It is no longer news that one year after the messy fight between the Okoye brothers making up Nigeria’s most notable music group, PSquare, yet another rupture has been brought to the fore.
The latest, coming after the success of their latest songs, including “Bank Alert”, like they never left, has got fans talking once more.
Against the backdrop of the messy issue revealed by Peter, the more outspoken of the twins and their elder brother, Jude Okoye, and the subsequent termination of his membership of the group.
We present a list of other groups whose break-ups have hurt fans and followers in the Nigerian music arena.
REMEDIES
This is the group reputed with kicking off the hip hop movement in Nigeria almost two decades ago. Made up of then three young men – Eedris Abdulakreem, Eddy Montana and Tony Tetuila who were signed up to Kennis Music after the release of their ground-breaking single, “Sako mo”, they seemingly had the world at their feet. Or so everyone thought, until the rumours started making the rounds that a third of the group, the blonde hair-spotting Tony Tetuila, would no longer be working with them. By the time they would release their second album, featuring the catchy songs, “Sade” and “Belinda” among others, the rumours had long been confirmed to be true. With Tetuila having released the unforgettable single, “Omode Meta” long after securing the sympathy of Nigerians and rolling with Plantashun Boiz and Ruff Rugged and Raw, he was never going to go back to his former band mates.
The group split further after their second album as Eedris, notoriously the most outspoken of the initial three and two left at that point, released his first solo album titled PASS and we never heard anything from Eddy Remedy till date apart from a single here and there, including a track with his younger brother, J Boy also on the Kennis Music platform.
PLATNASHUN BOIZ
Right after Remedies was another all-boys group known as Plantashun Boiz which emerged on the scene around the same time as the group regarded as Nigeria’s first modern hip hop group. Consisting of Augustine Ahmedu (Blackface), Innocent Idibia (2Face) and Chibuzor Oriji (Faze), the group enjoyed a great following among young Nigerian music lovers back then after steadily pushing out great
songs including “Knock mi off,” “Don’t you know,” “If,” “One ‘n’ only,” “Situation” and others through two successful albums titled Body and Soul and Sold Out under Nelson Brown’s Dove Entertainment.
It all ended however when 2Face, widely considered the most enchanting of the three, left to pursue a solo career around 2003, leaving both Blackface to go the same route also. With Ghetto Child, a fairly successful album released in 2004, Blackface announced his own solo career with Faze following in their footsteps much later. In 2007, following the intervention of some heavyweights within and beyond the music industry, the ground united for an album titled Plan B but only 2Face seems to have prospered in the area of music since, with the careers of both Blackface and Faze having faded somehow.
TRYSBESMEN
Made up of three rap acts, Eldee, Kaboom and Freestyle, Trybesmen hit the fledging Nigerian music scene with aplomb around 2000 with a track titled “Shake Bodi.” But with just a few tracks after, not much was heard of the group thereafter as Eldee left for the United States of America, only to return later to chase a solo career and establish a label known as Trybe Records. Till date, apart from a few features here and there, Freestyle and Kaboom, despite being regarded as hugely talented, have remained inactive on the musical front while Eldee has moved on from music after announcing his retirement a few years ago. For Kaboom, close observers say featuring in Darey Art Alade’s hit song, “Young Man” was his last contribution to a mainstream song
X APPEAL
Many fans still remember Jazzman Olofin, especially on account of his featuring Fuji musician, Adewale Ayuba, years ago but not everyone knows he used to be a member of a group with Lexy Doo known as X Apeeal. The group, which once dropped a song featuring Plantashun Boiz in the early 2000s, spilt not long after, with Jazzman and Lexy Doo going on to release “Raise the roof ” and “Baby Skeske” respectively. Not much is known about what both acts are into right now after their careers nosedived years ago, let alone the state of their careers. That’s if they are still involved in music at all, whatever level.
PRESH
Linking up after reportedly meeting in church, Kcee and Presh formed KC Presh, the group that went on to win the maiden edition of Nigerian Breweries-sponsored talent hunt programme known as Star Quest. The group, which was signed on by Kennis Music shortly after winning Star Quest back then, released songs like “Shokori Bobo” and “Sengemenge” before eventually splitting around 2011. Upon breaking up, Kcee, who immediately kicked off his solo career, enjoyed relative success under Five Star Music, the record label he set up along with his elder brother, with songs like “Limpopo,” “Ogadinmma” and “Pull Over” among others.On his own, Presh first went underground, reportedly relocating outside Nigeria but returned around 2014 and registered his presence with a few songs under a label known as Eric Manny Records. He is still trying to find his niche.
