How  We Turned SSP, AYUBA & Co. Into Mega Stars

• Veteran Music Producer, LAOLU AKINS

Some people say the music of the 80s and the 90s were the golden age of the Nigerian music industry. That was the era that produced some of the finest artistes in nearly all genres of Nigerian music. The Juju music genre was flourishing, led by King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey and later, Sir Shina Peters. . The Fuji genre had late Ayinde Barrister and Ayinla Kollington leading the pack with KWAM 1 following closely behind. Pop music had Dizzy K Falola, Chris Okotie, Onyeka Onwenu and many others. Reggae had the Mandators, Ras Kimono, Majek Fashek and many more. These celebrated legends didn’t create this fantastic music on their own, they got huge help from some of the talented producers around at the time. One of the brains behind some of the monster hit albums released by the mega stars of that era was the very brilliant, intensely creative and award winning producer, Laolu Akins.

He remains one of the best of his generation. Laolu Akins is a musician, an instrumentalist, a percussionist, a producer, an all round accomplished musician. He was a member of the very successful BLO band. As a Producer, Laolu Akintobi, Akins for short, has worked with music legends such as late Christy Essien Igbokwe, Onyeka Onwenu, Mike Okri, Adewale Ayuba, Shina Peters, etc, and most of his creative works which translated into mega hits for many of these artistes have endured till date. The likes of Shina Peters’ Ace album, Shinamania and Adewale Ayuba’s Bubble and several others still enjoy massive airplays and acceptance till today, despite haven been recorded decades ago.

Penultimate Sunday, Laolu Akins was honoured at the City People Music Awards with Living Legend of Music Award. Looking ever young and resplendent in white native outfit, this Icon of the music industry had a quite enriching chat with City Peope’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) moments before he stepped on stage to pick his award. He spoke about his exploits back in the day as one of the most sought after producers of his time and also revealed the few critical components of the art that’s still missing in the craft of many of today’s successful artistes. Below are excerpts of the interview.

Maybe I should begin this interview by saying that Uncle Laolu is looking very, very young. After all these years, I wasn’t expecting to meet you still looking this young…

(Smiles) Well, let not my face deceive you, I know my age. But I thank God for the grace to look the way I do. I believe I have enjoyed the grace of God upon my life and everything that I have accomplished, so I’m very grateful to God for all of these.

You, sir, and some other very few creative minds, many years ago, built the foundation of the music industry on which the young music artistes of today thrive on, how do you feel when you sit back and look at what all of your efforts have transformed into?

I feel humbled by it all first of all. But I also feel very elated because, like you sad, this was many years ago and for me at that time, it was important that our music made some inroads into mainstream of the entertainment world so that when you go to Europe, Asia, America, you hear a unique sound that is truly African. So, for me, it’s a feeling of goodness. I feel so good. Though there are areas I feel we coud do a lot better, but seeing the wide acceptance that Afican and Nigerian music enjoys globally today, boy, we’ve come a long way. And I’m very happy to stand up and say I am a musician, though before now, I have always been a proud musician, but this has become like an icing on the cake.

Take us through those early days, sir. When you were young, did you set out to go into music? Was it a deliberate venture?

No, no. I have told this story many times before. I completely wanted to do other things but music. I thought about flying planes, for instance. I have always been a technically minded person, so, last thing on my mind were things that are artistic. Well, even though some parts of technology have been artistically connected, but music wasn’t the major thing for me even though I was talented musically. I knew that I had the talent to do music but it was secondary for me until it became rather impossible for me to turn my back on music. And then it got to a point where I said to myself, okay, if that’s it, then so be it. And once I took that decision, I went fully into it and learnt every aspect of the business. Whether its performance, whether it’s the business aspect, whether it’s the technical aspec, I’m involved in all. I always tell people that the music industry is not just about playing music, it’s not just about writing songs, or playing instruments, it’s much more than that. It’s creativity and more. If you want to get involved, better get involved properly and that was what I did. By the time I was fully engaged in it, I could practice any part of the music business. So, I took it up. And that’s what happened to me.

I know, sir, that you were instrumental to the huge success of legends like Sir Shina Peters, Adewale Ayuba and others. What are those things you look out for in these individual talents that determine for you what you will give to talent A which is different from what you give talent B?

You know every individual comes with their own talent and ability and you cannot equate one with the other. An Onyeka Onwenu is different from a Mike Okri, an Adewale Ayuba is different from a Shina Peters. But one thing they have in common is talent. All of them have talent. So, it is now a question of applying their talent in the direction they’ve chosen to go. Now, for me, having learnt the art of music development and working with musicians generally, and as an instrumentalist, an experienced musician and percussionist for that matter, it was easy for me to find ways to aply each one’s talent in the proper direction that they’ve chosen to go. Take an Onyeka, for instance, Onyeka is a fantastic singer, she’s also a gifted orator. She writes good songs, sings well and is a hardworking artiste. And that applies to the other artistes I mentioned. So, for me, the only thing I could add was complement what they have. Complement it artistically, musically, technically and every other way possible and that’s what I’ve done for each and everyone of them. And by the grace of God, we can see some successes. Generally, I’m grateful to God. You cannot pick out a song and say this is going to be a hit. You can only do your best within the scope of your knowledge, the rest is left in the hands of God. And myself and all of those artistes have enjoyed the grace of God.

