By Paul Ukpabio
Project Fame Star, Kuforiju
Yusuph Olayiwonuola is one of the budding upcoming stars in the Nigerian music
scene right now, but though his music is currently receiving much airplay, he has
not however forgotten the hard route; he had to take to get to where he
presently is. According to him, “some of the challenges he faced in the past,
were tough.”
That is because, music
came early to him. At eleven, Yusuph says, he had already started showing signs
that his career path will run into showbiz. “I started singing when I was
eleven. So I didn’t just wake up and decide to become a music star. No, I started
early in life to sing: I started by writing the songs. I was writing at home. I
was dedicated to music; it was not something I had to learn at that stage. I
just found the inspiration coming to me and I began to write one song after
another.”
Just as he knew then that he had found his lifelong
talent, his parents also saw same in young Yusuph.
“Yes, my parents knew I had the talent. They also
knew that I could sing because at the mosque, I used to recite the Quran so
well. I was always a choice for that and any opportunity to sing, people usually
called on me then at the mosque. Also, as a senior prefect back in secondary
school, I had learnt early, how to face the crowd and that helped my musical
career to kick off early too.”
However, the first major challenge to his musical
career came from home.
Asked what his parent’s reaction was when he told them
he wanted to pursue a musical career in life, Yusuph replied:
“My parents didn’t totally accept. Especially my
dad, he was angry, he said he was going to dis-own me. He asked me to consider how
his friends and other people will feel and react when they find out that his
son is singing music about town! My father is an Alhaji, a devout Muslim. So
the reaction continued like that at home, though my mom was gentler about the
matter.”
But that challenge also, did not last for long.
Yusuph soon started excelling music. “Their
reaction towards me later changed. They eventually started thinking differently
about his love for music. And that was however when I won a rap-battle. That was
when my dad realised that truly I can sing.
“I won the rap battle at Rock City Fm at Abeokuta. I
won what they called down-town-rap-battle. I won from the weekly to the monthly
and then the annual round off. That really impressed my dad, who started doing
a re-think. As for me, the love for music became even deeper. My mom then
started supporting me fully but my dad was not openly supportive. He was still
sceptical.”
So, why music? Yusuph gave a boyish laugh and
replied, “Music is what I hope to make a career out of. It is something that
gives me joy. I love to write songs. God has given me talent to sing. Ofcourse,
I have been lucky in the sense that i have been able to combine music with
attending a formal school.
“I was supposed to attend the University of Ilorin
and study Mass Communication but I ignored it.
There was also a time I got
admission to North American University, but the lure for Lagos was
strong and
compelling. So eventually, I found my way here to Lagos Polytechnic because of the
information that I got that the place encourages talents. I also knew that
Lagos was the market ground for me; so though I gained admission into a
university, the lure for Lagos the city where it all happens for talented
people, attracted and kept pulling me. Lagos was the place to be.
Yusuph found his way to Lagos. “When I arrived,
within two weeks, people had started noticing me as a talented person in the
campus. I was invited to ‘Laspotech All stars’, a talent group on campus. From
there I got more popular because I was defeating more and more students in rap-battle.
Eventually I gained people’s heart at my first performance at a Valentine event
in 2013 on campus. Before we ended the second semester, my popularity had
soared on campus, and I had become the co-ordinator of the group. I brought
together more and more talented people in the school.
“That same year, I won another talent hunt in
Abeokuta. I was first position. Then again I won at Coke Studio competition
just when I was about graduating from the polytechnic. I performed on the Lagos
stage at Laspotech. And then went on to Project Fame in 2013.
It was at Project Fame that Yusuph got his
unprecedented publicity. But how did he get into the competition, we asked?
“I have always known about Project Fame from its
inception. I went for the competition in 2013; I got as far as the wild card
level. The following year I qualified to that level again. In 2015 I didn’t go
because I was busy working at Fidelity Bank. I missed the audition. But this
year, my musical talent motivated me further. I got to realise that my strength
is in fuji genre. The fuji that I fuse into other genre of music. And I had
come to realise that I have a good voice for fuji music. So I stuck to it. The
fusion of that fuji into the other genre made me to stand out. I was picked in
Lagos at the initial audition. I got the golden ticket straight into the first
24 in Lagos. I started becoming very popular. I think all around the country,
about 30,000 or more contested through audition. So it was a great deal to be
one of the top 24.
And how did he feel to be one of the top ten at the
competition? I felt and still feel great.
Project Fame is a wonderful platform. It gives people the ability to learn, to
be known and to be encouraged. It is a wonderful place to meet great people, a
place to express ones talent and to equip oneself on the music platform. I got
to sing, speak better, alongside other things. More importantly, being on
Project Fame for me meant popularity on the West African coast. You know people
came from the other West African countries for the competition and which made a
total of those who came out to vie for a space in the finalist being 40,000,
and you know also that the competition is shown all over West Africa.”
Yusuph is holding on to his memories in the Project
Fame Academy. He also says he cherishes his days there.
“I was in the house for nine weeks; it was a dream
to me. I was used to sitting at home and watching people in the Project Fame
Academy, but here was I there live at the Academy. It was an over-whelming
experience for me. I left the Academy just few weeks before the finals. I was
one of the popular contestants. I knew the audience loved me. I was saved by the
audience four times. And that to me is a great feat.”
So what does the future hold for this young talent? Yusuph
took a deep breath and revealed his expectations to us. “I want to infuse the
fuji music into other genres. I want to come out with such a blend in the
nearest future. So we can have fuji in Jazz, in R&B, in hip hop, in dance
hall and so on. Any genre that comes my way, I want to fuse in fuji.
“I know that my popularity has soared. I get to
places and people recognise me as the guy that was on television on Project
Fame platform. I get to places, and people I don’t know seem to know so much
about me. Even law enforcement personnel see me in traffic and they ask me if i
was sometime on Project Fame. But there are also the bad sides that are when
people see me; they assume that I have lots of money, or that I have arrived.
Some even go to extent of asking me for money. And girls do that a lot. That’s
because they feel that I have loads of money now. Then there is also the
affection aspect that is the emotional side of it.
“I mean the girls want relationship and they are
demanding for everything a relationship entails. So I have to be careful so
that I do not derail. I have cautioned myself that I have o remain focus,
because there are so many things now that I see, that can easily distract me.
Some girls even want to get pregnant for me right now! Yes some girls want that
because they just want to be with me. So I have to be focus. I want to face
music and music alone for now. I was the first contestant to drop a song titled
‘miliki’ which was produced by TY Mix. I have been getting a lot of air play.
It is right now on MTN Music Plus. And I am trying to work on a re-mix though I
do not want to let the cat out the bag right now as to who I will use for the
remix.”
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