Esegine Orezi Allen carved a niche for himself in the highly competitive Nigerian music industry with his 2013 hit song, Rihanna. The youngster who hails from Delta State says that with his latest album, The Ghen Gehn Album, he intends to rule the Nigerian music industry. He speaks with OVWE MEDEME on his journey so far.
YOU recently dropped your album… Yes, the album is something I’ve been working on for a couple of years. September this year, I finally thought it was right to release it. It took me about four years to put the album together. Trying to get a title for the album wasn’t funny. I remember putting it on Instagram, asking my fans what they thought should be the appropriate title and they all came up with different suggestions. The title I finally chose was suggested by one of my fans. It is titled The Ghen Ghen Album. Ghen Ghen to me means something extraordinary, something awesome. My album is extraordinary, it is awesome because it is an album that I put in so much work, so much effort in. Judging by the kind of songs, the style of music, to me it is like a masterpiece.
Would you regard it as a commercial album?
It contains everything, from commercial music to life touching music to inspirational music to club jams. We all like to party, we all fall in love, we all go through such experiences like having to start from somewhere and trying to get somewhere.
The album touches everything. It talks about my hustle. It talks about a situation where I used to be that person that I talk to girls and they don’t listen to me. It talks about when my mum used to tell me that I’m a great man and that I’ll excel in this industry. It talks about me growing from that normal university boy who has a dream to being a celebrity. There are songs that talk about life, about me as a person. The song Yarinya talks about love. It is directed to my northern fans. So, the album talks about a lot of things. That is why I call it the extraordinary album.
How many tracks are on it?
The album has 20 tracks. There are collaborations from Wizkid, Timaya, Ice Prince, Flavour, MI, Davido, and 9ice. I decided to put twenty because I’ve been singing for a while. I swear, if to say I fit make am 30, I go make am because I feel like the fans need to hear a lot from me.
I recorded a lot on that album so it was very hard for me to streamline the songs to 20. I feel like every song has its own significance. And there are one or two people the song will be speaking to. But I tried to pick the best 20 out of it.
Why did it take you so long to come out with an album?
In between the four years, I went for my youth service. I had to serve my country. Besides that, I had to switch labels. I was on a record label where I was on the verge of releasing an album but things changed, so I had to move to another label.
The new label I went to felt like they needed to push me more. And pushing me more means they needed to put in more singles to introduce me to the market. It was like a new phase, it was like forgetting every effort that I had made before. They felt they needed to stretch the brand more, meaning I need to have about four to five singles on their stable. So, I started with Rihanna with them. I moved on to You Garrit, Shoki, Shuperu and Abeg. that was when they decided to drop the album.
Why did you have to switch labels?
I left my former label because we got to a level where I felt like we needed a big investor. The label I was before couldn’t handle the brand in respect to finances. We felt like we needed someone else to come into the picture to further push the brand and that was why I had to leave. I’ve been with them for about two years now.
How has the ride been?
It has been rewarding. At least, it was under their label I released Shoki. Shoki has been very good to me in respect to my bank account. Both parties have been happy. It has been rewarding because they have been so supportive. If you’ve been following me in the last year and half, you would have seen an improvement in the quality of my music videos and the quality of promotion I’ve been getting. That’s why my songs are everywhere. A whole lot of work has been done underground.
What exactly do you hope to achieve with the album?
I intend to be the number one artiste in Nigeria in the next six months after the album has finally sunk into the lives of people. That’s the only goal I have right now. It’s almost like what I’m living for.
With this quest, who do you see as your biggest competitor?
I see everybody that sings as a competitor because the new artiste when dey there sef, when never even release single, im own dream na how e wan take pass me. Everybody is a competitor, even to the ones when never even enter studio, when dey nurse the dream say dem wan sing. Na dem worse pass sef because we no know their plan.
Who are your mentors in the industry?
To me, a mentor is somebody I admire his works and I listen to him to get inspiration. So, I have a couple of them. There’s Tuface Idibia. I listen to Psquare. They are awesome artistes. Those are the two people I feel like I need to listen to their sound and probably understand what is happening. Around the world, there’s Chris Brown, and a lot of other people.
What’s the story behind Orezi?
Orezi is a young boy who started singing at the University of Lagos. I had a dream to be a musician. I graduated in 2009, then I decided to go into music professionally. That same year, I got signed. I studied Urban and Regional Planning. I had my first official single in late 2009. I had a breakout song, Booty Bounce in 2012. That was the song that got me wide recognition and a nomination in the Channel O awards. In 2013, I released Rihanna. That went viral. I followed it up with a video. I had to look for a Rihanna lookalike which cost a lot of uproar in the scene. Later on, I dropped Shoki which became another problem in the industry, considering the fact that there were some other artistes that had the same songs. There were lots of stories behind the ownership of the song. Basically, that is my story. It has not been a smooth journey but we thank God.
On a serious note, who has the song Shoki?
I’ve always said it, nobody has Shoki because it is a street dance. None of us that sang the song named it Shoki, so e mean say no be we get am. You can only credit it to me if I had named it Shoki. Davido has Skelewu because he named it. It is his dance. None of us named it Shoki. It was in existence; we just sang about it. So it’s more like we are advocates of Shoki.
We helped in promoting something that already existed, that probably didn’t have a face or a larger audience. For me, I was in Fela’s Shrine when I saw people dancing. When I asked, they said it was Shoki. That was around the time Davido blew up with Skelewu. So I felt like if there is a dance called Shoki and it’s new and nobody has sung about it. If I sing about it, it would be an instant hit. I knew it was a hit if I did any song about it because it was almost like a season for dance songs. We were there when Alanta blew. Then there was Skelewu, Sekem and the others.
So, as at the time I recorded my version of Shoki, I had not heard any other person sing it. This is the twist. I recorded the song in February. My birthday is March 28 so I wanted to release it as my gift to my fans. My friends asked me to release the song but I refused. Guess what. My birthday was 28. On the night of the 27th, somebody called me to say they have released Shoki. I went online and I saw it. So if you check, you will see that I released it almost immediately so that they won’t say I copied. That is the unfortunate story. If I had released Shoki when I recorded it, I would have claimed the entire glory but such is life.
It was once rumoured that you were caught with hard drugs…
That is an old story. It was 2012, I was in Dubai. I don’t know where that rumour came from, honestly. I just don’t understand. The funny thing is that because it is an Arab country, the penalty for pushing drugs is death by hanging, so my mum was busy crying that they have killed her child. What I thought must have led to such a rumour is that I was in a car with a friend and we were driving in Dubai. The police stopped us because the guy was driving above speed limit. I think a Nigerian saw us and sent a message that I have been arrested. That was where the rumour started. It was nothing serious.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years, I will be the number one artiste in Africa. I don’t know of the world but, at least, I will rule Africa.
