Lanie Banks is a young Canadian rapper from East Africa, Uganda who recently signed with Canadian rapper Drake and seeks to change the East African urban hip-hop narrative we spoke to him and this is what he had to say.
Banks Lanie (Courtesy photo)
Who are you, in brief? Am Micheal Osings, monogamously known as Lanie Banks, I was born to Mr. Osings Didmus and Mrs. Irene Wondo on October 10 in the year 1996 at the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital. All my life, I have always not payed much attention to Christmas or any form of excessive leisure activity due to the fact that I was busy prioritizing and reminiscing about my life plans.
How do you plan your day? I wake up at 5 am; I say my prayers and peck my wife. I read and reply my mails; I inspect my young daughter’s room and then head out jogging for half an hour, shower, have breakfast and drive off to the studio. I stay there for six hours and then switch to my other job for 4 hours and finally return home .I do this throughout the week with the exemption of weekends.
Why did you immigrate to Canada and when? I moved because in Canada they are opportunities for people like me especially with my genre of music. Lastly, it has been approximately ten years since initial entry; I mean I first started by visiting, due to the immigration policy, for full time residence it has been five years.
How do you compare the two countries in terms of lifestyle and the standard of living? Life is better over here especially when you are talking in relation to the standard of living though the cost of living is somewhat high over here.
Where did you derive your inspiration in regards to rap music? Initially, my inspiration derived from the reception I got from the crowd. On multiple occasions, my audience always enjoyed my rapping more than the singing and hence I realized that I was a gifted rapper. Other points to note are, I always listened to many rap legends, this left me craving for more insight and in-depth knowledge when it came to rap.
When did you meet Drake and how did you end up working with OVO? We met at the Scotiabank Arena in 2022 on December 27, for the signing part, my manager Reach Williams scheduled meetings and by God’s grace, it went down.
What do you think about the East African music industry? The East African music is still evolving what I mean is, in East Africa more especially Uganda, the citizens have not learned to embrace their own music; they instead opt for foreign music. They do not support their own musicians. Another point to note is they pay foreign musicians highly while their own artists remain under paid.
How should we prevent the infiltration of foreign music in East Africa?
The government ministries in charge should put in place bodies to regulate the rate at which foreign music infiltrates their countries, respectively am talking ingestion and consumption.
What takes up most of your leisure time? I always attend to my flowers on a solo basis, I love flowers and I actually keep a huge collection in all forms either potted, aqua and ground specimens. Lastly I water, prune, spray and applying fertiliser to the flower foliage and directly to the root ball.
Why did you start doing music? Music is who I really am, I mean this whole thing passed from generation to generation, it is a family thing Secondly, I was a Sunday school choir kid hence I was no stranger to music.
How many awards do you possess? I only possess two awards to my name.
What is your education background? I honestly skipped nursery school because I already knew how to speak English fluently at a very tender age. Otherwise, I went to Nabuyonga elementary school for my Primary Leaving Examination, Mbale Senior Secondary school for my Uganda Certificate of Education and then St. Peter’s Senior Secondary School Naalya for Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education then finally Makerere University Kampala (Social administration). All these are Ugandan institutions of learning.
What two East African artistes do you fancy? The list is long but for now, I will point out Wahu and Stella Mwangi these two are good musicians.
What kind of music do you do? Trap, Hip-hop and Urban club music, generally let us say any sound that revolves around rap is a true definition of what I do.
What do you consider the most vital? My family is the most important part of me, and it always comes first in line.
Who are your family members? I have four siblings named Calvin, Justine, Job Isaac and Caro plus am married to Peace Nabududa and we have a daughter named Jedi Paris Osings.
How has parenthood influenced your life? Firstly, I would love to thank God for my sweet little girl Jedi Paris Osings, she is a blessing from above however, being a father has changed a lot of things right now especially when it comes down to schedule, my schedule is very tight I don’t hang out like I used to and it has helped me focus more.
Do you plan to relocate back home? Definitely yes, they say east or west home is always the best and that is for sure.
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