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TEE FAMOUS Tells City People
No doubt, Star Actor Oluwatobi Abraham, popularly known as Teefamous, is the rave of the moment right now, with his new song “Buga” topping the chart across the world. TeeFamous is an actor and singer who has made a name for himself in both the movie and music industries. He was born on June 6, 1995, in Osun State, where he grew up and attended school. He developed a passion for acting and singing from a young age and participated in various school and church dramas and choirs.
TeeFamous, started his acting career in 2014, when he joined the Yoruba movie industry. He has since featured in over 50 movies, playing different roles and displaying his versatility and talent. Some of his notable movies include Omo Ologo, Omo Iya Mi, Omo Alhaja, Omo Ghetto, and Omo Oluweri. He has also worked with some of the prominent actors and actresses in Nollywood, such as Funke Akindele, Odunlade Adekola, Femi Adebayo, Mercy Aigbe, and Jaiye Kuti.
TeeFamous is not only an actor, but also a singer who has a unique style of rap music. He ventured into the music scene in 2019, when he released his first single, Blessing. He followed it up with another single, *Wahala in 2021, which became a viral hit and caught the attention of music lovers. The song, which tells listeners to make the best of life regardless of what is happening around them, has been widely played and danced to by fans, celebrities, and even kids. TeeFamous, has also collaborated with other artists, such as Zinoleesky, Lyta, and Mohbad, on some of his songs.
How did acting and singing start for Teefamous? How did his new song “Buga” become a hit? Why did he feature star hip-hop artist, Bella Shmurda? These and many more questions were answered by the star boy, Teefamous in a conversation with City People Head of TV, SUNDAY ADIGUN. Below are excerpts.
Let me start by congratulating you on your recent album that is making waves at the moment “Buga”.
Thank you so much.
How does it make you feel seeing your dream gradually coming true?
Yeah, I feel so happy, the joy that comes with the fact that everything you’ve been looking forward to, everything you’ve been praying for behind closed doors are now happening, it gives a special joy, it gives this spirit of I am ready to do more.
You are known as a fantastic actor, so how did the music part come in?
I have always been a lover of music, when I say lover, it doesn’t mean I was singing, I just love to listen to music, just to play music. When I am angry if you play music, I will start smiling. It just brings relief whenever I listen to music.
When I was on the movie set, I can’t really remember the year, maybe 2015 – 2016, I was on a movie set and I was to play a role in the movie, that role was actually not mine, it was for someone else, but we got to the studio, and we couldn’t record anything, so they were like, what do we do? And I ask them if I can try, and they said you can do it and all of that.
Then when I did it, it was hilarious, everybody was laughing, but it came out looking good and that was how it all started. I was like, this as an amateur, what if I train as one?
Coming from someone that loves music from the onset, it was easy for me to just say I want to take this thing as a career.
I started going to the studio, I became a studio rat, I slept In the studio and all of that (laughs)
Like how many attempts; how many tracks have you done before this hit?
Okay I have done like 10 tracks, I have two hit songs among the 10 tracks before Buga. So I had 10 tracks before Buga, and Buga too just came out.., the song in my EP, I had extra songs in total everything is like 16 or there about.
Let’s talk about your Acting career. How did acting actually start for you?
I have actually been a lover and someone that sees myself as an actor from when I was a kid, though, I could not really devote my time to it then because my dad is a Deeper Life member, my mom is also a Deeper Life member. So I wasn’t given the chance when I was young. I started as a dramatist, in school, I was into drama, I won awards for my school though, I had issues because I was a science student and I was busy doing drama and all that, but after secondary school, I picked it up, I started officially, as a movie actor in 2014. I came in through Eniola Afeez, I met many other people alongside him and they were like a pack of friends, so I met Adekola Tijani, Sanyeri, Muyiwa Ademola, Kunle Afod, a lot of them, Murphy Afolabi, may his soul rest in peace.
They were all together, doing things together before everyone started staying on their own. You know when a company is getting bigger, people will be like, let me start my own.
I saw on your page that you are remixing Buga with Bella Shmurda, why Bella Shmurda?
