Nigerian rapper Falz has spoken up about his road to becoming a musician, refuting the myth that he was compelled to follow in his father’s footsteps as a lawyer.
Falz stated in an interview with Chude Jideonwo on the podcast “With Chude” that he was inspired as a child by the good influence his father, Femi Falana SAN, had on people’s lives.
Falz clarified that his motivation for studying law was his desire to follow in his father’s footsteps. Though he worked at the Ministry of Justice during his youth service and then at his father’s firm, he only had a brief career as a lawyer.
In the end, he gave up law to devote himself fully to music.
He said:
“I won’t say it was pressure but when I was super young, it was like, ‘These people have to be something’ because I was already getting that reaction everywhere I went. And if I ever mentioned my name, people would be like, ‘Which Falana? Is it Femi Falana? Oh wow.
“Everyone sort of had a story about how my dad came to their aid at some point in time and how he fought for them and was there for them. At that time it was me taking everything in, like, ‘this is something’. So at that point in time, I wasn’t pressured; I aspired to emulate what he was doing.
“I did practice law for a short period of time. Very short, almost two years. I worked at the Ministry of Justice during my youth service, which was like 2012 or so, then in 2013 I was at my father’s firm and 2014 was when things started to pick up for me so I started going out of practice”.
