Then he got signed to Chocolate City.
And with the release Son Of A Kapenta, his sophomore album and first under Chocolate City, he’s cementing his stand as a voice determined to barge in, get your attention and keep you listening.
His lead single ‘Ara’ won the Recording of the year at The Headies and Most gifted Afro Pop Video at the Channel O Awards.
In this interview he talks about growing up, stardom and how it seems everything has only been leading up to now.
Your album dropped November last year. How’s it been since then?
It’s been amazing. For one we are getting good reviews, and the marketer is not complaining. *laughs* But basically, I don’t think I want to evaluate the album yet until I make more videos and see how far that goes.
How many videos are you planning to shoot?
At least another 2.
‘Ara’ won the award for Best Afro Pop Video at the Channel O Awards. What was that moment like?
I was there sitting beside Sam, my manager. I think I was to present an award so I was waiting to go backstage. And then they just announced that I won an award. It was a great moment. To add to that I was looking extra fly. I dug out one costume like that. *laughs*
So this year…What’s the plan?
Um, aside from my videos, there’s going to be a lot of promotion. I’m hoping the album does well… I’m hoping that the work on the album is actually good enough to get me where I need to be.
Basically I’m just going to promote and promote and promote.
It’s a very good album. How long were you working on it for?
Pretty much from 2012. I remember having that conversation with MI. He asked me what I would call it and I said, “Son of a Kapenta.” He was like: “Nice one.”
That was like June, July 2010.
So I was able to build around it… The most amazing thing however was during the recording process, as soon as I recorded a song, I would immediately know if it was going to make the album. I didn’t know how many songs in all were going to be in it. But all the songs I was going to use I actually picked them out during recording.
I tried to record as much as possible during a one year period. So if I could still like a song after some months I knew it was a good one. So I would record, leave it in the studio and then go back and listen. Every time I came back to it, I’d listen and listen and listen again. I figured if I could like it still after all that time- my own song- and not get tired, people would like them too.
Ideas kept coming in. It was an amazing experience.
What’s the hardest part of making music for you?
The biggest problem artistes face is that final moment of just reconciling your music with yourself. It is designed in such a way that the musician is like a storyteller. Storytelling is a core part of music. So the most difficult part for most artistes is accepting the person that you are and sharing with the world.
When I was recording my first album, I didn’t know how to put melody to stuff that had happened to me. So I would just come up with stories. So when people listened to the song, they’d just hear the story, with no soul.
No matter how much success one is looking for, as long as you look inward, and you’re honest, people can relate.
And the bulk of the time, when you share something with people, it sort of sets you free.
So making an album was like documenting a chapter of my life. When you close it, it’s supposed to become part of your history. It just becomes a part of who you were.
What’s the biggest blessing about stardom?
I believe stardom is quite amazing. When I was about 10, I was in trouble with my dad a lot. So he forced me to go to Arabic school. Within two years I was meant to graduate. It’s usually a very big ceremony. We were supposed to have memorized the entire Koran by then and reciting a portion was part of the ceremony. About a thousand guests were present because people’s entire families, I mean families, used to show up. When I was called upon, I was walking out and the Imam said, “Stop. Go back. Do that walk again.” So I did. And the Imam said: “See this one. He has swag.”
And everybody laughed. When it was my turn to recite, I started and I could hear everybody going still.
They practically paused the event after I was done and started saying this one is special. He’s good. It was a moment for me. For me at the time, it was just too much energy that I had to put somewhere else. Like: Okay if I do this will they let me do something else?
For me, I think that was my first exposure to what fame was like. To me it meant a lot.
Stardom, as shocking as it is, it’s a function of something else. A function of music. If I didn’t make music nobody would care.
But then on the other hand, it’s an amazing experience. All the people you admired… All the people you looked up to… you see yourself becoming them. It’s such a beautiful experience that you can actually get lost in it.
Every single thing that people work for: Respect, love… You get it for free. Men, women, children…Everybody loves you. They see you somewhere and walk up to you “Hi, I really like your song!” They forgive your mistakes.
What’s on your playlist right now?
I intentionally make sure there are Nigerian songs Tuface, Asa…some MI… Also a few Nigerian’s outside the country: Sade, Lemar. Then John Mayer and Frank Ocean. Frank Ocean. I also had a feel of local music when I was growing up. Listened to Fuji, Juju etc so that influences me too.
What’s been the moment you looked back and were like: ‘Na me be this’?
There was a day I was performing at Eko Hotel and when Ara played the place practically shut down. One of my most effortless performances. The type where people are just screaming your lyrics from beginning to end. And you’re just on stage.
Everybody stood up and I was just wow. Wow. Wow.
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