Ace musician and producer, Philip Ahaiwe Chukwuka, recounting his humble beginning, has said that his passion for his job as a hustler, made him often trek from Maryland to Jibowu in Lagos, to maximise an opportunity to work for Juju maestro, King Sunny Ade.

The multi-talented singer and producer popularly known as Philkeyz, said, then, when he was still “struggling” and could not afford the transport fares, yet, he saw it as a big opportunity to learn from the legendary King Sunny Ade, and to also sharpen his skills of general musicianship.

In his words, “When I had an opportunity to work with King Sunny Ade, because of my passion as I could not afford to get to the studio, and I didn’t have enough money, then, I used to trek from Maryland to Jibowu in Lagos State.

“A good reason for this was that I also felt that it was an opportunity to work with King Sunny Ade and to learn craftsmanship from him while working as an engineer and a producer. It was simply for the passion for it that I trekked.

Philkeyz had also narrated the early days encounter he had with Kizz Daniel, a popular pop singer, saying he once turned down Kizz Daniel‘s offer to pay him N50,000 for a studio session some years back.

According to him, “Kizz Daniel was still striving and an up-and-coming art when he made the offer, but I declined because I was already working with the legendary musician, King Sunny Ade.

Notwithstanding, later in life Philkeyz, however, said he linked up with Kizz Daniel and made several songs together with him after the ‘Woju’ crooner hit stardom.

Philkeyz made the disclosure during a recent interview with MTV Base Africa.

“Kizz Daniel reached out to me. He was not signed then. He told me that he had a certain amount of money, I think N50k, and that he wanted to work with me.

“But my charges don pass N50k by that time wey I come dey work for Sunny Ade. That time I be big boy. I was like, ‘No o, I’m not doing.’

“I was gonna see if he was going to call me back but he didn’t call me back, so we just allowed that part to slide. “Then, when he blew up, he called me back saying that he wanted to work with me,” Philkeyz said.