By Victor Enengedi
Chronicling your journey through the music industry, how would you describe it so far?
I would say the journey has been more like an adventure. It actually started with a drama, from way back the 90’s when we formed the group called Def O’ Clan. It was myself, Rabbi, Azadus, Buzzman and others. The whole thing has just been moving up from one stage to the next. You know, we went from one single to two singles, two singles to an album which we actually released in 2000. Sometime in 2001, Azadus left the group then and he got a record deal with Kennis Music. At that moment, it was more like a distracting point for us. I felt it was a great thing for him to move up with his career.
Sadly, the group broke up in 2002. I was in school then at the University of Calabar. I came out in 2004 and I got back on radio with Brilla FM. Prior to my graduation, I had a few serious collaborations. One notable collaboration was the one I had with Blackface called ‘Hard Life’, a smashing single way back then. Sometime in 2006/2007, I think I had another collaboration with Paul Play titled ‘Forever’, big song, big single, you know it created a lot of buzz around the name Alabai. Then I had a series of other collaborations like the one I had with Sunny Neji. Then, I was also featured in the Plantashun Bois reunion album in 2007 and then another one with Lagbaja. At the end of the day, it turned out to be more like an evolutionary process for Alabai.
Then came my first single in 2008. It was a big song, quite a notable song and a lot of people enjoyed it. The concept of a man, you know discussing with God. It was quite different; I like to be different in everything I do. I like my music not to sound like everyone else’s. So, I always crave for that uniqueness.
With this record you had gotten a lot of buzz at the time, so why did you disappear off the scene?
The system in Nigeria was not designed to motivate or encourage. At that point, the single was really accepted but it wasn’t really vibrant enough for me. I had issues because I was virtually doing everything on my own. I had no record label, I had no management. I had to cope with the stress of distributing the CDs, managing my career, and going from one radio station to the next with my music. It was more like the whole world was on my shoulders. It was quite frustrating all the same. No matter how much money you might think you have, it’s really not easy when you don’t have a team of credible people to work with. It was so difficult and frustrating for me but after that period, I had to think about going back to the drawing board. I thought to myself, if I don’t get the right resources to work with, maybe I’ll just keep away until that is sorted out.
Do you think you now have the right team?
Yes, I’m quite sure. I now have the right team in Don Corleon Records. He’s a visionary. We actually met in a studio session. He heard me freestyle he just heard my work and he was like wow, this is someone I think I will like to work with and gave me his address. He heard my demo and he was definitely convinced. He was happy with what he heard and all that. At that point in time, I realized, okay, I think I obviously have the right person to work with. Since then it’s been good and he made me realise that apart from rap, I have a great singing talent. He made me see a different side of me.
Is that the reason why you sang on you new single ‘Ogbanje’?
‘Ogbanje’ is just like that song tells you this is coming from a rapper; it was quite shocking to my fans. On twitter, I had people blasting and saying, Alabai, come on, why are you selling out? The same people who criticize me sometimes call me back and say, please can we get a download mix for the song. So the critics actually became the fans. Ogbanje was a surprise for me because even before I came with the single, I asked myself a lot of questions like; what do these guys really think about me? You don’t really need to bother about what people think about you. It’s all about what you really think you can do for yourself. I think doing that for me was a big plus. It was a brave effort. Don Corleone actually gave me that advise. He heard a couple lot of songs but when he heard Ogbanje, he was like I think this is the song. He was optimistic about the song and I think that that optimism has actually paid off and so I’m happy with the way it turned out.
What will you say has changed about Alabai?
It’s been a lot of changes. One, my own perception of music. Two, my persona. The Alabai of seven years ago was basically that guy who would subdue his singing talent. The guy who just wanted to be that extra-ordinary rap artist. How many people would appreciate you as a rapper compared to the people that would appreciate you as a singer. The difference is actually quite considerable. Apart from that, I’m not singing because I’m trying to convince people to buy my records but I’m singing because I know how to sing. I’m just trying to express my music, express myself, express my talent and I think it’s most advisable for a rapper to be able to sing. Having an awesome rap talent combined with a singing talent, I think it’s one of the biggest blessings God can ever give anybody so I count myself lucky.
Looking at the rap industry, with everybody singing and rapping these days, do you think it has grown?
Well, it has to a level. Yes, it has, you know, hip-hop from way back had a lot of challenges. It was hard for you to have a rapper on a big concert but these days, we have hip-hop artists. I think that has been a great improvement in Nigeria. Then in my own analysis, I think the hip-hop culture has been adulterated to a level. It is not what we actually thought it was going to be like. Of course it now makes a stand on the big stage. I think the future of hiphop is bright but not as bright as I expected it to be.
At the time you guys started, did you ever think that hiphop music was going to be this huge in Nigeria?
Honestly, I never envisaged the magnitude of hiphop right now. I never envisaged that one day, we would have hiphop artistes charging a million naira for a show. It’s been quite encouraging and great. I would say it’s been very wonderful to see how far hiphop has come in Nigeria. The story has been great so far but I think it can always get better.
During the time you were off music and radio, what were you into?
Well, virtually when I left radio and music, I was just comfortable working on myself and building a new brand of myself. Of course, I was doing a couple of things as a rapper but I was not really bothered about how much money I was making. I was bothered about how to make that brand, you know, improving on my music, becoming a bigger, better musician. I studied more of music, I learned a lot more about myself. I discovered more talent that I actually subdued unconsciously and I was grateful. For me, it was more like a discovery process, re-inventing and re-juvinating. Re-inventing the brand Alabai. I left just to re-invent, re-discover certain things about myself and now that I’m back, it’s more like unleashing the dragon out of its dungeon.
About broadcasting now, do you still see yourself going into it part-time?
No, not at all, I enjoyed it while I was doing it. I really had fun being on radio. Having your voice heard by millions of people, and having people call-in. It was wonderful, it was great, I liked it but I think for now I have to focus on my dream, which is music and entertainment as a whole because you cannot serve two masters, trust me. You know, I was doing it for years and I realized I was just stuck being in that field and not being able to digress from that field. It was not just easy for me, so I had to choose. I asked myself, ‘what do you really want for yourself?’ You want to do this or you want to do that? Do you want to sit down behind the microphone or you want to hold the microphone in front on the big stage? I chose the later and I think it’s been more fulfilling for me.
So what is your album going to sound like?
Well, I think it’s going be the first of its kind in Nigeria. It’s not going to be the regular kind of album you hear every now and then. I wouldn’t want to brag or anything but I think it’s going be the kind of album you listen to and you just think deep and wonder where the depth of your standard came from. It’s going to be a surprise. Different kinds of genre in one album. I’m very sure it’s not going to be boring.
Are going to be working with any of the new artistes on your album?
Yeah, I intend to. I want to have a collaboration with 2face, and I’m looking forward to collaboration with Asa. She’s one artist I admire a lot. I really love her music. I’ll like to do a song with Femi Kuti. That’s one artist I really enjoying listening to. I love his energy, control of the band and his music life.
Besides you, in no particular order, who are some of your favourite rap artistes?
In no particular order, I like M.I and Naeto C who happens to be my favourite. I like it when he is subtle with his flow. He just takes his time to choose his words. The late DaGrin was a big thing. DaGrin was one rapper that when you interpret his lyrics Yoruba to English, you’re like wow! How did he think about that? One rapper I love so much is Buzzman, he’s got so much energy and then of course, Ruggedman is not bad at all. I think I’ve mentioned more than five. These guys are all very talented in their own ways.
'I didn’t think that one day, rappers will be paid N1m for a show' – Alabai
