Nigerian singer Chinedu Okoli, better known by his stage name Flavour Nβabania, recently opened up about his journey to musical stardom, revealing how he was once asked to leave the stage during a performance for the popular Nigerian music duo, PSquare.
He made this known in a recent interview on the In My Opinion podcast released on Sunday, where he recounted his early days.
He said, βThings started changing when I started seeing some artists. When I left the band, I went into the streets. That was when the game became hard. All this time, I was in a good place; the music had procedures and all, but now I was in the streets.
βI remember one day PSquare with a temptation album, so they were promoting a show, and the promoters brought them to the spot; it was called City Centre in Enugu. In the spot I had built fans, everybody was there every weekend. On Friday, no matter the show happening in Enugu, my spot is always packed; cars were packed on the street.
βSo, the promoters brought PSquare, you know, to come and promote the show. I was performing, and immediately PSquare came in. The manager said, Hello, stop that thing. I switched off the device and passed the microphone. I went there and sat there. When PSquare came, the girls were screaming.
βThen Paul took the microphone and sang this temptation. When they left, the manager asked me to come back. I was cold.β
Speaking further, he said the experience led him to realize the need to craft his own unique sound and evolve from a musician into a true artist.
βSo I was like, Itβs the same music these people are doing. Iβve been with you, and you never shouted like this. I was so cold; I was just watching. When they left, the manager just told me to carry on,β he added.
βThen it started occurring to me that these guys, the difference is that they create their sound, go to the studio, and record. Thatβs how itβs done. So you are just a music man.
βSo I decided to change from a music man to an artiste, and that was the difficult part of it because I thought it was going to be easy. I could play, I could sing, but to create your own sound, where are you going to start from?
βThe best way to go about it was to start afresh.β
Peoplesmind
