OJB, THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND HIS PLEA FOR HELP By Charles Novia

I first met OJB way back in 1991 in a small studio situated at Klegg Street, Ojuelegba which was known as ‘Klass Digital Studios’. In those days, whilst I was an undergraduate at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka studying Dramatic Arts, I was also intent on exploring my innate musical talents to sing, compose, arrange and produce tunes. ( Perhaps if I wasn’t into the film industry, I would have been a music producer/artiste but I think starting my record label almost ten years ago helped ventilate the positive energy and love I still have for that sector.) 
Klass Studios was a small but very important recording studio then and had a unique assemblage of future artistes who would book studio sessions and have their songs wonderfully produced by the very talented duo of Eddie and MacIver, two brothers who were quite adept in musical technology and arrangement. Klass was owned by the soft-spoken Victor Okhai, now a film Director and a movie resource person and though he might not have realized it then, his studio was grooming future major players for the music and movie industry way back then.
I recorded over 12 songs in Klass Studios which never got to be released by the dominant labels then ( and not because they were not good, thank you very much!) but because in those days, unlike today, the music business was run by the major recording companies: Premier Music, EMI (later called Ivory Music) and Sony Music and there were competing spaces for young up and comers then. Besides, I was singing an enhanced genre of Afro-pop made popular by Mike Okri while Reggae music was the dominant genre back then. 

I remember numerous visits to Premier Music to submit and check on my demo tapes for results, not to talk of countless visits to EMI and Sony Music for same purposes. Then, at the Premiere Music reception in Satellite Town (now being used by NIRA CD manufacturing company), I would be among many young and aspiring musicians waiting with bated breath for Pa Chris Ajilo (then the Artiste and Repertoire Manager of Premiere Music) to come out and give his verdict or call you in to his office for talks. Truly, Simon Cowell is an angel compared to those tried and tested music executives when it comes to giving verdicts on demo tapes.

I remember one funny incident in 1991 in that company; one young chap had sent his demo for evaluation and we all wee also waiting for our turn. Pa Chris Ajilo came out of his office, frowning.

‘Who’s Rasta Hiroshima?’ he barked

A mildly bleached-skinned young lad jumped up.

‘I am, Sir’. He replied. Pa Ajilo waved a cassette angrily at him.

‘You call this music? You call this trash in this tape music? This rubbish that has given me a headache just listening to it?’ Pa Ajilo fumed and threw the cassette at the alarmed young Rasta. He stormed back into his office. The dampened young man mumbled in embarrassment as he picked the cassette from the floor amid a few sniggers from some of us. I could not help wondering then how someone could even call himself a name as weird as ‘Hiroshima’ back then. If I had known that people were going to call themselves ‘weirder’ names in future, I would not have bothered. Then, I was simply called ‘Charlie Dee’ during my musical days.

Pa Ajilo called me into his office. I went in with a beating heart faster than the drum beats in my ‘Track 5’ on my demo tape; a song I wrote titled ‘If I could fly…’.

‘Young Man,’ he said in gentle tones. ‘You have good songs. I like your songs. But you sing a brand of music which we don’t think would be very commercial. You sing like Mike Okri. Pop music is not a seller these days. Change your songs to reggae and we will see how to sign you on, possibly’. He said.

The headstrong Charlie Dee would have none of that. I loved reggae music but how was I to throw away my unique compositions such as ‘Be my Chickito’, ‘U be my Miss Nigeria’, ‘Shake bodi’ ‘Never too young’ and the cheeky ‘I’m in love with your daughter’ to start singing reggae versions? Never. I went to Sony Music and Uncle Laolu Akins, the A & R head there, told me; ‘we can’t have another Mike Okri competition here. Try EMI’. I got to EMI and the amiable Ms Tolu Gaye, their A&R, listened to my songs and said ‘You have promise. We will work with you but you need some training. 

You may have to do back up vocals for Captain Sunny’. She introduced me to one of their new acts who just released an album then and was singing like Sonny Okosun then ; Captain Sunny who would later be known as Sunny Neji! Academic callings made me suspend my musical ambitions to face my studies and all those plans went to sleep.

Years later in 2005, as CEO of November Records, I would meet Pa Ajilo who was the General Manager of Performing Musical 
Rights Society (PMRS) and I reminded him of what he told me fifteen years earlier.

‘I can’t remember, my son’ the seventy something year old veteran said ‘but look at you today! A record label owner! It wasn’t an easy thing to be a label owner those days and I am sure its not easy today. Just be focused, my son. God will guide you’ he said and prayed for me.

I will write about my musical trudge from the past as time goes on but why did I digress a bit from OJB? Because I want us all to have a glimpse of what it was to be a musician in those days, the struggles and frustrations and hopes which many had and never achieved in those days. OJB was part of it.

One day, while I was mixing my demo with my Producer at Klass Studios, this handsome young man came in and greeted everyone. 
He listened to my song and started harmonizing and ‘bending’ the vocals. ‘Bending’ was quite popular those days in pop music; think Boys 2 Men.

‘Sing it this way’ he told me.

‘My guy, I know the limits of my voice. Make we leave am as I sing am please!’ I gruffly replied, annoyed that someone would just walk into my session and ‘bend’ my fine lyrics.

The fellow was quite good-natured about my reply and laughed it up. He stayed and helped in the mixing, free of charge. That fellow was OJB. Thereon, I would bump into him at the studios most times and we would discuss the music industry in Nigeria passionately and he would express his frustrations at how the record companies wanted every young man to sing reggae. 
Apparently, he had sent his demos to all of them.

Another young man who used to come to the studios then was a guy named Paul. He walked into my session one day and listened to my tracks as they were being mixed. He gave a couple of observations in a soft-spoken tone and I corrected some lyrics based on his advise. Then, he played me a demo of his. I was blown away. It was so futuristic and out of this world, way back then in 1991! That young man called Paul later became a huge star and we all know him as Paul Play Dairo today.
Years later, I would reconnect with OJB, Paul Play and Sunny Neji and memories of the ‘struggling years’ would be brought up. 
Those were actually ‘paying your dues’ years for all of us.

OJB has seen it all. He has slaved and toiled to make the Nigerian music industry great. He has produced many artistes over the years and has been a solo artiste himself with hits such as ‘Searching’, ‘Pretete’ and others numerous to mention. He produced Tuface’s ‘African Queen’ and other songs for him. He has produced Faze, Azadus, Goldie, KC Presh, Slam, Nomoreloss and so many I can’t even remember. OJB has etched his name into the annals of our musical history. Sadly, because we have a skewed system in Nigeria, the Producer never gets royalties from their hit songs. If the structure was well-grounded, the royalties from ‘African Queen’ alone would have made OJB a billionaire! Alas, that is not the case.I will not talk about why the big artistes right now haven’t raised the full amount for OJB, except to say that at times like these the reality of the lies which musicians live comes to the fore. When their PR agents assail us with their latest cars and houses and endorsements, I hope those same PR agents would be willing to beg us to save them when the chips are down and they are no longer the ‘reigning’ stars.
OJB need our donations for a kidney transplant. Most of all, he needs our prayers. I know what it takes for a grown man to plaed for help. I have been there. Most of us have been there. The dude wouldn’t have wished this on himself but he just has to plead for us to save his life. We enjoyed his music. Lets just donate whatever we can to help the genius make music again after he gets well.