I dropped the song already. I did the remix with Bella Shmurda already.
Why Bella Shmurda?
What happened was initially I had no intention of doing the remix of the song, but when Bella heard the song, he first posted the song on his story and I went to his Dm, bro I appreciate it, God bless you, he said he loves this song, that it’s fire, God bless you, I said I appreciate my brother, God bless you. So after a while he sent me a Dm but I didn’t see it on time, I was offline then he now posted please contact me. He posted the caption of the song with “please hit me up let’s talk”. Immediately I saw a lot of notifications popping up on my phone. I was like why is this happening, I saw people sending that to my DM as well, so I went to his Dm, I saw that he had messaged me, “bro do you mind having a remix of this? I was really very happy.
Bella is one of the people that I respect a lot, I respect his voice, his lyrics, I am a big fan of Bella Shmurda, so I was very happy, a whole Bella ahhh, I didn’t even think it twice I just sent an open verse and he did justice to it. I didn’t regret putting him on the song at all.
I have never heard of any controversy concerning you, despite being a cute guy, a young good looking actor and all that. How do you stay off that?
It’s simple, if you know me, you will know I am always around girls, I love my girls, In fact, I realized that I have a maximum of girls as fans, a lot of girls around me, but trust me they know I don’t like drama.
Teefamous, let’s talk about your background. Growing up years, your experience with your parents. How growing up with your parents has actually moulded you to who you are today?
So growing up for me was amazing, it’s something I will never forget in my life. I said it earlier that my dad is a Deeper Life member and my mum is a Deeper Life member as well. You know those kinds of mothers; that she knows you are going for stuff, she will give you 10 minute extra to find your way to the house or 20 minutes extra, when it goes beyond that, my mummy will flog you, not just you, your palm, So tomorrow when you walk you will mind how to walk. That’s what she will tell you.
She is someone we were scared of, my mum is the kind of mother that when she looks at you and she smiles, the message is from her look and not the smile. You understand the message instantly. So that is the kind of mother I grew up with.
But my dad was the simple person, I called him my friend, till date, I will call him and say Oremi, how far? that’s what we do, but he is a Deeper Life member, he doesn’t like entertainment. But I made them love entertainment. I have to tell them that this is what I want to do. It took me a while. I think after I finished secondary school then they had to give me a condition of; but you have to finish school (university) bring that certificate home first and after that you can do whatever you want to do. After that I went to Yaba College of Technology. I studied Computer Science and after I graduated, I went for NYSC in Kogi State. Meanwhile during those periods I was acting, there was a time I even worked at GT Bank, and still found time to do any acting as a green horn in the industry.
Just an upcoming actor but when I finished school and I faced acting, I said to myself, I want to take this thing seriously, since then, I decided to make it bigger by adding music to it. If I feel I have it, and want to ask my fans, how they feel about a song, I have to drop a song. Sometimes it will look like it’s almost smooth, then it will go back to worse again, and You will just be behind closed doors crying, praying and all that.
And another thing, you will start seeing the bright future and you will be wondering when is this future going to happen. I was in all of those situations, but thank God, I am where I am today.
So, What’s their reaction, seeing their son on top of the world now?
They are happy because I remember their reaction, the very first day they saw me on TV and they were both arguing. It was a cable channel, so they couldn’t take it back, it was not DVD, they were watching a TV program, so they both argued and I was inside my room, my dad was like no, layelaye; so they called me out and I just smiled, they understood my smile already that it was me. My dad was a bit angry but as time goes on, he started getting used to it, because people used to greet him on the street that this is the father of the actor. He started enjoying it. But now it’s so big that they are very happy, they even go on fasting and prayer if I am at home, if I tell them I am at home because I had no job to do, my mother will start fasting, that I must not be jobless (laughs).
You seem to be very close to the pretty Actress Kadijat. Do you guys have anything going on?
Hmm, well I want to say for now that we are just friends; I don’t know if anything can come out of it. We are just very close cool friends.
Alright let’s leave it at that.
Thank you so much…
I wish you success in all your endeavors.
Thank you.
