John Asiemo, popularly known as Daddy Showkey, hails from Delta State. He told Omolara Akintoye that he wanted to be a soldier initially. Even though he was not discouraged from being a soldier, his passion for music took over.
THE new crop of musicians are taking the centre stage, does your kind of music compete with them? I will not say anything because music has time. No matter the aspect of music you play, music has no generation, and some children are born to become musicians. So there is no need for comparison. For me, my name is Showkey. I am a key to the show; for me, we all are alive, let’s see what God has for every one of us.
As a veteran reggae and hip hop star, which one does the youth prefer?
The youths are accepting what we have been campaigning from the word go; that they should listen to our music. So, if today the youths are listening to our music, neither reggae nor hip hop, they are listening to our language which is Pidgin English. That is what we have been telling them from the word go. Though they have been used to foreign music, today every part of the world our music is being played. We are in the jet age. During our time, we used to take our music by hand to everywhere, but today through the internet, you can send your music everywhere. So, for me, the youths are listening to our music and that is what we have been campaigning for. Not reggae and hip hop.
The youths you left behind in AJ city before you relocated, are they living up to your expectation?
I had left Ajegunle before I released my maiden album titled, Daddy Showkey welcome. People don’t know why I talk about Ajegunle was because of the experience I had in Ajegunle, not that Ajegunle is better than any community or better than anybody’s neigbourhood. When we were growing up in Ajegunle, if you go anywhere, they would tag you as a hoodlum, or an armed robber. So I decided to fight the image or that negative impression that people have about people living in Ajegunle. I lived in Apapa before I relocated here and I have been living here for more than two decades. So it is not about me living in Ajegunle. Ajegunle is my alma mater; I was born and brought up in Ajegunle. Would I continue to live where I was brought up, every day of my life?
Your fans are saying that you have abandoned the music industry and engaged in other projects
How can they say that? May be they don’t watch television. Towards the end of last year, I performed in an event. So, if I had abandoned music would I have performed at the Headies? I performed at the Headies and I have been doing a lot of shows. I have been performing across the country.
You have not released any new song lately?
I have a new song titled, One Day. They play it on air and I am about to shoot the video. So, I don’t know where they got the information that I have abandoned music for other projects. Anybody can decide to take a break. I had an accident that affected my spinal cord. So if anybody asked me about my music, I always get annoyed because my life is more important than anything else. So if I had an accident that affected my spinal cord, would you expect me to be playing music?
Are you saying that, you don’t have a project that has taken you away from paying attention to your career?
Everybody has the right to do what he or she likes. As a human being, we are expected to do anything we desire to do in life. So, if I am doing any other thing, that is my business. I don’t like disclosing my private project.
Is One Day the only song you released?
I also released AsalamMabis last year, and for this year, I have something in the pipeline. I will not disclose it to the public until I am done with it. My full album is also in the pipeline.
If you had not gone into music, what else would you have done in life?
Uhmm… that is a very big one. Entertainment has been in me since my childhood. So I still feel that I am in the right place in terms of my career. I have been entertaining people with music when I was about six or seven years old. So, if I am still playing music till now, I don’t think I would have any other thing that would interest me than music. On the other hand, I would have loved to further my education and complete it.
What would you want to study in school?
I would have studied Theatre Arts. I would study something that would enhance my career.
But you went to do short term course in the army. Why were you discouraged?
I was not discouraged. I used to be a boxer. And as a sportsman, a lot of options will come. At that time, I desired to do something for my country then. I believed that being a force man, you are ready to serve your country. Then I wanted to be a soldier. What I had always thought of from my childhood was music and that has been my dream. And there is nothing in life that is greater than entertainment.
Can we trace this talent to your lineage?
I would not say it is hereditary, though my father used to be a show promoter. He used to be an entertainment person. My father owns a promotional outfit called Parlance International Promotion in those days. But he was not a musician; instead, what he did was to discover musicians and promote them. But I discovered that it is a talent given to me by God. My parents have not told me that one of the ancestors in my family was a musician.
The Diana song was a mega hit, what inspired the song?
Before Diana, I did Somebody call my name, Fire Fire and Somebody tunlese, so it depends on the generation of people that existed at the time the song was released. All these songs were great hit. Daina was an inspirational song; that was the only thing that made it different from others. Daina was about a woman that has been married for many years without any offspring. It was a true life story. If I have another opportunity, I will do that song again, because the song uplifted women that found themselves in Daina’s situation. If you don’t have a child, people will give you names; that you are a witch, barren and most times the pressure usually comes from the husband’s family. But these people forget that man is not God. In a marriage, it depends on what you want in a marriage. Do you love your wife or you want her to be a baby machine? I feel that God gives children.
We learnt that you are a shy person and you find it difficult talking to women, how did you win the love of your life?
(Laughter) I will not comment on how I met her. I am a very shy person. I hardly go to events, because if I am at an event I will be shy. But once my microphone is in my hands on stage, I am no longer shy. Because of shyness, I could remember in my school days, my friends would tell me, ‘John, go on stage and sing before you start getting shy,’ and that was how I built up the courage to face a crowd. Besides, while I am driving and people look at me I am always shy.
What has fame cost you?
I have always distinguished my life between John and Showkey, but outside my environment I am not Showkey, I am just myself. That is why I am more comfortable within my environment. I walk freely within my environment. I can drive to Ajegunle to mingle with my friends. The most important thing is to control fame; fame does not control me because I am the one who struggled to achieve the fame. So it is what you ask your money to do that is what your money will do and not your money controlling you. So I am the one controlling fame, and I don’t want to show that I am a super star. Without people, I cannot own a car, buy cloth to wear or feed myself; so my fans are the ones that have the fame and not Daddy Showkey.
