Finding memories of Dagrin in the places he lived, seven years after his untimely death

• People still remember him fondly - even if it's occasionally when they're not mesmerized by the witty Yoruba lyrics of the likes of Olamide and Reminisce.
  

The late Dagrin

It’s been seven long years since Dagrin died, but his legacy remains engraved in our memories.
Barack O’Grin as he was fondly called was involved in a ghastly accident on April 14, 2010, just as he was mounting the ladder of greatness after several years of hustling.
He was rapidly becoming Nigerian rap’s finest, until his bubbly life was cut short following that fateful accident. He was only 26.
Seven years on, Dagrin remains unarguably one of the best to ever handle a mic in these parts.


In celebration of the self-proclaimed Akogun‘s legacy, Thenetng went in search of the man’s memory, by visiting two of the places he lived, perhaps the two most important homes he had, during his rather short life: his family house in Meiran and the upscale apartment he had moved into barely a year before his death.

The Olaonipekun family house in Meiran.

Standing in stark desolation, the Olaonipekun family house in the Meiran suburb of Lagos, as if frozen in hollowness the rapper’s death caused his parents.
Across from a highway where motorbikes sped back and forth, no one would imagine that it once housed a rising star, whose career was bound to be successful and rescue his parents from the cosmopolitan ghetto they call home.
The quietness and calmness that dominated the entire building was just as if it was honouring the late rapper’s memory with a continuous moment of silence. Save for a few primary school age children quietly playing in one corner, the house was virtually empty.
The three wives of Dagrin’s father is said to have (his own mother was the second wife) were nowhere to be found and neither was Mr. Olaonipekun himself. When asked, the children said ‘Daddy ti jade’, meaning ‘Daddy has gone out’.
A middle-aged woman who came out to see who was talking refused to speak to our correspondent. Before she shuffled back into the building, she seemed overcome with grief as she told us in Yoruba that it was a sad story she didn’t want to recall.
A few more questions about who she was and how the family was faring went unanswered and she went back into the house, wiping her face with a corner of the ankara wrapper she tied around her chest.

Right across the road, life went on like nothing happened.
Less than 20 kilometres from Barack O’Grin’s family home, was Sunshine Estate, Agege where he lived until his death.
Having practically lived on the streets and with friends while he was ‘hustling’, fortune finally smiled on him when his music career took off.
He had moved into Flat 3, Block 10 in February 2010 and life had become somewhat good. He had fantasized about making Ajah his residence but Sunshine Estate wasn’t a bad deal by any means.
As matter of fact, he was said to be heading home on the night of April 14 when his car ran into a truck in Mushin.

The last house Dagrin lived in before his fatal accident.

Today, residents go in and out casually, seemingly oblivious of the significance of the greatness that was once an occupant of the building.
At the estate’s gate, the security official, Patrick, grinned widely at the mention of DaGrin’s name. ‘DaGrin was a great man, a man who people will never forget. He had so many friends and would always greet security when he drove in and out,’ he said.
Another resident, who gave his name as Joshua, lamented what could have been if Dagrin was alive. ‘If he was still alive and still lived in this estate, he would have made this place more popular,’ Joshua said. Another resident recalled Dagrin’s jovial, sociable nature, describing how the rapper used to play football on the estate grounds and interact with neighbours.
The search ended at Computer Village where Dagrin was said to have sold everything from flash drives to compact discs just to earn a living before his fleeting stardom.

There, people still remember him fondly – even if it’s occasionally when they’re not mesmerized by the witty Yoruba lyrics of the likes of Olamide and Reminisce; successful Nigerian hip-hop artistes who took the indigenous route Dagrin favoured.
A ‘Lagos boy’ (as he called himself) puts it most succinctly: ‘if to say Dagrin no die, na him gangan go be the voice of the streets!’ There’s no gainsaying that Dagrin would have reached the pinnacle of the industry if his life wasn’t cut short. Like the American rapper NOTORIOUS B.I.G, the only things fans can hold on to are his memories and two albums. And like Biggie, Dagrin would never be forgotten.
Indeed, Akogun touched lives in more ways than one, and his legacy has been cemented in the history books of Nigerian entertainment. He forever lives on. ‘Oun l’omo naa’. Yes, he’s that kid.

culled from thenet