OJB Jezreel (Babatunde Jezreel Okungbawo) popularly called “Jigga” is a renowned producer, writer and executive producer who has set his mark upon the Nigerian entertainment industry as a pioneer. During the phase of the birth of a new age music in the late 90s, OJB jelped to redefine the sound to a more globally accepted sound with the likes of TX, KUSH, Etim Eyo (Arista Records) which made the likes of the then Leila Steinberg of Interscope Records see the possibility of our music going International mainstream. In Nigeria, he served as producer and executive producer for acts who would eventually be called established; names like Tuface Idibia, Ruggedman, Jazzman, D’banj and Nomoreloss. These sounds later paved the way for the sounds of Terry G, Timaya and Duncan Mighty (who was a trainee under him in the mid 90s).
Evidently, his God father status is eminent in the fact that at least 90% of the industry has passed through his hands. After remarkable success with Tuface Idibia’s “African Queen” album which sold 10 million copies in Nigeria and 8m million copies internationally, Jigga became the most sort after producer in Nigeria and in some parts of Africa. He churned in further success in the industry as an artiste with the release of his hit singles “pretete” and “searching” in an album that sold 3 million copies.
He turned 45 on July 4, 2011 and when I caught up with him on his birthday (coincidentally), he took me on a trip down memory lane, OJB Jezreel spoke candidly about his 25 years journey in the industry, working with generations of Nigerian artistes and his new single “Don’t let me down” which has already got 3,000 downloads across various online sites; Excerpts...
LE: You are 45 today in what is today’s Nigerian music industry; tell us how it all started, how long have you been in the industry?
OJB: I have been in the industry since 1986 which makes it 25 years of starting out; I was 20 and studying civil engineering in school and more interested in studio ratting. My parents tried to curb the interests by sending me abroad to continue with school but it wasn’t long before my hands found the keyboards and strings again. I say 25 years because that was when I started earning from and taking care of myself from my career as a musician – because then for me it became my job.
LE: Would you term yourself a producer or a singer?
I would actually say I am a producer; I originally started out in production but as time went by as is the case with life generally, I started to improvise based on hidden abilities I saw I possessed; dancing, singing and producing just widening my horizon
LE: What has the journey been like for you?
I have been privileged to see different generations of the music industry evolving; back then in 1986 we had real professional companies backrolling the jobs, we had record companies setup where an artiste will record an album and get taken out of the country to explore the market opportunities. At the time we weren’t even given the chance to just fiddle with the systems no matter how knowledgeable we felt we were; we had to serve under the professionals for a four/ five year period before credits will go out to us for any effort but now, it’s a different era coupled with the fact that studios are set up in people’s bathrooms now (chuckles). There is a visible change and evolution where things changed because the foreigners were told to let go of the business for the Nigerians to take over; these days a small boy will wake up and say he has a studio and its happening and I am still privileged to see a wizkid come into limelight so it’s been a long journey for me, I can actually write a book about it.
LE: The outcry of many artistes is the lack of structure and your story makes it seem like a “structure” once existed in the music industry...
OJB: Yes there was a structure, back in the days of Onyeka Onwenu, Felix Liberty, FELA, Sonny Okosuns; there was a massive structure... they lived like stars, they lived well and had luxurious cars as well which was a big deal for us at the time they were well travelled; they played with bands at live shows all over the world sharing the stage with legendary artistes like Bob Marley and Co...
LE: That doesn’t seem to be happening these days...
OJB: These days there’s more noise than action – there is a story in the papers that say “OJB goes to America” (laughs) but everyone is going to America; yet they make a big news of it like some serious work is going on and yet it’s nothing – back in the days when it started, music giants were a part of the process, EMI records, Polygram from UK, other companies from Germany and other parts of the world. Sometimes the companies will do an exchange, sort of take an artiste from Nigeria and vice versa on the same platform and promote them in another part of the world, put together tours and give them the kind of exposure that was available on the platform
LE: Can you say, from your observation over time, where the structure started to fall out of place?
OJB: I think the structure started to fall out of place when we started to run the companies ourselves...
LE: (cuts in surprisingly) Black man no sabi do the work?
