Author: The Nation

After establishing himself as one of the pioneers of Nigeria’s hip hop music industry, Zaaki Azzay is now into giving back to the society by honouring Nigerians with the True Nigerians Award. In this interview with MORENIKEJI ALALADE and CAROLINE OCHEKWU, Zaaki shares his early beginning, what he is up to and why he wants to reward outstanding Nigerians. Excerpts

WHAT has Zaaki Azzay been up to?

Well I actually started a TV programme called ‘True Nigerians: Heroes of Our Time’ and I guess I was carried away and I didn’t know that it’s tasking to have a TV programme like that. l have no intention at all to retire or quit from the music industry. I still had performances within Nigeria and outside the country. But at the same time I was very busy with my T.V programme and my events every year. So that kind of diverted my attention and took a lot of my time, but now that the T.V programme is well-known, the event is well known, is accepted, I am stable now. The last song I did was three years ago. So, from now on there would be every song, every year, just like I have a new song I am about to release now, it’s already out on the social media but very soon it will be on T.V, because I will have a video for it.

 What informed the programme, True Nigeria?

Well, I just thought that everybody should contribute to Nigeria as a country. For some of us like me, l love Nigeria passionately. I love Nigeria even more when I travel outside Nigeria. You know, I see the opportunities we have, I see our potentials, I see our diversity, I see our unity, I see our togetherness. You know it’s not like in other countries where everybody is ‘mind your business.’ In as much as we have our differences, in Nigeria, if you are driving on the road now and God forbid anything happens to you, you will see how everybody will give you attention immediately. So, I love Nigeria with a passion. Everybody would have expected that I should start a music programme or something, since I am an entertainer but I just think that I should do something for Nigeria. I have been successful in the entertainment industry and without Nigeria I won’t have a platform to even be successful in the first place. So, I decided that we should always try and celebrate Nigerians who have done well if we want to correct the ills in our society. That way, we will be able to encourage the young ones to also do the right thing. And honestly from my T.V programme, I have learnt a lot. It has made me a better person just by talking to these great men and women who have achieved.

 The True Nigerian programme is very encouraging but what are some things that you’ve encountered that make you think we have more work to do?

Well, there are two major things for me now that’s a major concern. You know, I have had cases to also visit the IDP camps and there, the issue of rape becomes a major concern for me. I really think that the way and manner, of which we handle cases of rape in Nigeria is really not nice. Honestly, I think people who commit that crime should be severely dealt with openly. When you catch a yahoo fraudster, you know, you should display him. Same way if you catch a rapist. Even if you are just a suspect, they should celebrate you negatively. Everybody should know that you attempted rape or you have raped somebody. It should be a stain. It’s not fair that a 10-year old girl is giving birth to a baby, out of rape. It has become something that I think we should look into seriously. I hear of cases how people report to the police station and the police laugh about it and say, ‘wetin carry you go him house.’ I mean, that’s not fair.

The second thing that bothers me right now is the fact that the fraudsters and Yahoo boys are trying to spoil the music industry. They are now using music to cover up for their yahoo deals.

 Refresh us on how you started in the entertainment industry

My first song came out around November 1993. I used to mime to songs a lot in Kaduna as a very young guy. I mimed to Michael Jackson, KC and the Sunshine band and all that. So one day in Kaduna, I watched Sunny Ade performing somewhere abroad. I was very happy but I was very angry. I felt bad. I felt I was a local champion. So, why can’t I be like Sunny Ade? Why can’t I even come to Lagos? So, I started trying to come to Lagos but I was too young. I should be around 15 at that time. My parents, everybody were against it. Well, eventually I ran away from home. I came to live with my brother who was a Major in the Army in Dodan Barracks in those days. He died in a plane crash that killed those officers. He immediately called my parents to tell them that I was with him, they should just allow me do what I wanted. My major obstacle then was that they would not accept hip hop music in Nigeria at that time because all the big top notch musicians were doing reggae, dance hall – people like Blackie, Daniel Wilson, Majek Fashek, Mandators. I think it was a lady called Tolu Gaye at E.M.I Records that eventually had mercy on me after all the frustration and said, ‘OK let’s see what you have.’ That’s after she heard a rap version that I did of Onyeka Onwenu’s ‘One Love.’ When they now gave me the opportunity to record the songs, I now did my Hausa hip hop thing, gave her the Onyeka song that she wanted and eventually I won, because when the songs came out, the ‘One Love’ that they were thinking will be their hit wasn’t the hit. It was the Hausa hip hop and the rap.

 Apart from being an entertainer, what other thing do you?

Well, I like to do charity, but it’s not the kind of charity that you announce, most people will take camera, go and give things, show the world that they are giving. But I really like to give. Giving is good. I like to make things happen for people. I am passionate about connecting people to people.

 What actually brought the idea of your black and white cap and the torch?

In those days when I started, if you check, I had my torch from the beginning, but there was no cap in the first video. After that first hip hop song, hip hop started gaining grounds in Nigeria and I think the next year or the next two years or so, saw musicians that were very hot in America then called Naughty by Nature come to Nigeria. So, we became friends. They were in my car. I was taking them round and we had a lot of discussion. They were telling me that, you know they feel very embarrassed when they hear  Africans trying to sound like them. That they don’t like it when we rap like them or try to sing like them. You know, they call themselves African American. They are proud of Africa, they like to hear us rap with an accent, sing in our own way. You know, with all that, I said okay, that means going back to the roots is the right thing. Since I am from Benue State, let me also do something traditional – no matter how Western I dress at least, my traditional cap should be on my head. That’s how the black and white cap started.

When you catch a yahoo fraudster, you know, you should display him. Same way if you catch a rapist

 So for the torch?

Like I said when I was starting, there was no hip hop in Nigeria. That what happening, even when the E.M.I people sponsored me and gave money, they warned me that make sure this thing comes out a hit ooo. If it doesn’t come out a hit, you have to pay back blah! blah! blah!. So while I was recording in Kingsley Ogoro studio in those days, I was praying to God that please help me and all that. And the security man kept an old torch light in the studio. In my mind, I was saying, ‘God make me famous, make me rich, you know do not let me fail.’ So I went to the torch light, grabbed the torch light and said ‘this is a covenant that I am making with you, that if you make me rich and famous, I promise never to derail, to constantly and permanently acknowledged you and light and darkness can never meet. So, I will be light in everything, I will be positive.’ So, holding the torchlight reminds me never to derail, to keep my own part of the covenant.

The Tivs and the Idomas who are meant to be together in Benue seem to be at loggerheads. Does it bother you?

It’s also something I have been trying to tackle over the years. The truth is that the problem is from our politicians, they started it and instead of keeping it to theirselves, they kind of extended it to the young ones. But I am saying that, whatever situation we find ourselves in Benue state, wherever we are today, the people who have been leading us, as our political leaders in Benue state, are the ones responsible for any situation we find ourselves in terms of our dilapidated roads, in terms of security in Benue state and every other thing, if you ask me.