I remember speaking to Adewale Ayuba a couple of years ago and he took us through a bit of what you and the creative team did to help him turn his song, Bubble, into a monster hit. What was the whole process like back then?

Yeah, I will start from Onyeka Onwenu. When I started recording Onyeka Onwenu’s The Morning Light album, there’s a song in it called Ekwe. The song had just one verse and a chorus. She will sing the chorus and just that verse and the song is fading. I said to her, we need to expand this song. We need to get another verse into it so that we can extend it and build a story around the song. And the next morning she came back with another verse. That’s how you inspire an artiste to raise the bar of their ability, of their music. It’s the work of a producer to enhance the work of an artiste. As a Producer, you must add value. That’s what I try to do with all the works that I have done.

When we started working on Ayuba’s album, I said to him, well, since you’ve been doing this fuji music for a while now, he had done five albums before then, I said we have to go beyond where you are. I said how about adding some English verses to some of the songs and even broken English, so that people beyond the Fuji circle can hear it and identify with it. And he got a good writer named Adekunle Rhodes, who, between himself and Ayuba, came up with ‘Listen attentively, I am going to Bonsue Fuji chambers…’ And can you see where the song took us. And we took it from there and expanded it. Where it was necessary to edit the lines, we did. Where it was necessary, we added more. We built what we believed was a good album and introduced it.

The same happened to Shina Peters. Lines such as, ‘Give our women chance to rule,’ we incorporated into the songs. Parts of them I wrote by myself. But that’s how you enhance an artiste. You can add value. And that’s the essence, when you say you are a producer. You must add value.

For someone who spent so many years churning out creative works that were filled with lyrical depth, but now trying to relax and take a back seat, how do you feel these days when you hear songs that are lacking in depth and yet go on to become commercial successes?

Well, that’s life, isn’t it? The thing about creative work is that what appeals to you may not appeal to me, and that’s what music is all about. So we have to agree to be flexible with creativity, you cannot hold rigidly to your preference alone, there’s room for everybody, for creative people to come up with ideas. That’s what we have had over the years. And it isn’t a situation where I relaxed, I think it is also important to note that, at a point in time anyway, it became necessay to allow for new innovations, new ideas, new developments, new experiments, which is what creativity is all about. If you don’t dare, you don’t get results, which was what we did, for instance, in some of the things we did way back then. We dared to be different. You take Ace, Shina Peters album, we dared. The company agreed to dare to take a chance on the artiste. If we didn’t, nothing would happen. I believe it was nice for us to let ideas come up, though not everyone agreed. I remember that in my closing years at Sony Music, some of the things that came up, which was the beginning of what they then called hip-hop, and went on to be Afro beats today, some of our people did not quite tune to it. But I knew because it was what happened to us because we dared to be different from the past. So, we have to allow people to dare as well.

I have to make a point though that some of the contents thqat we have can be better. And that’s what life’s about. If you are given a chance to rebuild a high rise building, by the time you come up with the design, it will most likely be more beautiful. There will be more creative input into it, and that’s life. That’s what happens. So, I’m proud of what we’ve done, but I want to say that there’s always room for improvement. I must add that artistes should always try to do legacy works that they will look at in 20 years time and be proud to say, ‘I did that.’ That’s what the likes of Victor Uwaifo did. Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Ade, IK Dairo, Fela, all of those people that we are still listening to today, that’s what they did. Even Shina Peters, my grand children are listening to Ace and Shinamania and they are singing along. It’s amazing. The same with Bubble and several others. So, it’s important for artistes to be mindful of what they do so we don’t do disposables.

Tell me, sir, do you sometimes feel a strong urge to come back and make some sort of cameo appearance the industry sometimes?

You know I own a studio and a lot of artistes come to work with us. I always like to make appearance sometimes and look in to make observations. I never say it has to be this way. I simply just make observations. And people have come back to thank me for some of those observations. And I’m grateful for that. You know, it’s difficult to let go. Like the question you asked earlier, I remember one of these young artistes sang a song and said, ‘ma ko le, ma ra le…’ If he had proper guidance, he would not put the cart before the horse. You cannot build a house before you buy the land. It should be, ‘ma lo wo, ma ra le, ma ko le, ma ni moto.’ Those are some of the mistakes that the young people today make because they do not have the proper guidance and lack the knowledge of the language and how to apply them, but the song was a hit. So, sometimes those things don’t matter.

Who are some of those artistes today that you have tremendous respect for?

Oh, there are a couple of them. Asa is one, and the gentleman who sang ‘Iyawo mi, Ololufe mi,’ that’s Timi Dakolo, late Sammy Okposo is also one. There’s also Omawunmi, and recently, Tiwa Savage. Kiss Daniel is another good one. These are guys with great voices and they write songs with meaningful lyrics.