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FROM THE NATION NEWSPAPER,NIGERIA,FEB. 5,2012
Day fellow man kissed me for five minutes —9ice
By
05/02/2012 00:00:00
Abolore
Adegbola Akande attained nation-wide acclaim in 2009 with the release of
his hit single, Gongo Aso. Hitting the top came with its storm. 9ice,
as his alias goes, talks to OVWE MEDEME on his career as a singer and
of other issues.
YOUR current album is a double; what inspired this idea of yours?
The first half album entitled Versus, is my own way of trying to bridge the gap between having a mix tape where they put my vocals alongside that of other artistes. It doesn't sound right, but people still buy them. I am doing that for all my fans who want to hear me sing alongside other artistes like P Square, Timaya, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage and the likes. The other half, Bashorun Gaa is another album entirely that talks about me and the stake that I hold in the industry.
Do you think releasing multiple albums within a year tallies with what the hip hop culture represents?
I don't even think we have anything like the hip-hop culture in Nigeria. What we have is Afro hip-hop. Hip-hop as it is varies from country to country. When we say hip hop culture in Nigeria, it is either you are rapping or you are singing which is quite different from the native music that we have in Nigeria. What we are doing here is afro hip hop which carries our own culture.
What does Bashorun Gaa connote?
Bashorun Gaa was a historical warlord in the Oyo Empire in the 13th century. And I am saying that I am a warlord in the music industry and I have a stake in the industry which lies in my use of the Yoruba language and people will forever like me for that.
What informed the choice of artistes for the Versus album?
I worked with Timaya because though he has a stake in Lagos, he is bigger in Port Harcourt and the eastern part of Nigeria. I used 80% of Yoruba in my music and if I want to get across to those from the East, the best thing for me to do is a song with one of their own. Through that, I can get into their hearts. It is a strategy. I just want to make sure that the album is accepted nationwide.
How true is it that you have a feud with your friends from Akoka, especially given their absence at your birthday celebration recently?
There was never a point in time where I had any quarrel with Cabassa. Cabasa stays in Akoka; Ajasa stays in Ikorodu, some other members of Coded Tunes (his record label) stay elsewhere. Some are even out of the country. So, you can't expect the same connectivity or association that existed then to exist now. I wasn't a family man then, now I am a family man. Cabasa wasn't married then, now he is married. He didn't have any project he was doing then, but now he has a project he is doing. He is signing on artistes and he is working well. Now we have different challenges and we have different dreams and aspirations. We established Coded Tunes because we were all together then and we lived in the same vicinity. Then we didn't have money. What we had was the talent, and so collectively, we promoted ourselves as one. Today, individually, everybody is doing well. That is why people think we are quarreling now. There is nothing like that.
But in your first and second albums, you had all the input of Cabasa. Why is the case different with this one?
That was never the case. If you get my first album, you will see that I used Puffy T and about four other producers. In my second album, I used about four producers also. The only thing is that Cabasa produces most of them. Out of about 15 songs, he produced up to 10 of them.
How much of his influence is on these albums?
He produced about two songs in the album
How would you react to the insinuations that your popularity began to wane when you stopped working with Cabasa?
I am someone that is not affected by what other people say. What affects me is what I do. If it is going to affect this album, then maybe someone should grab a copy and listen to it to know whether the songs cannot fly because Cabasa's influence is not on it. Then if you tell me now that the songs are not pure, I will go back and redo all the songs with Cabasa so that they will become hits. We need to give upcoming producers a chance too. In the past, we had about four major producers. Today, we have about 5000 producers.
How much of a family man are you?
When I say I am a family man, you should know what I am talking about. I pay school fees, I take my kids out. I know what they are feeling. If their legs ache, I will be there for them. That makes me a family man. They give me another reason to stay on earth.
Don't you think it goes beyond catering for your kids?
Tell me the other things it involves.
Living as a family for instance
That is not what it all entails. The essence of having a family is to raise children; so with or without a woman being there, you have a family. Whether you are divorced or separated, you are still a family. I am from a broken home, but here I am standing with you today. We have people that grew up with their parents together but they are nobody. It is not about a woman being in the house, you have to be responsible. Being there for your family is being responsible.
Sometime last year, you had a brush with Ruggedman; did you have to take it as far as releasing the song Talk I Am Listening?
If you had asked me that question two months ago, I would have answered but now, I am beyond that. You all know what happened. If someone abuses you or slaps you, maybe if you are Jesus you will not reply. We are all different?
In that case are you saying we should expect a reply from Chinaydu who came out to sing some nasty things about you?
No comments.
What is your relationship with Ruggedman as it is?
I am sure he is doing well where he is.
As an established artiste, what challenges do you face?
I can't do all I used to do. I can't go to places I normally went before. Besides, people now expect more from me. Now, the industry is becoming more challenging. Before, we made money from shows, now the trend is changing. Money comes more from record sales these days. So a whole lot of things are changing. My kind of music might not be played on radio but it sells on the streets.
How would you describe your style of music?
I call it one fusion because it has elements of different kinds of music in Nigeria but people tend to mistake my music for Fuji. If they call me a Fuji artiste, I am happy. There is no Fuji artiste that has not made it, so I'm happy because it is my language. At least people of all tribes are buying my records. I was once a Fuji artiste, I was once a hip-hop artiste, I was once a Juju artiste. I have Fuji and Juju background. I am someone that loves music generally and music to me goes beyond the language you sing with. It is spiritual. If you sing in Hausa and the rhythm touches me, I will so love it.
It is said that you were raised by your step mother. When she listens to your music, how does she feel?
She feels very happy. One important lesson I learnt from her is that no matter where we are, we should teach our children our language. English is not our language; we should be ashamed to use it as a major form of expression. We are supposed to be conducting this interview in our indigenous language.
With that belief and in a multicultural state like Nigeria, how do you hope to communicate with other tribes?
My fans are spread across all tribes and culture. That means I am communicating. Some of them, through me, started learning the Yoruba language. Nigeria is a diverse country but we cannot run away from each other. Through music we can learn other languages. That is the beauty of it.
Have you ever been embarrassed by fame?
Fame has embarrassed me so many times. A guy held on to my head one day and kissed me for five minutes. He is not gay but he said he loves me. That is insane. There was nothing I could do about it. Fame brings about so many things. There is the joy part of it.
What are your plans for the year?
This year, we intend shooting about 30 videos from the 35 songs that we released into the market just to promote the album. From this point, we will be doing double albums every two years, instead of one album every year. My next album release will be in 2013 and it will be another double album.
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