Nigerian afrobeats singer David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has recounted how he ran away from his dad’s $60 million mansion in Lagos to live in his friend’s studio.

He said that because of his wealthy background, most people assumed he didn’t struggle to become a star.

He stated this in a recent interview with Real 92.3 FM in Atlanta.

Davido said, “People don’t really know about my past, like the early part of my career. What was difficult for me was coming from a very wealthy background. Everybody just felt like, ‘Nah, his dad. This is money’. I dropped several records before they had to agree like, ‘Okay, he is actually good.’

“You know people love the grass to grace story. Everybody love the story of ‘I was down bad, now I’m up.’ I had never been really down. But I was passionate about music. We had a $60 million house in Nigeria that I ran away from; I was sleeping in my friend’s studio. They were look at me crazy like ‘Bro, you better go home.’ I said, ‘I’m not going home.”

He said he refused to go back home because he would be locked up and stopped from doing music.