Mountain Black and Mad Melon (real names Jimoh Olotu and Omeofa Oghene) have revealed why they have been absent and their plans on reinventing theirselves back into the music scene.
The men whose music genre is the Ajegunle’s Galala have been rumoured to have parted ways by their fellow colleagues for some years now.
Learn more from their interview to Vanguard.
Excerpts: Q. Is it true that two of you have parted ways?
A. No, we didn’t split, we only quarrelled, but we are still together. And we are still alive, so, no shaking. What actually happened was that we went to school to further our education because we believe education is the key to ultimate success.
Also, we’ve been going round for musical tour; first one was in Mali, followed by another one in Portharcourt. We also performed during the Portharcourt carnival. Presently, we are fully back to the music scene and very soon we will be dropping our new album and that will be in two months’ time as we are still working on it.
Q. Fans have been worried over your absence on the music scene. What has been happening to you two?
A. Yeah, what happened was that we had a contract with
Cornerstone, our record label and we agreed on a certain percentage as
part of the deal.
But when we were away in Mali for a Peace concert and in Portharcourt for another show during the last election, someone notified us that our marketter was printing our songs and selling it. That’s piracy, and we weren’t happy about it because we were not told and carried along. So, when we got back to Lagos we confronted the marketer, who explained to us that it was our record label who gave the go-ahead.
We felt cheated and angry, and we decided to break our contract with them. Now, we are coming up with our own record label to be known as ‘Danfo Drivers records’ and hopefully, it will be launched in the next two months or thereabout.
Concerning your misunderstanding with the marketer, what was your conclusion with him?
Of course it was a breach of contract and piracy and we took them to court but later we had to drop the case because we got tired of the case being adjourned every time.
But could this misunderstanding with your record label be another reason why you were away from the music scene?
Yes, it affected us a lot. We were supposed to be paid our royalty but we weren’t getting paid. They were just cheating on us. Another reason we decided to stop recording was because our record label, Cornerstone Entertainment, which was supposed to be promoting us were not doing so at all. They were not promoting our works and we were not getting any measurable exposure.
This made some of our songs not to be released. The only song we did that made it was the ‘Danfo Driver’. Apart from ‘Danfo Driver’, none of our other songs was promoted. This got our fans thinking we have quit music.
They also talked about the lack of meaning in Nigerian songs, and said: Most of today’s musicians don’t have message in their songs. The only thing artistes of today do is to sing about women, love and drink . So we are back to give our fans the best.
Danfo Drivers had been rumoured to be dead, they where said to have been shot dead by policemen, but it was all false rumour, as those that were shot were armed robbers with the name ‘Danfo Drivers’.
Can the singers who brought us the Lyrics, "Shebi You Be Danfo Driver, Swo (X6) help out the decline in lyricism in the Nigerian Music sector?
But when we were away in Mali for a Peace concert and in Portharcourt for another show during the last election, someone notified us that our marketter was printing our songs and selling it. That’s piracy, and we weren’t happy about it because we were not told and carried along. So, when we got back to Lagos we confronted the marketer, who explained to us that it was our record label who gave the go-ahead.
We felt cheated and angry, and we decided to break our contract with them. Now, we are coming up with our own record label to be known as ‘Danfo Drivers records’ and hopefully, it will be launched in the next two months or thereabout.
Concerning your misunderstanding with the marketer, what was your conclusion with him?
Of course it was a breach of contract and piracy and we took them to court but later we had to drop the case because we got tired of the case being adjourned every time.
But could this misunderstanding with your record label be another reason why you were away from the music scene?
Yes, it affected us a lot. We were supposed to be paid our royalty but we weren’t getting paid. They were just cheating on us. Another reason we decided to stop recording was because our record label, Cornerstone Entertainment, which was supposed to be promoting us were not doing so at all. They were not promoting our works and we were not getting any measurable exposure.
This made some of our songs not to be released. The only song we did that made it was the ‘Danfo Driver’. Apart from ‘Danfo Driver’, none of our other songs was promoted. This got our fans thinking we have quit music.
They also talked about the lack of meaning in Nigerian songs, and said: Most of today’s musicians don’t have message in their songs. The only thing artistes of today do is to sing about women, love and drink . So we are back to give our fans the best.
Danfo Drivers had been rumoured to be dead, they where said to have been shot dead by policemen, but it was all false rumour, as those that were shot were armed robbers with the name ‘Danfo Drivers’.
Can the singers who brought us the Lyrics, "Shebi You Be Danfo Driver, Swo (X6) help out the decline in lyricism in the Nigerian Music sector?
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