KeyQaad
Lagos independent label co-founded in 2017 by Valentine Ngaji and Marshall Onaemo, credited alongside Sire Records on Omah Lay's catalogue.
- Based in
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Founded
- 2017
- Founder
- Valentine "Valo" Ngaji and Marshall Onaemo
- Website
- keyqaad.com
KeyQaad is an independent recording label headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, founded and registered in 2017 by Valentine “Valo” Ngaji and Marshall Onaemo. Both founders came from Nigerian radio and programming backgrounds, at Cool FM, Soundcity and Wazobia FM, before formalising the label.
KeyQaad’s phonogram credit has run on the recordings of Nigerian singer Omah Lay (born Stanley Omah Didia) since January 2020; no source checked for this record establishes when he signed to the label. Many of his catalogue entries from that point carry KeyQaad’s credit alongside Warner-owned Sire Records; on his earliest KeyQaad-credited singles that year, some catalogue entries state the relationship explicitly as recordings released “under exclusive license to Sire Records”. Later releases mostly shorten the credit to “KeyQaad / Sire Records”, though KeyQaad-only entries with no Sire credit recur periodically through 2024, and Omah Lay’s April and May 2026 releases instead carry a phonogram line naming Warner Records Inc. directly rather than the Sire imprint.
The label’s roster as read directly from keyqaad.com also includes Kaestyle, M3LON and Starsamm. Ngaji, who is also credited as Omah Lay’s manager in the Kobalt publishing announcement, and Onaemo are listed on the site as the label’s directors, with no further title differentiation given.
