How would you describe the success of your last album, ‘Away and Beyond’?
‘Away and Beyond’ has done quite well. A couple of the songs have topped the charts. I just got nominated for the BET Awards. ‘Plenty things don happen’. A lot has come off the ‘Away and Beyond’ rave. I think it has done pretty well.
Compared to your other albums, where do you place ‘Away and Beyond’?
I think I will place Away and Beyond as my second most successful album.
Which is your favourite album?
My favourite album. That’s a hard one. As I speak to you I can’t say which one. Maybe it’s ‘Away and Beyond‘.
When you remember the days when you didn’t have money, food or a roof over your head and all that, what comes to your mind?
Back then, we were on the ground already so there was no fear of losing anything so what we were doing was hoping that it will work out. There was no fear of ‘what if e no work out. Nothing dey work out already so we no fear whether something no dey work out’. ‘It was ahead-ahead, we go follow this thing up, if e click, fine; if e no click, we go look for another work do’. But for me, I had never ever at any point in my life thought of doing anything else so it was no going back.
This is me, this is my life, this is what I want to do. I never ever dreamt of anything else in my life. So, back then, it was just about doing it to the end.
What inspires your lyrics?
It’s everyday realities of life. It might be fictional, it might have happened to me or somebody that I know but it’s everyday realities of life.
I like to just have a little bit of sense, a little humour inside seriousness and then put it in a way that people will be able to relate to it and they will be like, how e take think to talk this same thing wey I go like to talk but see the way wey e take talk am, people go just laugh. I like to be creative in the way I place my lyrics.
Are you on a new album or just a single?
No, I’m on a new project.
Do you keep in touch with Blackface and Faze?
Yes, once in a while we meet, but we’re not always together the way we used to be before but at least we still dey ‘how you dey, what’s up’.
At the launch of this year’s Star Trek Concert, on stage you said marriage hasn’t changed you. Hasn’t marriage changed 2face?
Actually it’s the aspect of me being a jolly good fellow that I meant by marriage hasn’t changed me but at least it changed me in the way that now I get to be more responsible, because it is a serious business, it’s not when I was a bachelor that I could just decide after a show to just chill in an hotel and sleep. There was one time that I even made up my mind that I wasn’t getting married.
So how often do you keep in touch with your other baby mamas?
As often as necessary.
On Tuface's love for children
I often wish it didn’t happen this way, but I can’t regret or make myself feel bad for what has happened. I wish it was different, and I wish I could wake up every morning and see all of them but that’s not the case right now. It’s not easy shuffling here and there to see them. Sometimes for weeks or months I don’t see them. Its not easy but as you lay your bed, so you will lie on it.
Do you still find yourself in that situation of having to be responsible to a lot of people so much that you cant even afford to keep your stuff without it getting used by other people, are you still under that kind pressure that there are times you just want to shut out everything but its seems like you cant even exist in your own place?
Now it’s different. When I was a bachelor, it was like that but now at least I get you to understand that my space has to be respected. Before I got married, it was a different baggage. There are times that you just want to fence yourself and you say no phone calls or people, there are plenty times like that.
Your wedding was probably the biggest wedding that happened in the last decade or two, did you plan this right from the very go?
The funny thing is, that was the total opposite of what I planned to do. My wife and I actually wanted a quiet and peaceful wedding but unfortunately for Innocent Idibia, 2Face interfered (laughs). 2face and Annie Macaulay now interfered in Innocent and Uwana’s wedding.
So, unfortunately when they say we no fit hide, yes we no fit hide. I actually thought I was going to succeed in making it quiet and doing my thing peacefully but as it turned out the people no send me for that matter.
So when all that noise was happening, what was your biggest concern?
My biggest concern was that this was a serious occasion for me and I hope nobody is going to come and trivialise it and try to turn it into a bad thing, you understand.
Marriage is a joyous thing but some people could turn it into topic of the day that people will then insult you saying different things. That was my biggest concern, for people to just respect it and know it’s a serious occasion for me and my wife, and not turn it into any debate society topic.
A lot of people said that Annie was the one behind it that she wanted a grand wedding after you had a little one?
They will always say that about the woman. Naturally, they decide everything and so it is natural for people to assume that. It definitely wasn’t going to be a tiny wedding but something not too grand. If they say Annie wanted it to be grand, it’s not true because we already had our plan, budget and the number of people we were going to invite. It just happened that the number quadrupled, I mean even ten times the amount of people we prepared for.
How does that feel wearing your wedding band?
O boy, you know how many times I don forget am for house? Dem go con carry am come meet me bros see your wedding ring. Sometimes I’m somewhere and I don’t even think about it and then someone makes a comment about and I realise I’m wearing it. It feels good honestly especially if it’s with somebody that you actually know and understand. Somebody that you are comfortable being around.
How will your marriage or marital status affect you in making a new record?
Well, it’s not going to affect it in any way and if the word affect is even going to come up, we’ll have an avenue splits that it will affect it positively.
What should we look forward to?
More mature music. I’m going very spiritual this time around. It’s not like I’m not going to keep maintaining the pop appeal in the music but this is going to be the deepest that I have ever gone.
Do you miss your privacy?
I don’t even have time to miss it again because it’s gone.
But if you were to live again, will you do a ‘Lagbaja‘ on us?
How you take know wetin I wan talk sef? That’s probably exactly what I will do. Lagbaja, Allah! Cos the wahala plenty. But there’s a price for everything, and so that’s the price of fame. I’m the kind of person that would have loved to go to a local joint to eat amala.
Do you eat in that ‘amala’ place in Festac?
I can’t go there anymore. Imagine the attention that that will generate, so much that I might not be able to eat the food anymore because people will bring their food to my table and pull out cameras to start snapping. I tried it a couple of times, but it became a hopeless case.
So you can’t even go to church?
The last time I went to church, there were these brothers that were chasing me after the service. They said they wanted to share the word of God with me and I asked them, didn’t we all just listened to the pastor share the word? They started talking about a bible school that I needed to attend, but when I told them that I need to leave because of an appointment, one of the guys jut said, 2face, you don’t have to be running away from the word of God. I told him, I have to go, please don’t be offended.
As I was walking away, the guy just said, Jesus said that if you deny me in front of men, I will deny you before my father in heaven (laughs) I just turn back and looked at the guy and his crew and told them ‘una know wetin go happen now, make una feel free to go heaven, make una no worry.
See me see wahala oh! Wetin warrant for you to tell me that word? How I take deny am, no be church I come so? Since that time, going to church has been difficult. I’ll rather just stay in my house and communicate with my God peacefully rather than to go and distract honest church-goers.
Will someone like you someday consider public office?
Right now my mind is not going towards that direction. I might change my mind tomorrow. Apart from pointing accusing fingers all the time, I think the youths should get more involved in party politics.
Youths that have intellectual know-how, because most of the youths that are involved in party politics are just thugs. They are just footsoldiers, They don’t even have any actual say in the party . The youth should get more involved.
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