| | Tony Tetuila
Label: Blue Pie Productions
Artists Genre: Acoustic
For Tetuila AKA Anthony Olanrewaju Awotoye, singing is
a passion for him. He had always wanted to sing right
from his days in secondary school. He didn't get the
chance to demostrate his love of music however until
he got to the Federal Polytechnic at Offa, Kwara
State, where he had been admitted to study Business
Administration.
For him, the only extra-curricular activity he was
interested in was music and its promotion . He was
thus involved in the promotion of musical shows on
campus. He would invite DJ's from Lagos and other
places to come and jam in his school. He would also
invite many talented but yet budding musicians to
perform at such shows.
Soon, it became inevitable that even he would one day
mount the stage and showcase his love of the crooming
profession.
Though stage shy at first, Tony Tetuila soon learnt to
be master of his performance on stage. He also learnt
to appeal to the group he considers his most intimate
constituency, the ladies. On the campus at that time,
not attending any show at which he was invited to
perform was virtually an unheard of thing for the
happening babes'.
He was that popular amongst the ladies. Soon, it was
inevitable that he form an alliance with others who
had an inclination towards singing the same kind of
Nigerian flavoured rap and hip hop that he sang.
Idris, a budding DJ provided the sort of perfect
partnership that he sought then and so they teamed up
and began playing at shows and dance halls together.
The approval rating of the duo amongst their
colleagues continued to reach for the skies.
Later on, Eddy, another budding musician jointed the
duo and thus they formed the Remedies, Nigeria's first
home made rap and hip hop group.
The success of The Remedies is certainly
unquantifiable. So is their contribution to Nigeria's
hip hop scene. Utilising a musical technigue that
incorporated the best of Western rap and hip hop and
then flavouring these with Nigerian themes and sands,
The Remedies always managed to set dance halls, clubs,
shows and parties alight anytime their debut album was
played. Containing different variations of just two
songs, Judile and Sakomo, the album was a major hit in
the Nigerian music scene. It also marked the turning
point of Nigerian music as more and more people have
since latched on to the new musical `genre' they
created. Hip hop, rap and ragga have since become a
Nigerian affairs courtesy of the pioneering effort of
The Remedies.
Tony was however not destined to last as a member of
the Remedies group. Irreconcilable differences soon
saw Tony having to part ways with the group he had
helped found. And though he left the group, Tony did
not leave music. He was to demostrate the power of his
creativity further when he went ahead to establish
another alliance with another upcoming group of
youngsters who were also experimenting in the hip hop
genre. With the plantashun Boiz, the group he bounded
with, Tony Tetuila went ahead and released his own CD.
Titled morning Time, fans of the yellow haired crooner
were certainly not disappointed with his effort in the
new CD. With tunes like Omode Meta, Morning Time, your
kind of woman and a host of others, Tony confirmed
himself as the crown prince of Nigerian hip hop music.
Right now, at concerts, shows, parties and clubs, Tony
Tetuila and the Plantashun Boiz are the hottest group
in Nigeria. Their music is loved by all and sundry as
both young and old are wont `shake body` to their
highly danceable tunes.
**************************************
AN INTERVIEW WITH TONY
Whenever Afro hip-hop artiste, Tony Tetuila,
reminisced, on the past, he would have every reason to
thank his creator. Here was a young man who claimed he
was unceremoniously ejected from the hip-hop group,
Remedies, following their hit debut, Shako Mo. At a
time when his peers would have thought him crest
fallen, the young man took everything in its stride
. No sooner than he left the group that fortune smiled
on him and he came up with an album, Morning Time,in
1998. His second effort, My Car became an instant hit,
just as his latest release: E go Better which is
currently enjoying tremendous airplay. Apparently,
there has been no looking back for this talented
artiste who, within a space of six years, has carted
home many awards locally and internationally. A
magnanimous Tetuila however declared that he had since
forgiven his friends, Eedris Abdulkareem and Eddy
Brown and that at any given opportunity, he would
still like to work with them. The musician spoke to
Daily Sun on his childhood, early life, career, and
reasons why he pulled out of the Remedies.
Background
My name is Tony Tetuila. But my real name is Anthony
Olarewaju Awosanya. I am from Oro Town in Kwara State.
