Exclusive: “You cannot become 2face” – 2face advises as he visits Y!

The story of the rapid evolution of the Nigerian music industry cannot be complete without a prominent mention of 2face Idibia – from his days with the Plantation Boiz to his rise to the top as one of the best Nigerian music exports to the world, his story is nothing short of inspiring.

Tubaba, as he is fondly called, was at Y! on Thursday to pay a courtesy visit to the crew and our correspondent, Wilfred Okiche wasted no time in putting the international music superstar to task.

In this revealing interview, 2face talked about his wife, Annie Idibia, their much anticipated wedding, his career, upcoming music projects and lots more.

See excerpts of the interview below:

 

Congratulations, how are the wedding plans coming along and when is the date?

Oh they are going great, the date is not set yet but you will know in due course

Apart from the wedding, what are the other plans for the year? Any new music to look forward to?

There is new music, plenty of it. Matter of fact, I am in the process of recording 3 albums right now. The first is the ‘Rewind, Select and Update’ album which is not an album of original music per-se, just something I am doing to put songs that I have done before out there, kind of refresh them. Essentially you go back, select a track you used to like then, check it out now but that is a side project. I’m working on the international edition of my last album, ‘Away and beyond’, also working on my new album. So it’s a jam packed year.

We should congratulate you, ‘Away and beyond’ was number 2 on YNaija’s best albums list of 2012

Second? Which one be number one?

J’odie’s ‘African woman’

Ah! Yes I agree, totally. J’odie’s album is wonderful. I can’t complain.

Some songs on ‘Away and beyond’ feel like they were written with Annie Macaulay Idibia in mind, ‘Bother you’ and ‘Rainbow’ for instance. Is this the true situation?

I wouldn’t want to say I wrote any song for anybody in particular, it is all a creative process and when that creative spirit comes in, I just start writing stuff and some of them may come from personal experiences, some may be fiction but also based on the reality of life.

So how do you continue to make music that matters and to leave everyone in the dust 15 years after your debut?

I don’t know, honestly. I guess the people like what I put out and I am doing the right kind of music, something people can relate to and blend with. And of course, it is the grace of God.

Say I am an upcoming artiste, what would I need to do to become 2face?

You cannot become 2face. You can only become someone big and successful. Basically I would say that you get your act together, know exactly what you need to get where you have to get to. Keep your head straight, no time for laziness. Work, work, work. Respect people and respect God.

Do you feel any pressure to top yourself and go a notch higher at each stage?

Yes there is always pressure. Once you set a standard there is always pressure to either keep up that standard or exceed it because it is disastrous when you go below so u always want to upgrade, step it up a notch higher. E no easy men.

You sing often about love and are now about to tie the knot. In your experience, do you believe in the fairy tale kind of romance or has real life been something different?

You see, I once sang that life is so simple and it really is. You have to understand that there are crazy people, peaceful people, there are lies and there is the truth. Once you understand all that, you recognize that love is a part of it. Love is understanding, so for me I don’t think there is anything fairytale about love. I just believe that if there is this person you can cope with or blend with for some reasons you cannot explain and if you just want to hang with this person all the time and anytime you are not with that person, there is something missing, then you can describe that as love. At the same time, there is your mother, father, brothers and sisters, people you have this pure unexplainable feeling for so in the end, love is that thing that makes you want to be good.

Does Annie make you want to be good?

Na so e be my brother because if no be like that, we for no dey talk that story by now.

The other day we saw some cute pictures of your kids, how do you ensure that they live a pretty normal life amidst all the craze?

So far it has been normal, they are kids but I cannot change who I am, I cannot pull my name from their birth certificate so for them, that is their normal and there is no changing that. I just try my best to teach them to be good people, kind, nice and at the same time to be wise.

Comments (2)

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail