Shasha Damilola Alesh better known by his stage name Dice Ailes, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. In July 2014, he signed a record deal with Chocolate City. He was nominated for Rookie of the Year at

The Headies 2016 The Headies 2016 was the 11th edition of The Headies. It was held on December 22, 2016, at the Eko Convention Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos. Themed "Think, Create, Recreate", the event was hosted by Adesua Etomi and Falz. The nominees were an ...

. In 2016,

TooXclusive tooXclusive is a Nigerian music and review website. Launched in 2010 by Olutayo "Tyler" Duncan Sotubo. This website is notable for organizing its yearly tooXclusive Online Music Awards. They pride their establishment as the number one source f ...

ranked his breakthrough single "Miracle" third on its list of the "Top 10 Songs for the month of October". In 2017, tooXclusive named him as "one of the sixteen artists you need to know.

Early life and education

He schooled in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

at lagooz college, Republic of Benin, and

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

then relocated to Canada where he studied at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

and also started his musical career before relocating back to

after his record deal with Chocolate City in 2014.

Career

He started out as a church choir, he started out too with Hyce- age, coker, Millie and reihnard while in the

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

. He achieved recognition in 2016 for his CKay-produced single "Miracle" featuring

Lil Kesh Keshinro Ololade (born 17 March 1995), known professionally as Lil Kesh, is a Nigerian singer and rapper. He rose to limelight after releasing the hit single "Shoki". Early life and education Ololade was born and raised in Bariga, an area in L ...

. On 21 December 2016, Dice Ailes shared stage with likes of

WSTRN WSTRN (a disemvoweling of the word Western, which is also pronounced), is a British afroswing collective from West London consisting of Akelle Charles, Haile (born Ras Haile Alexander), and Louis Rei (born Louis-Rae Beadle). Their debut single, ...

Krept and Konan Krept and Konan is a British hip hop duo from London, consisting of Casyo Valentine "Krept" Johnson BEM (born 4 February 1990, Gipsy Hill) and Karl Dominic "Konan" Wilson BEM (born 3 September 1989, Thornton Heath), the son of Delroy Wilson ...

Migos Migos () is an American hip hop trio from Lawrenceville, Georgia, founded in 2008. The group was originally composed of Southern rappers Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset. Quavo is from Athens, Georgia; Offset and Takeoff were born and raised in Law ...

alongside

at the " Beat FM Xmas concert" 2016 in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

. In an interview with ''

Tush Magazine Tush Magazine is a Nigerian-based glossy full colour magazine which is released quarterly both in print and digital versions of the magazine. It targets the youth market and its contents include articles, coverage and interviews which focus on mus ...

'', Dice Ailes describes his style of music as "Afro-pop RnB". In his words: He also said in 2018 that he didn't sing the song "Otedola" to either get money from billionaire

Femi Otedola Femi Otedola (born 4 November 1962) is a Nigerian businessman, philanthropist, and former chairman of Forte Oil PLC, an importer of fuel products. Otedola is the founder of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, and the owner of a number of other busine ...

or get close to his family. He said "Whatever you do , people will always have their reservations and opinions , but I didn’t do the song to get money from Otedola or to get close to his family. I was just having fun . Surprisingly , upon releasing the song , I got to meet Otedola and he gave me a lot of money. I am close to the family members and I call him on the telephone whenever I like. I didn't plan for all these as some people have said". In 2020 a fan once challenged Dice for not lending his voice to the rape issue that was happening in Nigeria. The singer replied that he was not a Nigerian, this led to a row on Twitter as his fans vowed to disown the singer.

Discography

Singles

Compilation singles

Compilation albums

Cover

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Dice Ailes profile on Chocolate City
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ailes, Dice Living people Nigerian male musicians Nigerian male singer-songwriters Nigerian singer-songwriters Yoruba-language singers Yoruba musicians Nigerian male rappers Nigerian hip hop singers 21st-century Nigerian musicians Nigerian songwriters 1993 births 21st-century male musicians York University alumni