I am the last of my mother’s children. My father
married two wives and my mother happens to be the
first wife. We were eight from my mum. Two have died
and I’m still the last born. We are six males and two
females. A male and a female are dead, so we are now
six.
I attended St Catherine Model School, Yaba for my
primary school and later St Finbarr’s College, Akoka.
I also attended Kwara State Polytechnic in Ilorin
where I obtained my Ordinary National Diploma in 1997.
Childhood
Growing up was fun because being my mother’s last
child everyone dotted on me. They showered love and
attention on me. But the music thing has been with me
right from childhood. Then as a child, my mum used to
buy musical toys for me, such as piano, guitar, and
drums. And now everything has turned into reality,
just like a dream. My mum knew quite well that I would
have something to do with music in future because she
had seen the talent in me.
As a young boy my ambition was to be a musician.
Almost every one around me then knew I had talents in
music.
Early days
After obtaining my OND, the thought of travelling
abroad to study music came to me but that was also the
time that I met Eedris Abdulkareem in Ilorin. When I
was at Kwara Polytechnic, I used to organise shows
then. The DJ Shina was the one that introduced Eedris
to me. When we met, we discovered that we had one or
two things in common.
I told him about my plans concerning music and he said
okay, when we get to Lagos we will talk. He had come
from Kano to see DJ Shina who was his friend. So when
we got to Lagos, we started working together. Then
Eddy Brown joined us when we were about entering the
studio. Eddy and Idris had known each other long
before I met them. That was how The Remedies came
about and together we came out with a single Shako Mo
in 1998, which became an instant hit.
Why we broke up
Breaking up was inevitable when you consider the way
the entertainment industry in Nigeria is. When we were
together, the returns were quite small and considering
that we were three, we were not really happy with what
we were getting. Each of us believed we could do
something independently. So I was the first to leave.
When I left, I prayed to God that if playing music was
the profession he chose for me, then ‘Thy will be
done.’ If not, let me just go back to school to
complete my studies.
Albums
God answered my prayers and I came out with my first
solo album, Morning Time, which had the hit song Omode
Meta Nshere in 1999. It was released in 2001 also on
Kennis Music label with eight tracks. In fact, God
surprised me with the success of that album. The song
My Car was the last track that we needed to just fill
the album.
Luckily, the album My Car fetched me many awards. This
was how that particular song came about: On two
occasions, motorists hit my car in a manner that left
me dazed because the second one happened just about
two days after the first incident. And it was at a
time I had no money and I just went out in search of
people to bail me out when suddenly I heard a bang.
When we both came out, the other guy started speaking
grammar and I said ‘Ah Oyinbo repete o, you have to
fix my car.’ I told him we should share it 50-50. So
we went to fix the car. Just then the chorus started
bugging in my head. I got it down in my midget, got
home and started working on it immediately.
The Tinubu part came in when I was writing the lyrics.
I just thought of a good way to end the story after
being hit by my friend and not having money. That was
why I brought in Tinubu to bail us out of the problem.
Tinubu and my car
It was rumoured that the governor gave me some money
after the release of that album. All I can say is that
for now, the governor has not given me any money but
promised to support my career. He liked the song and
said he would support me and I believe he is going to
do it because now he is very busy trying to give
Lagosians a good life.
My third album E go Better was released about four
weeks ago. It has eight tracks, E Go Better, Call My
Name, E Wa Bamijo, No One Like U, Na U Sabi Lagbaja,
A.I.D.S, and Fefe na Efe.
My music
I play Afro hip-hop. That is hip-hop from the African
perspective. Why I play this type of music is because
it is the music of my own generation. The only way our
own kind of hip-hop can be accepted here is by
infusing our own culture into it. That is why some
times you hear us singing in Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa, so
that people here can understand what we are saying.
That is why we call it Afro – hip-hop.
Young artistes and hip-hop
Yes, we are so many because hip-hop music is changing
the face of entertainment in Nigeria. In my new album,
E Go Better, I did a song Fefe Na Efe in which I
feature a Ghanaian artiste Tic Tac. Fefe Na Efe has to
do with hip-life and hop-life is from Ghana. We
entered into a collaboration: it is in my own album,
as well as in his own album. It’s like taking hip-hop
to another level.
