It’s Monday Morning! Ji Masun!, he bellows as he hops and skips, charging you up to wake up from your slumber because it is Monday morning. The Monday Morning Motivation by Sugar Beasts has become an Instagram staple if you follow the entertainer Sugar Beasts.
The talk of total package in the entertainment talent field can often be a mirage, however there are some special beings born with talents that can be classified as total package. Step into the world of Sugar Ade, a half Nigerian (Dad)/ Ghanaian (Mum) born and raised in Nigeria but currently based in the USA. Popularly called, Sugar Beasts aka Sugar Daddy X Number 1, Sugar is a vastly talented and charming entertainer who can act, dance, sing, do comedy as well as be a motivational speaker. He doesn’t however box himself into any of these holes, according to the likeable dude, “I’m entertainer”. Back in the day as a starry-eyed young kid who attended parties with his parents, he was always intrigued by how the MCs would carry the crowd, crack jokes and entertain the crowd. He always wondered same for the musicians with their bands. Watching people like King Sunny Ade, Sir Shina Peters etc., something was stoked in the young boy. He learnt his early dance moves from the aforementioned and of course the Universal Pop King Michael Jackson.
His earliest musical influences were Shina Peters, King Sunny Ade, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, D’Banj and Ofori Amponsah. He has a cherished memory of watching Michael Jackson on TV, seeing how the crowd were going insane for him. Every young kid then was trying out the moves, so Sugar began to hone his skills after Michael Jackson’s performance had him dreaming. His Dad was hot stepper himself, so Sugar had no inhibitions with dancing at family parties where he was showered with money sometimes. Sugar had always been the family comedian, dancer and enjoyed it more when they sprayed him money on the dance floor. It was not until 2018 that he started sharing his dance videos on Instagram and they went viral shooting him up to be an Instagram dance favorite. He also started the much-loved Monday Morning Motivation on June 25, 2018 and there’s quite a story behind it.
According to him, he bought a T-shirt for a party that had ‘Good Vibes’ inscribed on it but ended up wearing something else. The morning after the Night-out, the first thing he was the T-shirt, and something hit him. “Right there and then I called my friend Lekan and told him I wanted to shoot a video”, he says. It was totally unplanned, spontaneous. “I just went with the flow; the video went viral and that’s how Monday Morning Motivation was born”. Since then, Monday Morning Motivation has turned into a big movement, a platform he uses to educate, motivate and enlighten youths. The plan for Sugar is to use the movement to motivate and inspire everyone to go out there, work hard and make something of themselves.
He recently released a track ‘Ji Masun”, title coined from his favourite phrase on Monday Morning Motivation. “I don’t identify as a musician” he quips, “Music just happens to be a way of getting my thoughts across to people, a lot of people also requested that I make my videos as ringtone or a sound so they can use it for their alarms and so on”. So, he worked with Dj KO and Big H to his first song back then ‘Sugar’, which was received. Since then, he has worked Shaggy the Jamaican artist on his song “Use Me” and also had a couple of songs since then. However, his current single has been receiving wide acclaim evidenced by the ‘Ji Masun” dance challenge. The song featuring rap hotshot Chinko Ekun is danceable, relatable yet a motivating song. You should check it out!
Fans would be surprised to find out that Sugar doesn’t eat fish and actually has a 9-5 job with a Fortune 500 company as an Operations Supervisor, so he’s not just screaming “ji masun”, which means wake up on Instagram. He practices what he preaches. His favorite food is an ode to his roots, he would go with either Pounded yam and Ghanaian light soup or Nigerian Egusi soup with assorted meat. Sugar would like to work with artists like Davido, Wizkid, Oxlade, Omah Lay, Zinoleesky and many more in the future. He loves South African music a lot too, so he plans to collaborate with people like Nasty C, and DJ Maphorisa. He sees himself expanding his brand within the next five years. Making it a household name brand, clothing lines, YouTube, Media Houses supporting content creators etc. The record label Aboki Eagles also comes into strong focus as he hopes to have successful top artists breaking barriers under it. Sugar also sees himself being a married family man by then and growing his corporate portfolio.
An extrovert by nature, entertainment comes naturally to him and he is always hyped. “The strength comes from within because I truly love what I do. The way I create my content is different; I don’t use scripts or write down ideas, I just let it flow through me. I believe it is more genuine when it’s natural and pure vibes”. For him, “Afrobeats is life, the world is slowly starting to catch on to it, Davido, Wizkid, Burnaboy are breaking barriers already and Afrobeats stars have so much to offer the world. It brings me joy to see videos of non-Africans from all over the world, singing and vibing to Afrobeats even if they don’t know the words, I’m excited to see what the future holds”. What message would Sugar Beasts give to his fans? Well, here you go … “Ji Masun, It’s Monday Morning, why are you still sleeping?” cues laughter, “Keep moving, learning, trying, improving. Don’t ever get too comfortable in your current situation, the sky is no longer the limit, it is the starting point”.