image source: Aschoolz
