Nigerian acts are threatened by me — Mode 9

Veteran hip hop artiste, Mode 9, detests being put in a box. Call him a rap artiste and he is quick to correct you that he is a lyricist and a versatile one at that. With four albums to his credit, the artiste, who recently put out two new singles — Street Runner and Paris Freestyle— off his forthcoming album, is not relenting in his wit in wordplay, catchy rhymes and punch lines.He’s been around for a while, plying his music trade and mentoring a crop of new up and coming singers. However, in the last one year, the artiste , who once had a spat with rapper Rugged Man, failed to put out any album or single and this in turn led to rumours that he had gone bankrupt and was no longer relevant. With many Nigerian artistes generating a bulk of their income from shows and gigs, just how did the artiste who survives solely on music get by?

“I may not have put out any work in one year, but the truth is I know a lot of things that a lot of artistes do not know. For instance,

I make money from non-exclusive licensing. One of my tracks, Elbow Room was used as the soundtrack for a Play Station 3 game,

Body Count, and I got paid for that. Moreover, the fact that I put out a lot of videos on YouTube does not mean that I don’t get paid for them. I was also involved in a lot of work as a judge in various competitions. That way, I was never bothered about the shows competition got, because I was okay.”

While acknowledging the fact that he did rake in a few bucks, there was also a price to pay. First, show promoters failed to invite him to gigs because he did not have an album to ‘mime’ to on stage and second, because many felt that his style of hip hop, is not strong enough to move the crowd.

“I actually had a failed album contract with a label (name withheld) after signing a contract with them. It was a waste of 12 precious months of my life. I was not invited to any show because they (promoters) felt the crowd won’t appreciate my music. That is so erroneous. But I hold no grudge against any of them, in fact my new mantra is, just let it go.”

After the hiatus, the British born Nigerian artiste is currently putting finishing touches to three albums to be released next year. While he hopes to record one of them titled

Esoteric Mellow

, in collaboration with Dj Grizzly Adams and Figub Brazlevic in Germany, he is unhappy with the treatment meted out to him by some Nigerian artistes.

He says, “While putting my albums together, I received help from the likes of M.I, Don Jazzy and Paul Play Dairo. These are people whom I have so much respect for in the industry. I do not understand why some artistes I invited to do a track with me kept playing games with me. If you do not want to do a song with me, why don’t you let me know? You see the truth is that a lot of artistes are threatened by me and I won’t blame them. If I were me, I would be threatened by me.”

Looking ahead into the New Year, the artiste, whose real names is Babatunde Olusegun, is optimistic about the future of rap music in Nigeria. He does not discountenance the impact of unprofessional rappers on the Hip Hop trade.

“I strongly believe that rappers will make more money next year. The music will get better and people’s eyes will open to know and appreciate good music when they hear one. There are so many whack artistes around now such that if you ask them to write their lyrics out on the board a lot of them will fall off. I don’t blame them, I blame the audience. Most DJs tell me that they can’t play my music in the club; people will not be able to dance to it because it has to be 120 beats per minute.

In order for you to be successful in Nigeria you have to make your music faster.”

The artiste, who studied Building Technology at the Bida Polytechnic, Niger State and once worked as presenter with Rhythm 84.7Fm in Abuja, adds, “Burna Boy came into the industry and changed things. His music is not fast yet you can dance to it. The problem is most hip hop artistes are not flexible and Nigerians don’t like variety. When they discover that a style is hot, they will beat it and overdo it till it gets cold.”

Punch Nigeria