INFINITY
Another group that enjoyed an awesome level of visibility, Infinity was consisting Akinbode Kehinde (Kenny Kore) Nnogo Samson, Okougbo Joseph, Sunny Steve and
David Thomas Adebiyi. Apart from entertaining Nigerians with great songs like “Olori Oko” and “Aye Ole,” they followed up with very compelling music videos that will continue to resonate with Nigerians for a long time. Just about a year or two after releasing their only album, the group split, with members going in different directions. Among the group members, Kenny Kore has become the most visible, since going ahead to launch a successful solo career.
Another group of rappers, the story of Ruff, Rugged and Raw is one of a group that promised so much but did not eventually deliver much, maybe through no fault of theirs. Not even later coming under the wings of Paul I.K Dairo and featuring in one of his best songs, “Angel of my life” did a lot to their staying power and despite the weight of their talent as seen in a number of songs they featured in, they are hardly remembered as being one of the groups that shook Nigerian music in those days. By the time they would join Paul Play’s Playground Entertainment, the group was not as it was in the beginning
KUSH
Hardly has any split story broken the hearts of music fans in Nigeria as much as that of gospel music group, KUSH. Consisting of Lara George, TY Bello, Emem and Dapo Torimiro, the group, which got his name from Kinetically Ushering Souls into Heaven, released its debut album,The Experience, to great acclaim around 2002 before finally splitting, unfortunately, in 2004. As recently as 3 years ago, stories of their break-up still made headline news as fans can’t seem to forget why such lovely and talented individuals would abandon something they apparently enjoy doing. To the joy and delight of millions of their fans, they came together for the remake of their hit song, “Let’s live together” as part of the soundtrack for the film, Half of a Yellow Sun, adapted from a novel of the same name by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie but without TY Bello joining in that effort.
DEF ‘O’ CLAN
A ridiculously rich line-up of talented acts like Buzz Man, Kadil, Rabbi, Alabye and others, Def ‘O’ Clan was a collective of rap-inclined group of music acts led by Azadus. Mostly based in the Festac area of Lagos, which was the happening place in Lagos at the time, Def ‘O’ Clan, upon releasing the single, “Kilonso” around 2001, faded into as a number of the group’s members including Azadus went on to enjoy a level of success in their individual ways. Like him, Buzz Man was to enjoy a renaissance of sorts when he released a song a few years ago while many remember Alabye from being featured on Blackface’s popular single, “Hard life.”
ZULE ZOO
Made up of two young men from Benue State, Ibrahim Hassan and Michael Aboh, Zule Zoo, made a splash on the music scene years back with a song titled “Kerewa.” So popular was the song that it became even more of a kind of national anthem when National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) announced its ban on radio and TV stations. From barely three years after the time, only a member of the group was still holding on – as Ibro Zule Zoo – and as expected, without much success.
STYL-PLUS
If only for their looks, many ladies still have fond memories of three good-looking young men, Shifi Omoefe, Zeal and Tunde who made up the R ‘n’ B group, Styl-Plus. Apart from being determined to make the public aware of the passing of a founding member, Lanre, the group serenaded Nigerians with great tunes through smash hits like “Olufunmi,” “Runaway,” “Iya Basira,” “Imagine That”among others before the group separated officially as Tunde became the first of the three to pursue a solo career afterwards. The impact of their absence is so much that one half of the feuding PSquare sometimes back reflected on the void left by the absence of the Styl-Plus.
For a number of events, they have had to reunite but only on stage to perform some of their songs back in the day.
MAINTAIN
Also known as The Boys from Ibadan when they started out, Maintain, made up of Olu, Tolu and Big Bamo, ruled the Nigerian music scene after releasing a number of singles, including “I catch cold” and “Alo” apart from their unique debut single. The group split mainly due to declining fortunes around 2006 and after coming under serious attack from observers who accused them of lacking originality. This group of critics was led by Ruggedman, then a new act coming on the scene, who took them to the cleaners in his debut single titled “Ehen” featuring late Nomoreloss. – New Telegraph.
