I DON’T RUSH TO THE STUDIO BECAUSE SOMEONE HAS GIVEN ME N5 MILLOIN

I DON’T RUSH TO THE STUDIO BECAUSE SOMEONE HAS GIVEN ME N5 MILLOIN - Top Fuji Act, Sulaimon Adio Atawewe

Alhaji Suliamon Adio Atawewe is not new in the Fuji music industry. Infact, he seems to be the only one who has somehow been able to escape the negative publicities that have been linked to other Fuji Artistes. News of the People’s Lukmon Akintola recently spotted this fair gentleman and he spoke on his recently- released album Public Figure, why it took almost four years to release the album, reasons for naming the album Public Figure and many more. Enjoy it

Your last album “Free World” was released in 2007, why did it take you this long to drop another album?

I want you to understand that it is not easy to get to the top of your career and when you get there it is also not easy to remain there. The ascension process for a poor man is to one direction and that is the movement to a position of greatness, but for a rich man, it is definitely back to being poor. To answer your question, I was already at a level and if I had mismanaged that position, it will definitely affect me. It took a while to release the album, but we thank God that since the release of the album, we have not regretted it. You see, the truth of the matter is that anybody who is bringing out money to buy a product must be given the best. Since the album got to the market, we have been receiving commendations on the job. A lot of people have been commending us, telling us this is a very good job and whenever you receive commendations on a job you have done, it only means that you have delivered.   

So, basically you worked on this album for four years?

You need to understand that the Fuji Music Industry has been going on a downward swing for some time now. Very few artistes can beat their chest and say I have produced a hit album. So, in line with the downward slope of the industry, we needed to work on this album very well. We have been on this album since the concluding part of 2010. So, it took us the whole of 2011 to make this album. For a lot of people who knew my travelling schedule in 2011, whenever I travelled I would quickly return. The idea was that I had to be back in the country to continue work on the album that I was about to release. It amazed a lot of my fans then that I would speak with them from London on Monday night and by Sunday, I would have been back. A lot of people wondered why I was travelling like that, but it was all due to the schedule of my album, I had to make sure the album was not only a hit, but that the songs were ever green.

A lot of artistes would have bowed to pressure from their fans to release an album, was it like there was no request from your fans?

There was a lot of pressure from my fans, but consider the fact that if the album had been released due to pressure from my fans or like a lot of Fuji artistes now do just to make people know they are still in the game and it had fallen below expectation, it would have amounted to me falling into the league of failed musicians, and I would rather release an album when I am ready than just to satisfy people. If you can’t progress, it is better to maintain your position, instead of falling down the pecking order. To release an album needs you to listen to what people have been doing and do your thing to change the face of everything. I have grown above the level where someone would give me five million naira and I will quickly rush to the studio to do an album to sing praise him. That is the trend in the Fuji Industry. I can’t be running to the studio every six months and be churning out a junk, that is not how it should be, that is not what people want to hear. Take Michael Jackson for instance, if he releases an album, it remains ever green till the next album comes out. Even in death his albums are still selling. It took us this long to release this album because I want all my albums to be “Ever Green”. That is what I am working on. I don’t want an album that I will release and people will listen to for like three months and forget. I want an album that will be a good product from the day I release it till the day I pass on. An album that will even continue to sell even after I have passed on, an album that my children will be able to eat from even when I have gone.

You named this album Public Figure, why is it so, what is the message in the title?

There are lots of titles we could have picked from but we thought it would be good to pick Public Figure, to educate people that a lot of Fuji Artistes should see themselves as Public Figures; as role models, people look up to you, a lot of people want to be like you. They see you on the television, they read about you in the papers and they want to be like you. They want to emulate you, but since they may not be able to have access to you, at least they can pick from the messages there and emulate you.

Tell us a little about this new album Public Figure

There are artistes whose songs cannot be played at homes because they contain explicit and indecent words, but Public Figure is an album which you can play at home and the kids can pick one or two things as the lesson they have learnt from listening to the album while enjoying it with you.

For those who have been privileged to listen to Public Figure, your side one seems to be what would have been your side two and vice versa, why is this so?

It is the same idea I told you about earlier. It is a deviation from the status quo. Typical of the Fuji artistes, their albums always begin with Islamic religious praises in side one, but we need to up our game and do things differently. There is need for a change in the music we do, a musical revolution of sort. We need to take people by surprise now and not just giving them what they have been used to for donkey years. Fuji music has gone from the era of artistes insulting one another or getting involved in brawls. We should stop releasing albums for dropping sake. Let’s stop releasing albums for the sake of existence, and if we must exist let’s do it properly. So, when people see a poster about you releasing an album they can anticipate the release.

A lot of commendations have trailed this album, but how do you see it doing in the next six months owing to the fact that Fuji music often frizzles out before you know it?

Right now, the album is already in the market and it is doing really well. It is selling fine. I don’t want to look at the album in the next six months. I want to look at it in the next three to four months because I know the album will pick a lot of awards this year.

Is this the typical Atawewe Album or is this a deviation from the norm?

No. this is not a typical Atawewe album. This is an album that is all encompassing; it is an album for everybody and not for Atawewe fans alone. The way this album is going, it has gone beyond Atawewe fans alone because there are some people who don’t know me, but have interest in my music. I have not done Fuji like this before in my life.  I believe you don’t have to ask the Producer of a programme to invite you for his show because if you have a good product in the market, it will surely sell you and take you to the next level, people who don’t know you will know you, people who don’t want to listen to you will listen to you.

Finally, you spent four years in solitude before you released Public Figure, are we going to wait for another three years to see another album?  

Public Figure is a double album. The first one is what you are listening to now, while the other one will be coming out by April this year. To your question, it’s going to take another year for me to rehearse before saying that I want to release another album because people will be expecting more from me in relation to what they have heard from this album. So, to give them what they want you must always come fresh and up your game.