Popular Nigerian singer, Kingsley Okonkwo, popularly known as Kcee, says he will continue to give credit to his brother, E-Money and call his name in his songs. This act is what some critics have over time referred to as Kcee idolizing his brother but the singer says he does not care. Kcee says ‘If you don’t have a brother like E-Money.
In a recent chat with the Punch, the ‘Pull Over’ crooner shed more light on why it took him time to release another album and why he named his latest album ‘Attention To Detail’. In the same vein, the singer gave more insight into his ambition to become Governor of Anambra State in the forthcoming election.
Kcee says ‘If you don’t have a brother like E-Money
See excerpts below…
Many people don’t know who is older between you and your brother-Money?
They already know now. In fact, they don’t even need to know. The most important thing is that we’re brothers.
You usually give credit to E-Money and call his name in your songs which makes some people feel like you’re idolizing your younger brother; is that right?
I don’t care. They should go and do the same thing to their brothers and if they don’t have, they should go and buy. People should live us alone to live our lives in the best way we know how to.
Some people also say that the wealth you and your brother command cannot be from music alone; what other business are you involved in?
All the money we make is legitimate. Music is what has been giving me money all my life; I have never done any other business. It is even now that I’m trying to diversify into other things. We are involved in real estate; we have lots of properties that we let out to people. Very soon, I’ll be launching some merchandised items such as lingerie, underwear, headphones, among others. However, music is still the key for me because it is what got me everything I have. If you know how to invest, you will always get more.
Why did it take you four years from the time you released your last album till now before putting out another one?
The industry doesn’t support album projects and this makes some of us to see it as a waste of time, money and energy. After my last album, I was very busy travelling round the world performing, but I’ve never slacked in releasing singles. The songs I’ve released after my last album are enough to fill up an album. Having that long interval between my albums doesn’t mean I’m a lazy artiste but I think this would be the last time that I would wait so long before releasing an album. I may even release one next year.
What inspired the title of the album, Attention to Detail?
The idea is for people to pay attention to me as a person, beyond the music. I’ve been around for over a decade and there have been lots of ups and downs, so I just decided to talk directly to my fans and I want them to pay attention to Kcee.
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Do you think the songs on this new album can actually do better than your past hits like Limpopo and Pull Over?
No artiste can answer that question because we’re not God. Even for Limpopo that brought me a lot of success, its video was the cheapest I’ve ever shot. The song was recorded in few minutes so there wasn’t much effort to it. I never knew that the song would become that big. Pull Over was also the last song I recorded on my last album. I had actually planned to make a remix of Limpopo with Wizkid. But when we were in the studio, the producer, Del B, just played a beat and Wizkid started singing to it. That is how we came up with Pull Over. This goes to show that you never really know which song would become a hit until it becomes one. For me, I’ve put in my best to this album and I believe it’s better than the last one but God has the final say.
Artistes usually dump their record labels, sometimes without fulfilling their contracts. Why does this happen and can’t it be stopped?
It cannot stop. It has nothing to do with the industry but with the individual involved. A lot of people went through record labels and kept to their contracts. There are some politicians that come into office and fulfill their campaign promises while some don’t, so it happens across all sectors. It’s more about the person’s upbringing.
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I think the best way to get out of this is to keep educating artistes that before you sign any contract, make sure you get your lawyers. Most times, when these artistes come begging for record deals; they don’t have lawyers or family members. But when they begin to make little money, their parents and lawyers swarm around them and start giving them different kinds of advice.
Since it has also happened to you, has it made you weary of signing new artistes and supporting young talents?
No, it has not. Inasmuch as there are bad people, there are also nice people in the world. I was signed to Kennis Music for a while and I kept to the terms of the contract. I was with him recently and he said I’m one of the best artistes that he has worked with. Till today, we’re still friends. Meanwhile, some other artistes fought with him so you can see that it’s all about the individual.
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