The 2Face Idibia 10TH Anniversary Interview

On Saturday June 20, 2009, friends, fans and colleagues of mutiple awards winner, Innocent Ujah Idibia popularly known as 2Face, gathered at the Thisday Dome in Abuja to celebrate the 10th year anniversary of the star singer. The hype was very strong on TV and both fans and critics of the artiste caught the frenzy. He performed alongside some other top Nigerian acts. Seun Apara caught up with him in a private place and he spoke at length about his struggles in the past ten years.
Excerpts-

How can you describe your struggles in the last ten years?
Well, in the last ten years there has been so many ups and downs moment. I have been praised and criticized as well. But I thank God for giving me the strength to carry on till now and stay true to my music.
Which was your greatest challenge in the last ten years?
The greatest challenge is still being able to come up with good music till now. The challenges to overcome the sophomore jinx after the successful release of my debut album.
What is your greatest regret so far? I have a couple of regrets looking back but I don’t want to call them regrets. I would rather say things I should have done differently. Probably if I haven’t done them, I would have made worse mistake. So I don’t really look at them as regrets but as stuff that happened and I have learned from.
What inspired you most in the past ten years?
I think the MTV Europe Music Awards really gave me whole lots of inspiration but right now my children are my major inspiration.
What about the people that contributed to the success of your career in the last ten years?
There has couple of people that has been part of my movement in the past years. These people are God sent and I really appreciate them.
Over the last ten years, what is the greatest decision you ever made in your career?
Wow! The greatest decision I ever made was leaving school for music. It wasn’t easy but I told myself have to do it then.
Which of your decisions did you regretted most?
I don’t want to use the word regrets but there were mistakes that have learnt lots of lessons from.
What were those mistakes?
I can’t really pin-point but there were some things I would have done right or better. But in all I think I have also made some fair decisions.
Is it true there are crises in Hypertek at the moment?
There is nothing like that.
We heard you kicked out some staff?
That is not true. None of my staff has left. The truth is that I don’t want to use anybody to experiment but use myself as the experiment over the release of my last album. Hypertek is a relatively new company and we are getting some things right. We have been able to identify the weak and the strong points of different individuals. We are re-organizing the company for better positioning so that when we start releasing our artistes’ albums, there won’t be any lapses.
Was that why you returned to Now Muzik for management?
Hypetek has never been my management outfit.
But Nazi has been handling different management projects for you and for Hypertek?
Nazi is my personal manager. It has nothing to do with Hypertek. In life, certain things should be given to those that have the qualifications. This explains why I decided to work with Now Muzik.
We heard you are currently working on your fourth album?
I am actually working on my 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th album now all together.
Is there any possibility of working with Kennis Music later in the future?
I will. They are veterans in this business and we have to respect that fact. They have the experience and they know the terrain very well. There is nothing we can do without one or two advice from them and working with them in some areas. Even as I speak right now, there are some things I still do with them.
Some people are of the opinion that you shouldn’t have left Kennis Music at the time you left?
One thing about growth in life is that you have to stand up and take up challenges. It’s not easy to decide that you want to do something. It’s possible you encounter some difficulties or completely bewildered. That is exactly what I did with this album and I have learned a lot in the process. Hypertek Entertainment might not have much money to do massive promotions like others but the album is not doing badly. It’s picking up. Another reason is that I have lots of things am working on at the moment which probably didn’t allow me to concentrate more on the album. But I must tell you that is a good experience. You can’t wait for people to do things for you all the time. Sometime you just have to take up the responsibility by yourself.
How have you been coping with the stress of fending for five children?
Well, I thank God for their mothers because they have made things easy for me. They are very understanding and that reduces lots of pressure on me. They know the nature of my work and they are very co-operative because am not always around. If not for them, probably I would have run mad by now. I appreciate them a lot.
Is it true you are getting married to one of them?
I don’t know who I will marry yet but I want to get married. I don’t know my wife to be yet. May be it would be one of them and may be not; I don’t know but let’s leave everything to God. I don’t want wahala (problem) o.
What does it mean to be successful?
To be successful is having fulfillment in what you do and been able to reach the height of your career. At the end you are still very calm and peaceful; you are not worried that some people are after your life probably because you have wronged them. This is success to me. Achieving all the heights in your career and still be at peace with your God and the people around you.
What do you think is the way forward for the Nigeria music industry at the moment?
The way forward is that people should get professionals to do the work. If you want to sign a contract, get professional entertainment lawyers. If you want management, talk to the people that are well grounded in that area. If it is also PR that you want, get the professionals to do it. The truth is that we need more professionals in the industry because there are lots of talents. In the aspect of distribution too, we need professionals.
How will you rate the Nigeria music industry at the moment?
We are getting there.
What is your most priced possession at the moment?
I am not actually a materialistic person so I may not be able to lay claim to anything. Without sounding partial, I have wonderful people around me but my most priced possessions for now are my children.
One of your sons, Nino, is in a football academy. Why not a music school?
Yea Nino, that is true. He still learns music and freestyles once in a while. He is free to do whatever he wants to do but you know he is still a very small boy to make a decision right now.
What is your worth at the moment?
I don’t know actually. I’m just like a normal guy next door.

Cally Ikpe Steps Up

CALLY IKPE STEPS UP
The CEO of Callivision Network LTD and the initiators of Nigeria Music Video Awards (NMVA) as well as the executive producer of Da New Livebeats, Nigeria’s longest running music programme on television, Cally Ikpe, has stepped up big time.
He recently stepped out with his newly acquired Lexus Jeep V8 GX470 2007 model and it was a delight to the eyes. The silver coloured jeep with a customised number ‘Livebeats’ replaced his former Lexus V6 RX300.
Some of the features of the car include rear view camera, a six loader CD changers, a 32 valve engine and so many others. He however declined to comment on the new wonder on wheels.

