There was a time when Abolore
Akande aka 9ice was the hottest in
town as far as the music industry was
concerned. As with all stars though,
the shine never lasts forever but 9ice
could have shone brighter and longer
than many others because of his raw
and fresh talent which gave him huge
potential in the industry.
His first album ‘Certificate (2007)’
had songs like ‘Little Money’ and ‘Ganja
Man (Pass Me Di Lighter)’ and was a
hit. It was his sophomore album
‘Gongo Aso (2008)’ that blew the
charts and took him to the top. 9ice
headlined major concerts including
Mandela’s 90th birthday in Hyde Park,
London and a major concert in Cyprus
which practically every Nigerian
student attended. He also won awards
from MTV Base to MOBO and Dynamix
to ‘The Headies’ .
‘Tradition (2009)’ confirmed 9ice as
an A-list artiste. He was rumoured to
have been paid NGN5m to perform at
a top bank’s 2010 end of year party for
just 20 minutes. By this time though,
cracks were beginning to appear in his
core relationships.
The 31 year old act had first appeared
with rappers 2Shotz and Ruggedman
in their hit songs ‘Make Dem Talk’ and
‘Opomulero’ respectively. In the latter,
he propped his friend Ruggedy as the
main issue in rap music in an obvious
jab at ModeNine who then had
running battles with Rugged over
rapping in vernacular or English.
9ice’s producer was the beat-master
ID Cabasa and he was very close to
2Phat, Jahbless and a host of others.
He married fashion icon and music
promoter Toni Payne who had been
and increasingly became a major part
of his success. Any question you posed
to her about 9ice then would be
answered with veracity, from his
favourite colour to his childhood
moments, Toni would answer them.
In his third album, 9ice had a track
‘Once Bitten, Twice Shy’ where he
refered to a woman’s infidelity with
his friend. Everyone concluded it was
Toni and Rugged he was referring to
and 9ice made no effort to dispel the
rumour. The affair became messy and
ruined his relationship with his wife,
his producer and many friends.
Suddenly, 9ice had to forge new
alliances in an industry where
recognition only comes when you’re
hot.
By the time he released ‘Versus and
Bashorun Gaa’ in 2011, 9ice was
almost becoming yesterday’s news.
The albums were successful but not by
the standards he’d set for himself with
previous albums. ‘Versus’ featured a
lot of artistes from different genres
and saw 9ice struggling to assert
himself on tracks with Timaya and
Duncan Mighty. It wasn’t a surprise
he flowed well with K1 de Ultimate as
he was once a big fan of the fuji artiste
Pasuma .
Apart from his failed relationships,
another major challenge is that his
repertoire is easily copied by others.
Nobody has a monopoly or copyright
of Yoruba proverbs which is the major
source of 9ice’s music. Jaywon, Isolate
and a few others are easily doing what
9ice does so he needs to up his game.
It would be 9ice to see him do collabos
with major African acts using the
platform of his traditional music.
Angelique Kidjo, Yossou N’dour,
Lagbaja, Papa Wemba, Awilo
Logomba and maybe even Fally Ipupa
would help his career.
As I said of my president and his wife,
Toni was an important part of his
success. Remember the video of his
song ‘Photocopy’ where Toni dressed
him up physically? I know she did that
professionally too. Where 9ice would
have been seen as little more than a
street kid who got lucky, Toni made
him look good.
I did a story on the Toni Payne/9ice/
Rugged issue two years ago for a
magazine and found that there was no
truth in the infidelity allegations
against which he failed to defend his
wife and mother of his kid. I spoke
with Toni and saw a woman desperate
to protect her husband while battling
the allegations of infidelity.
Curiously,
she still worked with ID Cabasa to
produce Olamide and is still friends
with Ruggedman which seems to prove
that they are standing by her side of
the story. The response of the 9ice
camp through one Oladeinde was quite
haughty.
Finally, confidence is good and a little
bragging isn’t bad in hiphop. Personal
humility though is a necessity
especially when relating with industry
topshots. 9ice is definitely not the most
humble artiste in Nigeria.
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