You claim not to take alcohol anymore. Is it true?
I stopped taking alcohol about a year and five months now. I have found out that there is time for everything. There comes a time you have to stay away from some things because at the end of the day, if you have any illness, you would be left alone to deal with it. I don’t drink alcohol and I do not smoke again. I have never smoked Indian hemp in my life.
You were away from the industry for about 10 years. Why did you leave the music scene?
I did not intentionally leave the music scene. I had a car accident that affected my spine in 2007. Because it affected my spine, I could not do anything. For about three years, I could not walk and I was in a hospital in the UK. From there, I was transferred to another hospital in Germany. When I returned to Nigeria, I decided to rest a little before resuming work. In the process of resting, some incidents happened. After the fuel subsidy protest, some people came to my house looking for me but they did not see me. They eventually killed one of my workers in my house. Some months later, I was shot at a filling station in Agidingbi. But no musician called or checked on me throughout this period,
so I decided to be on my own. I rescinded my decision because people were asking me what was happening, especially my people in Ajegunle; so I had no other choice than to return to the music scene.
Your galala dance involves intense movement of the spinal cord, does it not hurt you when you perform and dance nowadays?
Right now, I am okay but I take things easy. I believe in the Yoruba proverb that says the dance moves are in the leg. I have already started performing in major shows and it does not affect me. When the main Showkey Show starts, the people would know that I still have it in me.
How did you develop the galala dance?
The dance is called konto, galala is the music but people merged the dance and the music into one which I think is the right thing to do. The dance actually started from boxing.
Were you ever a boxer?
I started boxing in 1979. I was an amateur boxer. I never went professional because if I did, I might not be here today. I was very good. Some of my friends back then went to the Olympics.
Why did you choose to stick to music?
That is why my name is Showkey. Sports, music, acting, they are all shows; even life in general is a show. I was first called Showkid, then it later changed to Showkey. I used to do street entertainment where I was called Baba Pako. I would put some clothes in my belly and play around with a wooden guitar on the streets of Ajegunle. After that, we formed the group called The Pretty Busy Boys which consisted Cashman, David, Obanla, Daddy Fresh, Pretty and I in 1986. We were all about 16 years old then. I went to NTA one day to meet Danladi Bako and to ask him to feature us on his show, Morning Rise. When I got to the reception, I saw people waiting to see him but I just barged in to his office without waiting. He was shocked but I explained to him that I had to do that because I wanted to see him. I told him that I was from Ajegunle and that I would like him to feature my group on his show. When he asked me to show him what I could do, I started rapping. We were a rap group and he said I should bring everyone. There were some people slotted to be featured on Morning Rise, but somehow they disappointed. He told us to be prepared. We were shocked but he gave us a chance and we took it. He saw that we were good and because we were from Ajegunle, he started repackaging us. . That is why I owe everything I have become today to him.
What is the story behind your dreadlocks yet you are not a reggae artiste?
I have had this dread for over 22 years. I don’t have to be a reggae musician to wear dreads. Reggae is from Jamaica, galala is Nigerian. There are reggae musicians that don’t have dreadlocks. My own dreadlock is a vow between me and God. I told God that if I, a nobody from Ajegunle, become someone that the world would know, I would not cut my hair again. It is a vow that I made. Many people do it for fashion but I don’t do it for fashion. God has kept his side of the vow, so it is left for me to keep my part of the vow.
Credit: PUNCH NG
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