Kenny Saint-Brown Breaks New Grounds

In an industry that is chock-a-block with different ups and downs and that have made many to abandon the terrain due to vicissitudes of the industry, frontline gospel artiste, Kenny Saint-Brown is still marching on and exploring new grounds. More than ten years in her career, she still remains a moving train that seems not to have a final destination.
Sequel to her hit single, Turn Me Around, the never-say-die gospel artiste recentlyreleased another single titled Motigoke Motiso produced by Terry G and Sheyman. The song which featured Terry G is an inspirational song to the downtrodden urging them to put their faith in God. The song portrays the high tempo signature tune of Terry G and the rich depth of Kenny Saint Brown as an artiste.
In another development, the artiste has finished working on another song titled Sugar Sugar featuring MI. She is actually doing everything possible to making her forth-coming album one of the best albums that will come out of the country before the end of the year. Due to this fact, she is exploring a new ground by working with different producers and Naija reigning acts.
So far, seven tracks are ready from her album. Terry G, Jesse Jags and Sheyman produced two songs each while ID Cabasa produced the last one. According to the act, she is working on four more tracks to complete the album.

Nigerian Artistes Lead Channel O Nominations

The fifth edition of the Channel O Music Awards has been slated for October 29, 2009 in Carnival City in Gauteng, South-Africa. And as expected, due to the video music revolution in Nigeria, Nigerian artistes topped most of the nominations.
The nominees for the 2009 DStv’s Channel O Music Video Awards were announced at a press conference at Melrose Arch, Johannesburg on Tuesday 14 July. Now in its fifth year, the awards honour music videos that have been played on the channel over the past one year between June 1, 2008 and May 31st, 2009. There are 14 categories, with a 15th Special Recognition Award - which hasn't been announced yet.
The nominees were chosen by the channel looking at the quality of the music videos as well as their popularity on the channel, the number of times they were played, viewers feedback and the number of requests for the videos. Home boys like Naeto-C and Darey have two nominations each. While Naeto-C was nominated in the Best Hip-Hop Video and Video of the Year categories with the song Kini Big Deal while Darey was nominated in the categories of Best Male Video and Best R&B Video with the song Not The Girl. German based Nneka has three nominations in categories such as Best Female Video, Best Newcomer and Best African West with the song Heartbeat. Other Nigerian artistes nominated have one nomination each. Sasha was nominated for Best Female Video with the song Only One and Bantu for the Best Reggae Dancehall category with the song Where Di Water. G-Exploits and 2face Idibia were nominated for Best R&B Videos with Tear Rubber and Enter the Place respectively while Durela and Kelly Hansome were nominated for Best Afro-pop with the songs Enu Ose and Maga Don Pay respectively. P-Square and Mo’Hits Crew were nominated for the Best Duo or Group with the songs No One Like You and Pere respectively while the likes of Ikechukwu, J-Martins and 9ice will slug it out in Best Africa West Video category.

KIDNAPPERS RELEASED DAYO ADAENEYE'S FATHER-IN-LAW

Joy and happiness returned to the house of Chief Negbenevor, the founder of Negbenevor Schools and also the father-in-law of respected music business man and Senior Partner of Primetie Africa, Dayo Adenye, on Friday July 17th, 2009.
According to the information available to Seun Apara, the elder state man was kidnapped at his residence on Wednesday July 15 by unknown men. Glitz Stage was also informed that the particular car that was used to take away the respected community leader has been packed in the street for more than three days. This incident we gathered got the whole of the family very worried and pressed every necessary buttons towards the eventual release of the business man.
This reporter tried to speak with some members of the family on Friday July 17, 2009 after the release to know the actual course why Chief Negbenevor was kidnapped. No matter how much we tried, there were not ready to let out any information. “The most important thing now is that the man is released. We want to keep it very low”, a family source said.

TONY OKOROJI WRITES NAME IN GOLD

Former PMAN President, Sir Tony Okoroji, has written his name in gold. On Tuesday April 28, he launched the most needed book right now, Copyright, Neighbouring Rights & New Millionaires at the Nigerian Institute of Internal Affairs in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Present at the occasion were Chief Leo Stan Eke, the chairman of Zinox Computers, Emeka Mba, the Director-General of the National Film and Video Ce
nsors Board, Mr Saemund Fiskvik from Oslo, a member of the Board of Norwegian Copyright Development Association, NORCODE, Onyeka Onwenu, Stella Damascus, Segun Arinze, Sammie Okposo, Cally Ikpe, Efe Omoregbe, Rasimono, Muma Gee, Stephnora Okere. Others are John Njamah, Bob Manuel, DJ Jimmy Jatt, Lara George, Dele Abiodun, Tee-Mac Itselli, Patrick Doyle and many others.

Alec Godwin Robbed

The CEO of Alec Music, Alec Godwin, lost some of his belongings recently during an armed robbery attack. Some of the items he was dispossessed of include his laptop, international passport, phones, camera and an undisclosed amount of money.
The incident we gathered happened along Lagos - Ibadan Express way about 8pm on his way from Benin . He played along with the robbers and that actually saved him from being beaten black and blue. Narrating his ordeal to Seun Apara through an electronic mail few days back, he said he never knew he was about to be robbed until the robbers started dispossessing him of his belongings. “It was not good a experience for me at all. There was a transport line bus ahead of me, the bus’ movement was suddenly obstructed and I quickly applied the brake pedal to avoid collision. Before we could say jack, about 15 men came out from different corners of the bush. The ones that came to my car practically collected everything I had except my car. They made away with my international passport, laptop, phones, camera and lots of cash”, said Alec Godwin who is currently working on his debut album