Producer Colleague Slams J.Martins: ‘‘You Disappointed Us!’’

By Chiagoziem Onyekwena

Once upon a time, in a land called Enugu lived three kings; three powerful producers. For years, they ruled the Eastern Music kingdom and the clubs were their jurisdiction, the radio stations their municipality and the entire neighbourhood Isi Ewu joints in Ibo land under their arbitration.

However as with most ambitious leaders, success at home only fuelled the trio’s yearning to grow beyond the tag of local champions. As a result, the three producers each undertook musical conquests in lands far beyond their kingdom.

 Mekoyo was first to blow, hence the first to go. Shortly after experiencing success with Styl Plus’ Olufunmi, Mr. ‘Oyo returned to his familiar Northern stomping ground, joining his musical partners in Abuja’s secure but relative obscure music environment.

J.Martins was to follow, permanently relocating his kingdom to Lagos and morphing into a respected artiste along the way. Determined not to be left behind, arguably Enugu’s last great producer Dekumzy recently acquired an address much closer to Pres. Yar’Adua’s than he had before; and while the travails and triumphs of his colleagues respectively might suggest that career progression is more assured with a southern rather than northern migration, the ace producer is adamant he’s made the right choice in moving to Abuja.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t even know who Dekumzy was in the first place – neither would he! Attention is to this man is what inquisitive journalists are to OBJ.

 ‘I don’t want people to recognise me everywhere I go; it’s not what I entered music for. I’m a producer’ he tells NET.

 Rather than stardom, its music production that is engrained in Dekumzy’s DNA and even though he decided to release a solo album titled Who Get Dat Thing last year, he insists that unlike his friend J.Martins, his favourite studio position remains sitting behind the boards and not standing in front of the microphone.

‘I think J.Martins has disappointed us, going into the singing thing and forgetting about the production. He’s turned to an artiste and no longer a producer, and it really pains me’. However, Dekumzy assures us that his criticisms of J. are coming from a pure heart.

 ‘I’m not jealous of J.Martins’ recent success… I’m very happy for him oh. Me, him and Mekoyo remain close friends’.

And why should Dekumzy be envious of Martins?  The man’s own hit catalogue is expanding by the minute. The ace producer got his first break when the smash hit Chinweike made the now defunct duo of Resonance a permanent fixture on church concert flyers around the country. Chinweike was the proverbial door opener for Dekumzy and jobs soon began pouring in but unfortunately for him, much of his production never really left the perimeters of Eastern Nigerian radio. However, all that has changed in recent months with Dekumzy’s stellar production for Nigga Raw, Illbliss, Charly Boy and T.J (of Elewe Ekwe fame) attracting nationwide attention, while his inspired board work for Yori Yori and No Time catapulted Bracket to arguably this year’s Nigerian music ultimate success story. Dekumzy claims he wasn’t surprised Yori Yori became the lover’s anthem of 2009 but admitted he couldn’t believe his luck when No Time equally caught on well with Nigerian fans.

Dekumzy is married to his work, and I mean that in the most literal sense of the word. Having picked a bride from amongst the members of the interestingly-named girl band, Desperate Chicks, Dekumzy has settled down to life playing husband, father and band manager all at the same time. So I guess there’s no better person to ask this puzzling question than the band’s creator himself – What sort of a name exactly is Desperate Chicks?  To that, Dekumzy gladly offered, We were actually looking for a name that would sell more than the song, the type of name that people will see and criticise or abuse but still want to see what is behind the name.

The gamble paid off! According to Dekumzy, Desperate Chicks are now the ‘highest selling Nigerian female group in the last two years’. That’s just one more accolade to his name, one more trophy to his cabinet and one more feather on the cap of the king. Whatever happens from here on in Dekumzy Land, only time will tell; but if the past is any indication of what the future holds, then the future of Dekumzy’s kingdom is desperately bright.