For those who don’t know, hiphop artiste, Waconzy has a humanitarian persona. The artiste, real name Obinna Kelvin Anyanwu, who recently had a spat with some of his fellow artistes has come out to clear the air surrounding his comments. He talks to DUPE AYINLA-OLASUNKANMI on career, business, women among other issues.
DO you have a new project at hand?
Words cannot express my gratitude to my fans. So what I am doing at the moment is giving back to the society through a project called the Silverspoon Foundation. I lost my silver spoon, but thank God I found it back. So it is best that I make as many people as possible have access to a silver spoon. Not long ago, we fed a thousand people on my birthday and we also did the Waconzy vs. Malaria Zero Tolerance Campaign. We were able to distribute mosquito nets to both pregnant women and nursing mothers. The next project on line is the Waconzy vs. Genetawart. I understand it is kind of skin disease and a lot of people are affected. We will be sponsoring about 10 people for the surgery, and the rest we will educate them on how to prevent it.
Musically, what do you have on going?
We have shot some videos, from my new album Money Background, especially the Amosu video which became controversial after its release. The video Sweet Tambo has also been released. We will also be releasing the remix of the Amosu and a couple of other things.
What made the Amosu video controversial?
A lot of things were in the video which were scary. And you know the way with Nigerians get when they see scary stuff. Everybody says whatever they want to say, which I think is normal. At the end of the video we had an inscription, “The end is near”. And we made people believe that there are more power above the physical forces.
Didn’t the video pass through screening before its release?
It was not controversial in a negative way. But it was controversial in the sense of the depth of the content. We actually had a girl in the video picked up by me and she later changed and I had some sort of people running after me. That is to show that a lot of us get spiritually attached to someone we just pick up on the street. Everyone has the right to state your opinion and to me, that is how I felt to tell mine.
Why did you take off your deadlocks?
I took it off to balance life. A lot of times, we keep chasing fame and forget that we need a balance in life. I took it off because I am not just a musician, but also a Project Manager and CEO of a company. That was the primary reason. A lot of people keep saying now that I have taken it off, I have taken my signature off too. To me, that is funny. I was not born with dreads. I built the signature with it, so I felt I might as well build a better signature without it. Now a lot of people know the face without the dreads. The career has been rewarding. Right now I deal with big brands. There was a period I was quiet for a while, I was putting some other things into place. I had to go back to fix myself well enough, when I decided I was ready to relocate.
Why did you relocate to Lagos?
It is wise for every businessman to be close his market. Also considering the fact that, I just don’t do music alone. We are also into importation of goods. So we need to be close to the airport and seaport because of the kind of business we do.
The past months have been rewarding for you. How do you feel?
First of all I want to thank God who made it possible. He has also made people to put their faith in me and be able to finance me. I also thank my team and my manager. We have had our challenges but with articulate and aggregate planning, we have been able to overcome some of them. I’m sure in the next six months we should be topping the charts and the whole of Africa. I appreciate the support I have been getting from the press and God bless my enemies too who have made me stronger.
Recently, you had issues with Davido, what actually happened between both of you?
I would like to say it is not beef per se. Davido is like a brother to me; I love him and respect his talent and everything. Everybody has the right to say whatever they want. I was interviewed on Rubbingminds. It is a platform where you can say what you want to say. But sometimes, it is really funny, the way they twist words. Basically what I said was about some songs in Nigeria. I didn’t call artistes. More or less, we artistes in Nigeria including myself should try to get better in our lyrical delivery, for the fact that there are a lot of kids out there listening. I cited one of my old songs. I said that, because we had challenge with piracy and nothing was done about it. I didn’t say anybody is a bad artiste. I just cited some songs.
Are you saying you did not mention his song or name?
Of course I mentioned one of his songs and it’s so unfortunate that he is the owner of the song. I said Skelewu has no meaning. It could be a dance song, but it did not pass any message across. I don’t have anything against the song, I also like the song. It is just dance. Are we going to be dancing from morning till night? All I am saying is that, we should try to work things out so that we can have content. Considering Tuface, he always has content for people, even if he wants to make you dance.
At present, what is your relationship with Davido?
Davido is a younger brother in the industry. I admire his progress so far. But basically I want him to know that a lot of people have been there, they didn’t not make noise nor disrespect their people. And they are still there. So let’s just try and consider the African culture, we always respect our elders, the same way I always respect my elders too.
Since the incident, have you guys had the chance of meeting ?
Well, we were both on the MTN tour. But I am always busy. I don’t have anything against him, just like everyone else. I was with Timaya in Bayelsa for the CAAN awards. He expressed his anger. I explained to him and we were cool with each other. If you watch that interview, you will know I was not against anybody. I was just against music without content. I call it disposable music.
Artistes no longer flaunt their blings. Tell us about your bold stud earring?
Well, that is the only artistic thing I have on. I don’t do tattoos because I don’t like them. I don’t do piercings too because I don’t think it is decent. So for me, I would say this is a kind of signature. And I am comfortable with earrings than any other thing. I have a lot of them, which include a diamond earring and it is very expensive.
Professionally, how rewarding is this career?
It has been good. It has turned me from a normal person to a superstar. I deal with brands, you know big brands. It is what I have always wanted all my life. Now I have hit the platform, the next thing I am looking out for now is to be one of the biggest givers in the society. And I will be doing this through my humanitarian work.
Who is the lucky lady?
Right now I am single; I would like to say I am searching. I have been searching everywhere which includes Google. One of my biggest dreams is to get married on time and start raising a family. I am ready to get married, but the truth is, I am scared, just like every other person. But I have been studying about it and it is not as scary as people think. In the nearest future I will take that bold step.
Apart from music, what other thing are you into?
I have my DV8 companies. It has different companies under it; we have the DV8 Innovation, DV8 Cars, DV8 Event Solutions, and some others. They are all under the Waconzy brand.
Do you take advantage of your female fans?
I would like to correct that, most female fans take advantage of the artiste. (Laughs) they just want to feel their artiste but we are all mature people and it all depends on your interest. As a man, you should know how to control yourself because all that glitter is not gold. And if you have a challenge with a female, I suggest you watch the Amusu video, so that you can understand the way it works. This is the end time so everybody needs to be careful. But I love my female fans, and wish I could get married to all of them. (Laughs)
