Ọlawale Ibrahim Ọlọfọrọ aka Brymo, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, sonic artist, actor and author, who was born and raised in Okokomaiko area of Lagos state. Brymo started recording music in 1999 while in secondary school and has gone on to record hit songs since he was signed on to Chocolate City and after his exit from the record label till date.
With over a decade in the music business, the alt-rock hitmaker, who now has a catalogue of 11 albums to his name, opens up on varied issues and controversies in this interview with The Nation’s reporter TUNRAYO ILESANMI.
Wo is Brymo?
Brymo is a common person ordinarily. I was born and raised in Okokomaiko and I had to start small but for some weird reasons I brought on myself this ambition. I started out just playing ball on the street but I think my musical career has to do with my parents because they’re expressive people. When something is wrong between my parents, they don’t talk about it but later at night, they throw playful shades at each other. Being an only child also made it easy for communication to flow. Growing up, I was the only one who did not report anybody but people always reported me. I always try to let everybody be. I believe that people are not supposed to be trusted,they are supposed to be loved. People must be loved. I turned out differently from other ghetto kids. When others were doing yahoo yahoo, I became reluctant and then I found music through my mum who sings for fun. She’d even recompose songs. She’d twist songs to diss or praise my father when they had issues and that sort of influenced me. My dad happens to be a talker, the logician. He’d watch the news and know when a lie is told and two weeks later you hear the actual truth. He has an acumen for clarity. The contents of my music is how my father thinks, more like we share the same line of thoughts but I’m like a more chronic version of him.
Many now see you as a controversial personality, did you set out to do this or people misconstrue you?
They invented me to be a controversial person. The truth is to be a big artist here in Nigeria, people expect you to have controversy or people have been having controversies and that’s now what everyone expects. There are bizarre things to being a big artist here in Nigeria, like how many baby mamas you have or how fine you are and I came and felt uncomfortable with it. I only came to sell music. There were all those things of how you had to be a certain way, to be a certain thing to fit the standards and I think it’s where the controversy started. It’s funny because people are doing crappy things and hiding it.
You have been deliberate in the creation and delivery of your songs, share the process with us.
My creative process differs from various projects. The essence of what I do is to be able to have a different outcome that is as good as the last out there, the last out there is gone. If I make the same type of music again, I would not get the same effects from customers, people would just be like it sounds like the last one. Whatever the situation I find myself while trying to make an album, I do not struggle with it. Whatever I have is what I use. My ability to submit to my situation and create beautifully is my superpower. For instance, my recent album MACABRE was written and recorded in a beautiful state of mind unlike NINE and YELLOW where I had to struggle with different things. For example, things were beginning to nose dive and my sponsors were also my detractors. In fact, they pulled me close so they could bury me finally and they would suffer for it. Then I went into the hands of the shark, they gave me money to rent another place that I don’t necessarily always have to be with my wife all the time.
Most of these people trying to help you are actually destroying you, they don’t have wives at home. I started going out a bit and my wife started complaining of not seeing me at home anymore. It became a tussle when I wrote YELLOW, I was in my office at Gbagada and I would be there writing and it was when the whole madness started. One of the things I do when things start to fall apart is to leave the physical and material world alone. The material world is the problem with everything, things like money. So in Gbagada, it wasn’t my intention to leave the environment dirty, it was a matter of circumstance, I was going through a lot.
By the time I was writing NINE, I was getting used to the dirty environment, it reminded me of the ghetto. So when I came to Lekki and I was working on MACABRE, I would just keep writing. My interpretation of MACABRE is something gory that can kill. Despite the environment being dirty, I was in the brightest state of mind to start making music. It was a painstaking transmission to be able to take a negative energy and translate it into something positive. This last one year has been my happiest. How did I arrive there? I had to do those things I never wanted to do in my life which involved talking about certain things publicly. I started expressing myself with certain truths and started getting better. The problem with life is that the person who notices the problem has brought upon himself the need to solve the problem.
Brymo, ‘The Son Of A Carpenter’ is definitely different from the current Brymo from songs to personality, what changed and what necessitated the change?
I’m the same person. What happened in the son of a carpenter was that I was listening to people and people like to be listened to. When you don’t listen to them, they take a piss. I had a tough time in the ghetto just being stubborn. I didn’t want to do yahoo, I just wanted to sing. All my friends were already making money and I wasn’t making any. I came into Chocolate City and M.I told me not to complain until I blew and I listened. But every time I woke up, I would see something wrong and M.I told me not to complain. But I’d tell him that if I blow and complain, people would complain I’m proud. I complained to Paul, Audu, Jesse and every one of them. The only person I didn’t complain to was Ice Prince, who they made to look like the problem but he’s just a really nice and simple guy. Ice Prince would always be the one to dash me money when I needed it. When ‘Oleku’ became a hit song, M.I walked up to me and asked if Ice Prince gave me any money lately, I said no, I didn’t ask him and he said he was supposed to but unknown to M.I., Ice Prince had given me like about N4 million so he’d always want to paint pictures about others looking bad. I just kept listening to these fuckers and I was like I couldn’t anymore. They always advise you on what to do but they themselves won’t do it. When I evolved, he said I grew wings but you advised me to evolve. They told me to leave home and go out and network. I told him I’m a singer, not the record label boss. Let the boss bring deals for us while I make music. They hated everything that made me happy. You’d explain to them but they’ll not understand so I said fuck y’all and let’s get the job done. They’d always say ‘I was here before you, I had 10 million before you’. When ‘Oleku’ was the hottest song in the country and we got a deal from it, M.I. wanted to get the most money from it because I first una reach here.
