P-Square has come a long way, music wise. In this encounter with Busola Afolabi, the sensational singers, Peter and Paul Okoye, speak on their new album, Danger, their background, challenges and vision for the music industry.
What makes your new album, Danger, distinct?
For the first time, P-Square did an experiment which is bringing a kind of song that doesn't exist in Africa and we were happy when we heard it was number two in the African top 10 countdown. Also for the first time, we did a 'Collabo' with the necessary people just like the one we did with 2Face. Africans demanded for it, so we decided to give it to them. We are now matured, it is not like the “Do me I do you” song, this is more of facing the real life. We tried to portray the African side of women and their pride. So it is the maturity in it that stands it out.
What are some of the challenges you encounter on the job?
Where I think we face challenges is with elder brother Jude, who is our producer, because he racks his brain everyday especially with this new album because he doesn't want to disappoint. He is trying to take Nigeria somewhere and for us, we had to do better than what we did before. Another one is that we had about 20 songs and at the end we came out with only 10. P-Square is not looking at songs only in Nigeria right now, but we have to do something to satisfy people. We are not looking at Africa only, because we have conquered Africa, but the world. You don't say because you are Nigerians you just have to do songs basically for Nigerians. Thank God for songs like “Do me”, “No one like you”, “Ifunaya”, “Bizzy Body” despite the fact that they are Nigerian inclined, we try to maintain the standard. If you listen to our new music “I love you” it has the limelight of Ifunaya, even the “Possibility” we did with 2Face has the style of “No one like you” in it. 'Do me I do you' is a Nigerian slang but outside the country they still understand what it means. So now we are doing songs for Nigeria and beyond.
What is your feeling about the performance of this new album?
We are 100 per cent satisfied. When we came out with “Do me” then we were performing outside the country, so it took some time before Nigerians got into the song. But this new album is totally different because if you look at the Guinness Show where we performed. It was seven days after the album was released and we performed “Danger” and people were singing it word for word. Even when people said we are putting our career in danger because we call the album Danger, we told them that when we came out with Bizzy Body, it took it three months to sell one million copies. But we were happy when they told us that Danger had sold one million copies in eight days.
We will be having a show in Abuja next week and they tag it “Danger Nite with P-Square.” That means Danger is now everywhere, because when “Do Me” came out, we had a show in Lagos called “Do Me Nite.” Danger can stand out anywhere because it is different from anything you have been hearing. Now we have made Nigerians to fall in love with Highlife beat in hip-hop. So, we are satisfied because we have achieved what we wanted. We wanted to see how the fans would react to the new motive behind the album and we got them caught up.
Are you not satisfied with the money you have made so far from the album?
Like I said, I am satisfied. But the right things must be done. The government must step in and control piracy, so that we can sell our CD's at the normal price. Do you know how much we sell our CD's in Tanzania, Sierra Leone and even Ghana? We sell between N800 and N1,000 when the money is converted to naira. In Senegal and Abidjan, it is sold for N2,000 but in Nigeria even the marketer who is selling our album is selling it for N60, that is an insult.
What has helped you to withstand competition in the market?
To us we don't see it as competition. Which market are we even talking about; is it the Nigerian market or the international market? Because there are artistes that are worthy of being outside but are not. There is only one person I know – TuFace. It is either we are going out of the country and he is coming in or we are coming in and he is going out. He is not a competitor to us, he is our senior colleague. Without TuFace, nothing for all of us. It is his achievements that opened ways for all of us. So we don't see any competition. Just do a good job and live the rest for God. Music is a way of passing message across to the people. So, if you pass the wrong message, then you are corrupting the mind. Today, I don't see parents allowing their children to watch the kind of videos people make these days. It is a problem that needs to be resolved now.
What is the most surprising thing a fan has ever done to you?
There was a day somebody was banging our gate when we came out it was a woman and she was shouting ‘I have to see P-Square because my daughter is in the hospital and she says she will die if she doesn't see P-Square.’ We thought she was joking but she sat on the floor and said she won't go anywhere, so we followed her to the hospital. When the girl saw us, she started smiling. We were there for about an hour then we told them we wanted to leave. The girl started crying so her mother begged us to stay. Later the doctor came and gave her sleeping pills before we left. At the end of the day, she succeeded in making us spend about four hours in the hospital. Another one, there was a girl who is an artist so she drew us and presented it to us at a concert in Benin. Even though she was not very perfect, we were surprised and we appreciated and loved the portrait.
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