Inspiration
My inspiration comes from God. Without God, nothing is
possible. With Him, all things are possible. It also
comes from things I live with: things I see, eat or
drink as well as people around me. How I write my
songs? Where ever I go, I always have my midget with
me. And whenever I want to write a song, the chorus is
the first thing I deal with. When I have the chorus, I
can keep it in my midget until I get home.
Challenges
There are a lot of challenges. Your contemporaries are
there, so you have to push your self real hard because
you want to do something that will satisfy your fans
and give them something even better than what you have
done before. When you play this kind of music with a
lot of artistes, you have to thank God that you are
among the chosen. When you climb the music ladder, you
want to remain there. You don’t want to get down.
There are some other challenges in different kinds of
ways.
Meeting K. K. Ogungbe (CEO) Kennis Music
I count myself very lucky meeting K. K. Ogungbe
because he made everything so easy for me right from
the beginning. I did not have this problem of going
from one record company to the other looking for
deals.
You see I went to Ray Power to give them my song to
play on air so I met Kenny Ogungbe and he told me that
he plans to start a records company and asked if I was
interested. And I said, ‘Ah I don’t mind’. I just
count myself lucky meeting him because he has been
there for me and up till now, he is still there for me
and everything is working.
Message
The message is about things that are happening in
Nigeria. It is not as if we are talking bad about it.
We are saying that no matter how bad things are now,
we should be hopeful that things will get better. I
see young people leaving the country to look for
greener pastures abroad. So my message is that if we
all work together, Nigeria will be better. We have to
support the government.
There is also a message that has to do with giving
thanks to God for what He has done in our lives. There
are some other tracks that urge my fans to enjoy
themselves.
Awards
I have won many awards both in Nigeria and abroad. My
first album fetched me the FMA Best New Artiste Award
in 1999 and in 2000, an award from NISOFEST (Nigerian
Song Festival).
Performing Music Award from Grand Hotel, Asaba, Fame
Music Award and City People Award, Musician of the
year 2002. AMEN’s Best Artiste of the year, Song of
the year (My Car )in 2003. I also got awards from
different universities: Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife and University of Ibadan. I also got the REEL
Award for the Best African Pop Rock from Channel O in
South Africa last year.
Social life
I like going out to meet friends. I don’t smoke. In
fact, I have never tasted cigarettes in my life and I
will never taste it. That’s the truth. I don’t smoke,
but I do drink beer. However, I know my limit. I don’t
take anything before going on stage because from the
start, I have never gotten myself addicted to such
things. I don’t think I have to get inspiration from
drinking or smoking before going on stage.
Women and me:
The fact is that we can’t do without women because
they can make or mar you. If you are dealing with
them, you have to be diplomatic. I have them around
me, but most of them are my friends. When people see
women with me, they think I like women, they are
people you have to respect in order to succeed in this
business.
Yes. I have a serious relationship. Very soon, we will
start sharing the invitation cards.
Most embarrasing moment
We went for a show in Abuja, the show was not well
organised and we were stranded in Abuja. We had to
enter some clubs to perform so we could raise money
for our transport fare back to Lagos. We had to go and
stay with a friend that lives in one room. We were
nine artistes. That was our first time in Abuja, but
it was fun. We even realised more money that we
expected. The show was tagged Night of the Shinning
Star but that night: the stars did not shine. It was
really funny, in fact, that was my most embarrassing
moment.
Role models
I like Lagbaja and Femi Kuti. They are my role models
because they are talented and have done a lot to
promote the music industry in Nigeria.
But my godfathers in entertainment are Mr Kenny
Ogungbe and Mr Dayo Adeneye (D-One)
Aspirations
I want to have a recording company where I can help
budding artistes. I would like to have a place where I
can play once a month.
My hair
My hair has been my identity right from when I was
with Remedies and I think it has really helped me.
Some people can’t even recognise my face but once they
see my hair, then they know it’s me. I take care of it
with a good hair product.
Born again
I can’t say I am born-again the way many people say
it, but definitely, I know I am closer to God. In
everyman’s life, I believe God should be there. With
God all things are possible and I think He has been
there for me. It doesn’t cost me anything to worship
him, that’s why I call His name all the time.
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