It’s about 3pm on Monday, January 16, 2011. I’m tired. I’ve just concluded a short interview with activist and Afrobeat singer Femi Kuti at the New Afrika Shrine over the fuel subsidy removal. NLC has just called off the strike protest and the crowd is dispersing, going home.
Tired and worn out, my photographer and I
decide to head back to the office when my Editor-In-Chief sends me a
message. The text says that Terry G is going to conduct his own rally and feed people. Sounds interesting.
20 minutes later, I’m in Iju, Terry G’s
neighborhood. I’ve never been to his house neither do I have a definite
description of where it’s located. After asking a few questions here and
there, I’m directed to his studio but it’s locked. Frustrating. A few
more questions and then a motorbike rider takes us to somewhere we
believe is his house. Just as I try to knock on the gate, it opens – A
young man steps out and recognizes my photographer, we exchange
pleasantries. I later find out he is D Money, Terry G’s
younger brother. Dressed in skinny jeans, a T-shirt with a snap back
cap over his bushy hair, one can tell he is heavily influenced by his
elder brother.
He invites us into the compound which is
occupied by a bungalow. I notice two women cooking from a large pot,
and instantly recognize the smell – Jollof Rice. D Money introduces us
to one of the women, ‘meet my mother’. Terry G definitely takes after
his mother. ‘Press people abi, please don’t take my photo like this o‘,
she jokingly tells us, beaming with a smile. They round up cooking
minutes later, pack the rice and fried Turkeys into food packs and load
it into the back of an SUV. ‘Let’s go see Terry‘, D Money tells us.
‘Where does Terry stay?‘ I ask.
He tells me not too far from his family house, so we jump in the SUV
and ride along the bumpy, untarred road off to Terry’s house. Just like
his brother, D Money has a number of tattoos on his wrists and arms. I
suddenly remember he was a member of Terry’s disbanded group House of Ginjah. We listen to Terry’s latest album ‘Terry G.zuz‘
on our way to his place – I’m not particularly impressed, but my
photographer (who happens to be close friends with Terry G) can’t stop
chanting along to the songs.
We finally get to his place, and I see
Terry sitting in the midst of three other people, having drinks. He sees
my photographer and they start running around the house. We get
introduced but he doesn’t usher us into the duplex. Instead, Terry
offers me his seat and turns a bucket upside down and sits on it. I’m
not sure this is the time and place for a formal interview, so I just
lay back and look around. Shortly after, Terry goes into the house.
I begin to look around the compound while music from his forthcoming mixtape ‘Lucifer‘
blasts from his 2010 Toyota Camry model; the plot of land contains a
duplex painted light green, a make shift garage built over two cars and
more interestingly, a poultry farm, housing about 100 noisy chickens
being fed by an elderly looking man. Terry G steps out of the house in a
change of clothes – he’s now dressed in a black shirt, black pants and a
retro-styled hat. ‘I need to get this interview done‘, I say to myself.
Just as I’m about to hit him with the
first question, he drops a bottle of Baileys at my feet. Terry clearly
shows he is in no mood for a formal Q&A so I play along.
‘Terry I like what I’m hearing, is this song off your mixtape?‘ I ask. ‘Yes it is o, thanks‘, he smiles back. I drag my chair closer. ‘I’ve followed your career from the very beginning. From Ilorin with Ayzee Yo, to you hooking up with Bluemoon‘. After a while, he begins to talk;
‘Boys don tey. We started from
humble beginnings. I just wanted to make good music that’s all. Here I
am today, I have God to thank‘. ‘We have soaked Garri, have trekked, have hustled, all I have now is God’s doing.’
It’s been a long journey for Terry. Delivering his debut album ‘Free me‘ to a not-so-enthusiastic audience taught him a harsh lesson. ‘My
first album was really great, I had really nice songs there, but I
guess people weren’t ready to listen to ‘good’ music. That’s why I
changed to what I do now’. Terry takes a sip of his drink; ‘You
need to understand that it’s not just about making music, it’s about
being an artiste. People think I’m crazy when I do the all these things
but they truly love it‘. Terry did a 180° on his career with the monstrous hit song ‘Free madness’ which ushered in his second album ‘Ginjah Ur Swaggah‘.
Terry has had some ‘funny’ relationships with other entertainers in the industry so I had to do some probing. ‘When last did you talk with Faze?‘, I asked. Terry had been in the ex-Plantashun Boiz member’s band for two and a half years. ‘I
spoke with him last week. Faze is gentle, really gentle. He used to
warn us to never smoke, drink or womanize. He would only permit us to
drink a bottle of beer and that was all‘, Terry laughs as he replies me. I probed further, ‘Did you guys ever quarrel?‘, He taps me on the knee and says; ‘two friends must have their good times and bad times, that’s life‘. I noticed a chicken had escaped from its cage but I was too engrossed to say anything. ‘How about AY.com‘, I asked. ‘I
wish AY the best and I hope he makes it big, we’ve had our issues. How
do you payback someone that helped you by insults? But I’m above all
that‘, Terry said with a stern face. Back in 2010, AY.com accused
the pop singer of trying to ‘steal’ his song by performing it without
his consent.
Shortly after, we decide to leave for the studio, Terry jumps into his Camry while I get back into D Money’s SUV. ‘Your brother is crazy‘, I joke with D Money, ‘you’ve not seen anything, Terry is unpredictable’. The pride in his voice is unmistakable.
We get to the studio, which actually is one of the shops in the Adelaja Shopping Complex
off Fagba junction. A few ‘area boys’ come to meet us. Terry smiles and
offers them a few packs of food before heading into the studio. ‘This is where he makes the hits. Once Terry makes a song, he’s not going back to touch anything, even if it has mistakes‘, D Money tells me. Once again, I take up our discussion; ‘Terry, why were you not at the Occupy Nigeria protests like the other acts?‘, I ask him. It’s immediately obvious that he this is something he feels strongly about; ‘I
don’t get it, I saw artistes performing their songs and forgetting what
the protests really meant, what’s the point in that? I’m not looking
for that kind of attention‘, he says. ‘My people have found it hard to eat so I just brought some food of the hungry kids,’ he continues.
We drive down to Iju junction through
the railway path, through the ghettos. Here, the kids don’t have shoes
or sandals on their feet, but what they do have is a lot of love for
Terry G. As soon as he gets out of the car, they immediately surround
him. He is their star after all…. He then gives out packs of food and
takes pictures with them, joking and laughing. Despite my long day &
fatigue, I can’t help but crack a smile.
An hour later, chilling at a local bar, I still have a few questions to ask the dreadlocked singer. ‘Why did you name your album Terry G.zuz? Some say it’s blasphemy‘. He laughs, ‘it’s controversial and that’s what sells. Besides, Jesus Christ isn’t the first person that bore the name‘, Terry explains to me. ‘But why are you calling your mixtape ‘Lucifer’?’ I ask. ‘Don’t get it wrong. I actually mean ‘Look-see-far‘, see, it’s all about controversy. Music is all vanity anyways‘. Terry then narrates one of his songs to me. ‘When the time has arrived and the Lord comes calling, what you will do? I’m gonna ‘look see far‘.’ I crack another smile at the witty words.
Our conversation is constantly
interrupted with people trying to take pictures with him but Terry
smiles for each camera shot. Is this the same person that people report
to be violent and intolerable? It’s 8:30PM and I think I’m done. ‘Terry I have to leave, thank you’, I tell him. He replies ‘Praaa! Ginjah the ginjah, hoo!‘, and hugs me. I try to act like I understand what he means and smile as I walk away.
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