By Tofarati Ige
Music group ArtQuake, formerly known as Earthquake, was formed 15 years ago. Made up of Adx and Ice K, it has registered hits like Abule Lawa, Alanta and Asiko. In this chat with qed.ng, Adx reveals what has kept them together in an industry known for partners breaking up and labels ripping artistes off.
Excerpts…
What have you guys been up to?
In two weeks time, we’ll be shooting the video of our song with Oritse Femi called Asiko. You guys should watch out for it. We also have a song with Sound Sultan titled Adura, and we’ll be shooting the video in America. Our album is also going to be dropping this year. It has already been titled Decade Impression because we’ve been around for a very long time
What do you think is missing in the Nigerian music industry these days?
The creativity and continuity. Creativity in the sense that many of these young artistes just want to be commercial, and sing a song that’ll make them popular. That’s why you’ll often see them dropping songs that are totally different. It wasn’t like that in our days. When we dropped a song, it would go for a very long time and people will enjoy it before we release another one because we would give it the chance to be evergreen. But now, when artistes drop songs, they’re always eager to release another. They’re not even thinking about whether one day the song will become evergreen. If you see a lot of old artistes, they still play their songs and people dance to them. As for this new generation artistes, I don’t know what’s going to happen after 10 years. Are they still going to be playing their songs and people will dance to them? They don’t think very deep before putting out materials. It’s always good to take your time before releasing songs. It’s beyond being commercial and making money. For example, the Late Fatai Rolling Dollar’s songs are still around. Sir Shina Peters is also still called to rock shows. If an artiste doesn’t have a particular style of music, then such a person is not going anywhere because you must have your own personal sound.
Are you with any record label now?
After Little Fish we’ve not joined any other label. Who wants to sign people like us? The experience is there. If anybody wants to sign us, the person will be the record label and we’ll be the ones running it. We’re doing stuff on our own label now called AQ (ArtQuake) Media.
Artistes usually have problems with their record labels, what do you think is the cause of this?
I think record labels are trying. I can only imagine what would have happened to many young artistes today if there were no labels to sign them. In our days at Little Fish, there were some burdens the label was taking off our neck then. On the issue of artistes falling out with their record labels, it’s not new, and it will continue to happen. Artistes just have to be loyal, because when there’s no loyalty, there’ll be problems, and when the record labels don’t do the right things, there’ll also be problems.
Are you married?
Of course, I’m married with two lovely kids. My partner, Ice K, is also married with two kids. We no be small boys now.
You and Ice K have been together for over a decade, what’s your secret?
We’ve gone beyond money, women and things like that. It’s all about understanding and maturity.