So what’s your current relationship with them?
They have grievances with me. I am a passionate person. They carried me to court. What relationship should I have with them? Do you expect me to be friends with people who took me to court? They are still making money off my ‘Son of a Carpenter’ album. They took the case out of court but the N25 million they said I was owing them, they’re taking it out of the album. They aren’t giving me a dime from it till now. No royalties whatsoever, so, do you think I should be friends with them? I’m still making music and since all of these started, I’ve made more albums than Wizkid, Burna Boy, TuFace, M.I. and Davido. They’re nothing, they can’t perform, they can’t sing, they can’t write, they can’t do anything anymore. They’re badly behaved and they still think they’re stars, who gives a fuck about that.
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Do you think Chocolate City affected your musical career?
I think record labels would be better off if they can hire me to give them advice. As it is now, they need me, I don’t need them for anything. I don’t need a record label, I’m an independent artist.
As an entertainer, you have done so much in the last one decade, what keeps you going even at odd times?
When I started out, I took a job as a teacher and saved for a whole year, so I could record one demo. After recording the demo, I sent it to Universal records in the US. I was looking for deals from place to place, I was just 15. I was looking for the right job. And that’s why today I am not looking for international deals. I started looking for it in the beginning, and they did not give it to me. My former record label boss gave me N800,000, I spent 650k on the video. I learned a lot from Okokomaiko. After recording the demo, and they didn’t give me the deal, I threw the CD under the bed. I’ve always been writing my songs before I started making beats. Everyone gets the beats first and then they make the song on it but that’s not how I do mine. I’ve been writing beats since I was 12. Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie all wrote songs and the beats came after.
You were one of the first entertainers in Nigeria to identify with the incumbent president when he decided to run and you dared all odds, why the decision even in the face of adversity?
There’s something I learned from my wife and it’s that I got into trouble listening to people. Obedience is genius. Who are you listening to? I don’t think I’m meant to listen to people, I’m meant to listen to the voice in my mind and that has sought of helped me.
In 1999, when Tinubu became the Governor of Lagos, my mum caught the bug and was supporting him and I’d be like ‘this woman has come again with politics’ it was Alliance for Democracy then. I realised that whatever you’re complaining about, you’re becoming attracted to it and that’s why people do you harm and hurt you in this country. Anyways, I’d always complain about Tinubu then, so one day she went to the stadium and told me they had changed from AD to ACN and that was when I stopped complaining. Tinubu invited everyone to the stadium and announced a name change of the party but at the next election, I saw the old name on the ballot paper. He didn’t change the name, rather, he left the party and started a new one. This guy is a genius. That’s the first time he caught my attention, he’s fucking cool. Later on, a lot of other things came in, my son is 27th of March while Jagaban is 30th, they are both Aries. I like horoscopes a lot. The most important thing about the president is that I usually just go my way, I don’t support any politician, Jagaban was the first person. One day I woke up, Tinubu is the new rule, he’s what we’ve been waiting for and he’s also experienced. I started hearing about his affiliation with MKO during previous elections. Then the 1993 Abiola and Tinubu 2023 kicked in. I also saw a video of him at Babangida’s house where he called him commander in chief. That was the guy that annulled Abiola’s election even before the election and so I’m like Tinubu don win. He was also an ex-governor of Lagos, how this country go don dey since 1960 and there’s no man from the city who has been a president. So, I said let’s have a city boy for president.
You also said the Igbo’s were not ripe for presidency, why do you think so?
Ripe is an understatement. Ojukwu went to war with Nigerians, started the war, moved first, attacked first, did everything first and at the end of the day, started acting as victim. It’s not right, it’s unfair. To make things worse, the man who started the war literally packed his bag and left you guys behind. How can we make you president without dealing with that and having you as president. What would happen if Nigeria is about to catch fire, you’d run and leave us, Nnamdi Kanu ran too. Azikwe denied Ojukwu to use his poem in Biafra national anthem. You guys are denying yourselves, if we make you president, you’d deny us. I wasn’t making things up, I was stating the situation on ground. If we don’t deal with it, wahala go dey.
Then morals too, morality might not be righteousness to God, but we require it amongst ourselves. I saw a video online one day, it was in the east where two people committed incest and they were made fun of, they were told to carry their bags and leave together. I’d never recover from that. When there is incest, you separate them and not put them together. It’s like saying, just go and do whatever you want, just don’t do it here. That type of people can’t be my president. Eewo orisha (abomination).
