'I've been around, long before Ruggedy Baba'
By Tade Makinde
Posing with his HHWM Revelation of
The Year
Award
Anywhere he dey, Gongo Aso. Rave of the moment, Abolore Adegbola Akande, (a.k.a 9ice) opens up to RMT on his rise to fame and struggles to beat poverty. Excerpts.
You say you’re from the ghetto, what’s
your definition of ghetto as your life
style is not compliant with that of a ghetto guy?
Ghetto generally means a life of struggle. One can live in GRA and still be a struggler, that’s living a ghetto life in GRA. It’s in the ghetto that people learn to live the good or bad life.My entire life has been that of struggles, that’s why I believe am a ghetto boy.
You also said your education had to stop because of cash, yet you insist your folks were rich, how do you explain the contradiction?
My folks are rich now, compared to their status then. Things were so rough then that I had to drop out of school. In fact, I was so disturbed by their poor financial situation that dropping out was no option then. It disturbed me that they were not OK, so I didn’t think twice when I had to choose between studies and music. The choice has paid off. ‘Am rich, my folks are doing well.
You insist on studying Law, why?
I love Law with a passion. I waited too long to gain that admission and am going back to complete the programme.
In LASU?
Maybe LASU, LAG, UK, anywhere. I want to become a lawyer at all cost. That course is more on my mind than music, am going for it.
And if you don’t eventually become a lawyer?
I don’t even want to think about that because I believe I can still become a lawyer. I can’t think of any other career option, time will take final care of that though.
How long do you intend to sing using theYoruba language?
For as long as I live. Music does not speak any language, that’s why you’ll find Spanish dancing to Xhosa songs, Americans to juju music, etc.. Hausas, Efiks, Tivs all dance to my music, why should I change from singing in Yoruba?
Where are you from?
Ogbomosho
When was the last time you visited home?
I go home a lot, even before I became famous. I was at Ogbomosho last month and will still go there this month.
Who do you think is more popular in Lagos among Ogbomosho indigenes, you, or Gov. Alao Akala?
Among Lagosians generally, I think am popular, but Governor Akala is more popular than me among Ogbomosoites in Lagos, same for the city. So, I’m a small fry compared to the governor. My popularity is only within the entertainment industry, while the governor’s is national. Even I am a follower of Akala.
Have you met the governor?
No, I haven’t, but I intend to because the opportunity will come.
How did you meet Payne, your broad?
At a show in Motherlam, Ikeja
What attracted her to you?
Her interest in the entertainment industry. Although we started out as friends, we got involved later on after discovering we both have love for the industry.
Has there ever been a time you wished you met another?
Not at all. I can’t trade her for another.
Is she a graduate?
Yes she is.
And how’s she handling your fame and your drop-out status?
She knows am a drop-out, it doesn’t bug her one bit. You see, love is always blind to trivial virtues, those vain things. She sees me as a man, not as a musician any longer.So, my status has never been an issue. If I decide not to go back to school again, I don’t think it will change anything.
You don’t think?
I know it will not change anything. She’s doing her best in the relationship.
Would you agree that featuring in “Ruggedy Baba" propelled your career, though you’ve been singing before then?
Not at all because I had been on ground before Ruggedman’s job. It was because Ruggedman heard me on 2 Shotz song and another number that he considered featuring me in "Ruggedy Baba". But then, the collaboration did its bit as per adding to my fame.
Is it true that artistes who suddenly find fame are difficult to work with?
I think that arises because of schedules. An artist has to be more serious when it comes to appearing in events because fans expect more from us. Most artists take more shows than they can handle, that’s why they don’t keep to time. No artist deliberately makes things difficult for promoters because of his career.
But you were very late to an event in Ibadan, which resulted in vandalising the venue
It wasn’t intentional, I was held up in a traffic but I still got to Ibadan around 8 p.m.
For an event that should have started at 12 noon?
The organiser told me it was scheduled for 5 p.m. Not only didn’t he tell me the correct time of the event, he also didn’t pay my balance on time. This is what a lot of our fans don’t know. Anybody can print posters, but its very important that you get the go-ahead from the artists' manager. What happened in Ibadan Easter could have been avoided.
Information has it that you had been paid up front but that you decided to take another show in Lagos same day after collecting a huge sum of money from another promoter, is that correct?
That’s very incorrect, very wrong. I still performed at the Ibadan show despite that I was only paid my balance the day of the show.That didn’t stop me from coming, the accident on the express road created a heavy traffic which caught us up. I begged my fans for the fuck up. That was why I made two consecutive appearances in Ibadan within one week. The resurrection party for Havana, Sigma’s “Songsplash”, was one of them. The other was a campus show.
It is true you took the campus show for free to compensate the organiser of the earlier show who allegedly pocketed N600,000 from the deal?
I don’t know who pocketed what. All I know is that I agreed with the organiser to feature at Idia Hall show last month.
Don’t you think its outrageous to be paid N500k for a show you guys always arrive at late?
I don’t collect N500,000 for a show, its in the range of N1.2 million and N1.5 million. In fact, I don’t do much shows, but am never late to a show. For the "Songsplash" I told you about, me and my crew, Ruggedman, 2 Shotz, Durella and Jah Bless got to Ibadan around 7 p.m and stayed in our hotel till 11 p.m from where we left for the show. It doesn’t do well for one’s image to be labelled a late-comer.
So, who should bear the burden when stars mess up promoter’s show, costing millions, by arriving late to events?
The artists should bear the burden if he’s the cause of the bungling. I don’t do it though. It costs a lot to organise a show, I don’t believe artists should add to the pressure.
How did you feel winning the HHWMA recently?
I felt great, it showed the music was appreciated.
Who is 9ice?
My names are Abolore Adegbola Akande, a Muslim and ‘am from a polygamous family. We are nine and I’m the eight born from my dad’s five wives. I attended Abule-Okuta Primary School, Bariga, CMS Grammar School, Bariga and LASU.
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