OJB: No oo, no be say black man no sabi do the work but black man no dey wan take time learn the work before e do am; and that was the problem, it was a good idea in the start, I think the people who started to take over things then started to get myopic as to seeing the future that it was going to be a global village because if you see that future, you won’t cut off your links totally. It shouldn’t be a big deal for any Nigerian artiste to cross over into a foreign market but those guys didn’t even consider that; they cut off the links totally but it should have been an extension and not a total eradication of what existed. Secondly, the know-how became limited; there wasn’t much professionalism being put into the business. Someone walks up to you and says “I am a doctor and I qualified” – I agree but this is the music business and it’s different. There might not be a straight jacket school stating out the rules but an apprenticeship is required to make things work, one must learn the ropes as a key factor to contribute to the progress of the industry.
LE: Would you suggest then that schools are built to teach music or music is taught in existing schools as part of the curriculum, because it used to be so.
OJB: There were great music schools, in Nsukka, in schools like Unilag people graduated with a good knowledge of music in the early 80s and 90s. Back in those days, they understood it would be wise to catch them young so from the primary levels, pupils were taught music. The foreigners passed that advice to the board to make music a part of the system as that would help the children learn in such a way that it goes into the system. The schools that teach music now would probably be very expensive.
LE: What is your most memorable experience and if one is a narrow cut; give us three memorable moments you have had
OJB: Let’s remember that in 25 years we weren’t just making money all through oo; there was probably way past half the time no money. After the structure thing failed, we were content with having no cars because we didn’t really expect that we would earn so much from the music in that period. The most memorable moment for me happened when I wasn’t even counting, I wasn’t calculating or anything of the sort and my accountant calls me up and says I have a certain amount of money in my account and when I asked he said Twelve Million Naira (N12,000,000) that was such a breakthrough point for me because I didn’t see it coming...
LE: What year was this?
OJB: This was in 2002; it seemed like oil money... I was excited because it was a shock since all I was doing then was producing. I shared the experience with a friend – Tuface – who was just coming out at the time as well and then I also got my first royalty at the time, a sum of N3,000,000 Three Million Naira, and I knew things would change for the better especially because the highest royalty anyone ever collected over a song was Fifty Thousand Naira (N50,000) so it was a huge jump... Tuface even said we should go to the bank and get the statement to verify the message. Now we hear of N240,000,000 and N300,000,000 “although aati gba tiwa oo” (we haven’t collected ours though – laughs)
LE: We gather there was an episode that emanated from the Tuface Idibia “African Queen” effort, the entire album was produced by OJB Jezreel we hear and we have heard different versions of the story; what is the true position?
OJB: We were coming from a place of structure into “no structure” and we had grown from making the music for business into making the music for “the love of it”; Tuface at the time was still a part of the Plantashun Boiz; the fans appreciation was more of an achievement than the money that was being made off it especially because it wasn’t much. The whole team put their hearts into making the music, this team also included Kennis Music. Unfortunately when the money started coming in, it became an issue and then we were all reminded about the kinds of contracts we signed, the ones we didn’t sign, the ones we were supposed to earn from and so it moved from “love” to “business”; they say “you don’t know a man until you see money and women”. Initially I started fighting for it and I made them understand that even though we didn’t sign, there’s a law over intellectual property, it can’t be sold it can be leased out for a period of time but not given away entirely and so we needed to come to some agreement. In the course of our discussions, the press got involved and the story got blown over; a matter that would have been between three guys became very big. It was the first of its kind and for the sake of the project some of us decided to let the feud slide and move on. Years later Tuface realised what the fight was about after trips to other African country and the international exposure to the idea of structure, eventually we came back to being friends again with a better understanding of the situation. The younger artistes learnt from the experiences and I guess that’s what gave birth to a D’banj and Don Jazzy for example; and they were smarter about it.
LE: Was there a compensation eventually after all said and done?
OJB: The business part really did bring out the real sides to everyone and all the love was lost; love that would be really hard to bring back. In the process, because of the huge gap in profits, it was a hard thing to process the measure of success that had been achieved; I mean if Kenny Ogungbe wants to be sincere with himself, he built two houses off money made from Tuface’s album and so far there has been no compensation. Tuface is still on with the fight against Kennis and even though on the surface handshakes are being exchanged, the battle is on. Eventually I would speak for myself as well because we all have to talk about it.
LE: Coming from that experience; Kennis Music was supposed to be the pioneer “structure team”, from your observation and experience do you think the current record labels – MO HITS, EME, STORM 360 etc – are coming back to the place of structure?
