Meet Alex, the struggling artiste fighting homelessness

Lagos, the music capital of Afrobeats, is home to many starry-eyed hopefuls who believe that one day they will be music superstars as big as Davido or Wizkid.

Outside the ever-busy Ikeja City Mall is Alex who is one of such hopefuls. On any given weekend, you can find him strumming the strings of his guitar at the entrance of the popular mall. He sings his heart out hoping to be noticed by one of the many mall goers.

While holding on to his painted guitar, Alex speaks to Pulse about his dream and struggles.

"I was born and brought up in Ajegunle, Lagos. I am a music artist. I do music professionally. I do this to look for an investor" says Alex on a Sunday evening.

"I have been doing this for like 3-4 years" he further says. Some days Alex goes home with N2,000-4000 "depending on God." On some other days, he only makes N200.

Alex's interest in music started when he was in Junior Secondary School, about 14 years ago. His passion all these years is strong despite the numerous challenges.

"I believe the person will come someday. I can't meet the person at my house" says Alex. He hopes to meet an investor who will fund his music ambition.

Till then he keeps on playing to foot his bills and to pay his house rent.

"I came late today. I should have been here since morning but it's because of the recent challenges of paying bills" explains Alex, "I just got evicted from my house today. If I don't pay the landlord I cannot come into the house."

Today he has to make some money to pay his landlord a percentage of his rent. At the time of the interview (5 pm), the hat which he uses to collect money was empty.

Alex is also unemployed. "I used to work in a factory but they sacked everybody about 5 months ago" he states.

Tomorrow, he says he would go and look for a job but now he is preoccupied with singing and playing the guitar hoping to get enough cash to sleep in his room.