The Nigerian artist Timi Dakolo has described his childhood experiences growing up with his grandmother rather than his parents.
On the most recent Tea with Tay Podcast episode, Dakolo had a conversation with media celebrity Taymesan Emmanuel. During their conversation, he opened up about his own childhood experiences and the unusual circumstances surrounding his upbringing.
Dakolo said, “I don’t know why my parents were doing knacking at such an early age. They had no idea what they were doing because they were so young.”
He went on: “When they had me they were like ‘Let’s go and see your grandma’ Then, realizing they were too young to handle me, they abandoned me with my grandma and fled. When I was born, my mother was probably no older than twenty, and my father was most likely in his early twenties. They had been childhood sweethearts before they parted ways and he returned to Ghana.”
Dakolo emphasized that his grandmother, who took on the role of primary caretaker and gave him all he needed without spoiling him, meant he did not lack affection or care.
“I was raised by my grandma, and it had no impact on me. I didn’t miss anyone because I had my grandmother as a mom and I didn’t lack love. He said, “She was taking care of everything that worried me.
The singer continued by describing the dynamics of his relationship with his grandmother and pointing out that despite the absence of his parents, there was a lot of love in the house.
“I don’t think I would have turned out better if I had a balance of both,” Dakolo stated. The truth is that lovelessness is what breaks a child. She was very strict, loving, and caring. She also sensed when something wasn’t right without me having to tell her, and she was always there to help. I wasn’t pampered since there was plenty but not too much.”
He laughed and said that his mother was often reprimanding him when she saw him and that she was also quite fast.
“When my mother came around, she was always beating me over every little thing,” he said. Since my mother was still a young woman at the time, no matter how quickly I tried to flee, she would always catch up with me.”