Yes! Some Nigerian songs are empty – St. Brown
You came into the music scene at a time when it was insignificant. Today it has evolved dramatically. Do you consider yourself a part of this evolution? Indeed there has been a full evolution because even the revolution has created another evolution and it is getting better because there has been paradigm shift from the […]
You came into the music scene at a time when it was insignificant. Today it has evolved dramatically. Do you consider yourself a part of this evolution?
Indeed there has been a full evolution because even the revolution has created another evolution and it is getting better because there has been paradigm shift from the old to the new. Even the new is getting old. While the old ones were stepping up we are aligning ourselves with the new. If you still want to do music you have to align yourself with the new so that you can be relevant.
The introduction of hip-hop music to Nigeria as a team with Keke and D1; they were promoting on radio while I started Kennis Music for Keke. Upon my return from Europe, knowing that it was music I wanted to do -regardless of the fact that the industry was almost none existent-we had to start from nowhere with the intention of promoting just me. But before we knew it, our hands were full. That’s how it all started and has blossomed into a full circle now accommodating much younger people.
If you look at it, where was Asa when the revolution started? She came about nine years after it all began and she is now part of the evolution. Unlike the MIs, Jesse Jags, Eeedris Abdulkareem, Kel, Mocheddah, Sasha and the likes of them.
How do you feel seeing people who have benefitted from this small beginning grow to be such success?
It is very fulfilling and I would like to speak now for Keke because I know what those early years were like for him. So I was playing a dual role. I knew I had a passion for the company to grow as well as for new artists to grow as well as for me to grow. So at some point I had to kind of ease of way out so I could develop myself.
In answering your question I would like to takes us to the point when he took TuFace to MTV award in Europe. Keke said he felt like a father who had helped his child make and outstanding achievement. It is so, so fulfilling. It is not just about the financial reward because the bulk of that goes to the artist and a percentage comes to the management. In a situation where you have ten artists and only two are selling, you use the money from the successful one to fund the others.
So when we see the likes of TuFace, Remedies, Pal Play Diaro, Eedris, Tony Tetuila, Essences, Kelly Hanson and I, it just tells you the burning passion for the young talents and their success knows no bounds. He is shouting again for Eedris as Eedris returns to the house.
At the time he started it was for me and no one knew it would become such an industry. I must say it is very fulfilling for me personally and for the company.
Some disagree with the notion that Nigerian music has globally acceptable contents in spite of the likes of African Queen being used on Hollywood production. Do you agree?
No, I don’t. As you said, Hollywood beckoned to us for the use of African Queen on Mo’Nique’s movie Phat Girlz. In the past it was the Sunny Ades who graced events in and out of Nigeria but now even those who came yesterday and gaining that much recognition and in so short a time from when they came on board.
Also, it was only recently that the Black Entertainment Television (BET) in America nominated P Square and MI for their awards. This recognition is phenomenal for me even though they didn’t win the award.
Anybody who sees these and says we won’t get there is just being unfair. Even Femi Kuti is being nominated for Grammy Awards. A few years ago, these were not places we imagined we would go but here we are today.
It was on account of these that MTV created the MTV Mama Awards.
The South Africans did their Kwaito music which was the symbolic African style of music until the Nigerian musicians came on board and changed the rhythm and started doing hip-hop as hip-hop should be done.
The notion that the industry is taking a nose dive content wise is changing. It is in the midst of the debate that Sunny Nneji has released Oruka, TuFace African Queen and so on. You cannot say that all these people are empty and are lousy. Having said this we agree that some songs are ‘empty’ but even these have their audience I must say.
You did collaborations with DaGrin; how did his death affect you?
It was devastating. I felt I had lost a baby. I met him five years before the death and we had done some collaboration. All DaGrin wanted was to be heard and that brought us close. When I met him I saw a baby; a young budding talent who wanted to be heard.
When the album came out I was excited for him and it was only then I realised he had done collaboration with other artists. Each time I had to do ‘Turn around’ on stage and he was around, he would wait for me and together we would do justice to the song. We had a unique bond. Losing him was like losing my son. I still get emotional over it but I have told myself that I haven’t lost because as long as he voices remains in his work, it is for life. It cannot be deleted.
Why do you prefer to sing in Yoruba?
It is the way the inspiration comes. You can’t twist it when it comes. Music in itself is a spirit and if you try to modify it you may not be able to shake the emotion or express it as it should be.
If Yoruba is the best way it can reach and touch other people then it has to be so. If that is the way it can get to your emotions, bring you healing and inspiration, and peace of mind, then Yoruba it is. The street like other classes can identify with my songs which is why they are mainstream.
With your educational background and the raging debate about artistes being educated, what is your take on the issue?
For an artistic expression, you can be a stack illiterate. You do not need education to be able to express your creativity. But this does not rule out the truth that education is the bedrock for life. It brings you into a cult and gives you a sense of belonging.
It also gives you the ability to interpret your mission, as in the case of COSON and the kind of education being passed about your rights and entitlements as an artiste. Only education can give you the necessary understanding that you need to pull such through and apply it to your work.
You don’t have to have a degree in law or accounting to be educated and be effective with managing your business. The ethics and other attributes to being in the classroom also help a great deal in building you up.
In the music industry if you don’t have the talent, exposure and the level of needed education you can’t do get to the top by any other means. What you have is what you deliver and is what you are judged by. It is an entirely different ball game from the movie industry.
For us female musicians we are making an effort to pull the young ones up and in the right direction. I remember when Kefee had problems with her marriage and she was brought o me, I said if I can go through mine, you can go through yours and still get on with your career. She came and I helped her with her Kokoroko album and here she is winning awards all over.
Do you think the Nigerian artist is well empowered?
Yes, because nobody has a total knowledge. That is why even doctors keep reading journals. In the music industry most of us are absolutely ignorant, some are semi ignorant. While some who have knowledge are still acquiring it.
I am her to know that this is the first time that we are having a body set up and being commissioned to go and be a collective society for Nigerian musicians in the COSON. It is not that there has not been any such thing before now but they have been doing at the expense of the right owners –musicians who write and the composers. A body has been collecting money in the past but has not been remitting it to who it should get to. Why should I sign my death warrant, my poverty by belonging to such a group?
Some music programmes actually pay for the music used but it does not get to the musicians. Femi Kuti and his siblings get money abroad on royalties paid from the use of Fela’s songs. It can be done here as well.
But first, we need to have to knowledge. With being a part of this forum I can educate other artists on the reason they have to belong to COSON as it is bond by the laws of the land and has to be approved by the federal government.
One of the crisis that anti piracy crusaders face is the fact that when pirates are caught, artists go behind to cut deals and settle out of court rather than allow the pirates suffer for their crime
Yes, this is changing because lately these criminals are now being persecuted and locked up. Nobody can have something at stake and do the contrary to protecting his interest. We need to identify the bad eggs and make sure that we help the regulatory bodies fight the criminals.