OJB: I wouldn’t agree entirely, I think it is a survival structure. The record labels are running a “trial and error” process – they sign up a 360 agreement with the artistes and earn off shows, record sales, endorsements and everything. In those days when the former companies were here, just like it is abroad, the companies owned the radio stations and TV stations; if it’s in the modern days, they owned the internet... they controlled the business and were responsible for the growth of the artiste’s business. These labels are still small indies and until they start to partner with the big names; and sign deals with the established labels, they would never really be a part of the big picture.
LE: Is Mo Hits signing with Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music an example of what you are saying?
OJB: Yes, if it is really with G.O.O.D Music... and I hear that it is a production deal and if the deal is proper, then there is a chance for Mo Hits artistes to actually penetrate mainstream. G.O.O.D Music itself is probably into partnership with Interscope or some other bigger label so there’s a big picture and it’s not narrowed down to one or a couple of individuals – a clear cut situation with Kennis Music – because the music industry is bigger than that; I wish there will be a sanction on the music industry sort of like with the banks so that a label needed to be worth a certain amount of money to run and then there would be a proper merger/ consortium of labels to meet up with the industry requirements. There is more money to be made in music which is still yet to be made even now; the industry has the power to influence Government involvement if there was a proper turnover on revenue.
LE: The whole industry complains about Alaba and the advantage they take over the artiste with respect to making money; please shed more light onto this situation...
OJB: When there is a structure, there will be no loopholes and once structure fails, the loopholes will be filled up and the space/ void will be taken up and the opportunists will take advantage of it. They have no idea the history of the music, when they started off pirating they were only duplicating CDs innocently based on the love of the artiste or music itself. The transition from controlling how the music should go, to getting them to acknowledge being fed by the information on how the music should go is actually a hard process.
LE: In essence, Alaba is not a bad part of the industry?
OJB: They are a necessary arm of the industry, we would need them even if we set out to incorporate structure into the process. We would only need to dictate the pace of the music and its acceptance as opposed to allowing them dictate the pace, thereby devaluing the music. The marketers tell the artistes which music should meet the demand and decide how much to return per CD for every sale, and the reverse should really be the case.
LE: Why haven’t you started a record label?
OJB: I have; we were the first to start off with a couple of artistes – Tuface, Ruggedman, Jazzman Olofin, D’banj and many others – we were more intwined in love than we were bothered about the business. It was initially called Point B records but now it’s called Jay Records. We started off launching Tuface along with Kennis until we got bitten and got wiser.
LE: Can you reel out names of acts you have worked with?
OJB: We were like a family, including D’banj who was the youngest at the time and all he had was the Harmonica which a friend of mine bought him and he was trying to find his feet at the time and now he is transformed to “Kokomaster”; I have worked with everyone Tuface, Blackface, Faze, Lexzy Doo, Jazzman, Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, Obesere... Baba Fryo, Maintain etc and coming down to the more recent ones Wizkid; who came in very young as well and started to learn the ropes over again. Kenny St Brown, Essence, Goldie. I probably haven’t worked with only a few people like P Square. Even producers like Cobhams, ID Cabasa, Duncan Mighty etc have all worked with me.
LE: When will you actually clock 25 years in the industry?
OJB: In October; but we will mark it with an event sometime next year, because we are putting together a couple of projects this year. I probably have no love for anything else that is as sincere as my love for music.
LE: Who would you pick from the new era of artistes looking through 2007 till date, as a strong force and a likely one to lookout for as far as the future of the Nigerian Music industry is concerned?
OJB: I have to think really deep about that because for one minute they seem to have it together and the next minute they seem to compromise; If I could go back a little to 2005, I would say D’banj and Co. They were opportuned to see the mistakes of the past because they were there with us when it all happened, unlike all the others who are just out to make some quick cash and have no values attached to the process they are working with.
LE: Any artistes you are working with now?
OJB: A couple of old acts like C’Mion, a new act “Ugly” who contradict his name, another young fella called Karate Kid. I am also working on a couple of singles myself, ahead of an album.
LE: Any words of advice
OJB: Patience is what I learnt from the world I am coming from, you need to be patient to stay consistent. I also have kept work going – had I run over the funds I made without any proper investments, I would have stopped working as well; but work must go on to stay relevant. The industry is like a line, people fall out and if you do not trace your steps back in time, you will come back to line up behind the ones who had kept up in the race and the new ones who have found a spot on the line.
This interview was published in Leadership Newspaper Entertainment on Sat July 9, 2011. Happy Birthday Jigga
