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This is a must read for any music lover in Nigeria, this is history retold. It also means behind every face on the spotlight, there is a story
This list was culled from @ChikaObi twitter handle… Enjoy!
1. Let’s start with the fact Ruggedman & P-Square both passed up on the beat of “Gongo Aso”. It wasn’t meant for 9ice.
9ice wrote Gongo Aso to the beat of an already existing song & ID Cabasa took the vocals & laid them on the beat it is on now.
2. MI Abaga only shortened his name to MI from Micrep about a year or less before “Crowd Mentality” dropped. He also used to be Jeremiah Gyang’s PA.
3. D’banj & Don Jazzy were expelled from JJC’s 419 Squad right at a show, backstage.
D’banj still went on to perform solo at that show, with a song he had written called “Airborne”. He asked Jazzy to do it with him but Jazzy refused as he was too shy.
4. D’banj once chased Kenny Ogungbe with his CD on foot while Keke was was in his hummer (pardon the pun) begging him to just listen. Keke didn’t accept the CD.
When he met Ayo Shonaiya, he did a back flip in the living room while talking just to show he would do whatever it took.
5. David Adoga who plays “Bobby” in the popular AfricaMagic TV Show “Halita” is the Nigerian Rapper “Overdose” who had hits like “Don’t Hate” & “Alujo”.
6. Alfred Atungu who plays “Angulu” in the same show is the Nigerian rapper “6ft Plus”, who made “Anuli” & rapped on “Na Ba Ka”.
7. Modenine always prided himself as a super MC until he met Loknan Dombin, better known as LD Xtra Large (who is most popular for his work as an OAP on Rhythm FM Lagos & Rhythm PH)
After hearing LDXL rap, Mode went home & tore all his rhyme books then started from scratch.
8. Eldee of Trybesemen was the first person to hook up with Alaba as a distribution channel, working with Tjoe to re-release the Trybesmen project.
2shotz of the Trybe then followed suit and the rest is history.
9. Trybesemen broke up as a group during their first trip abroad. They broke up in the UK in Ayo Shonaiya’s living room.
10. The day Kennis Music released 2face Idibia’s “Grass To Grace” album, Tjoe bought all the 500,000 copies produced. The only way to get a copy that day was to get it from him.
Then he sold them for N10 more. Everything sold out in an hour.
Guess you can say 2face went Gold in 1hour
11. The King CD Pirate of Alaba Kevin aka Big Boss Jiggaman aka KevD was an avid hiphop fan. He brought his siblings Ndubuisi (NDU Records) & Uba (UBA Pacific) into the game, & made so much money they reportedly tarred roads in their village leading to the houses they built in Nnewi.
12. Mo’Dogg! was a super-talented rapper & producer on the level of Freestyle, & also hailed from the same state. He was a member of a crew called Trip Squad, then partnered with Big Lo & they made songs like “Say What!”, a No.1 hit at the time.
He then set up a tiny studio in…☺️
13. Ruggedman released 2 great songs in 2000—“What If?” & “GwoGwo”, both produced by Paul Play Dairo.
A year later he walks into my house, greets my mum who told me to get him a soft drink then goes inside, then he sits & says “Chuka, I’ve got the song”.
He spits verse 1 of “Ehen”.
14. Freestyle of the Trybesemen was still in secondary school at St Finbarrs college when he became a member, while eLDee & KaBoom were in Uni. But he was so dope it was a non-issue.
The first songs they ever recorded together were “Mic In Hand” & “LAG Style”.
Neither was released.
15. When Wizkid heard KCee’s “Limpopo”, he called his production team together & tasked them to give him a hit that huge. There were many tries & misses to the point Wiz decided to record with Del B (Bless your mother eee baby o)
Shortly after Legendury Beats made the Ojuelegba best.
16. In the same vein, when Burna Boy heard “Emi Ni Baller” by Illbliss & Chidinma, he was on Leriq’s neck to make him something that “harsh”. When Leriq wasn’t moving fast enough for him, he started trying to produce it himself, then Leriq stepped in.
The result? “Run My Race”.
16. When 9ice & his then manager Ola took “Gongo Aso” as a single to Star FM, they didn’t have transport money back home. They were going to walk half the way then bus the rest (Alausa Ikeja to Akoka).
The DJ (I forget his name) heard the song, and gave them money to take a cab home.
17. P-Square sold off their cars to finance their “Get Squared” video—they believed so much in the song & the video was going to cost N1.5m (huge money back then) because of the special effects & sets.
As an afterthought they shot a B-rated video for “Busy Body”.
We know which blew.
18. An unknown dude named XP on Edge Records dropped an EP with the lead song “Calabar”. His flow was great but the beats were unforgettably different. People started asking around for this maverick unknown producer.
His name?
SARZ.
19.At the first Thisday Music Festival over a decade ago, JayZ came on stage, put the mic in his pocket & threw up The Roc Diamond sign.
Teeming Lagos fans followed suit.
A visibly confused Gov Ahmed Bola Tinubu & his entourage, not wanting to be left out, threw up the Roc sign too.
