for videos and performances but now , he would rather hire professionals to do his bidding ; including songwriting – one of the bones of contention that played a part in the dissolution of the P-Square group .
‘ I ’ m not 100 % a good song writer but it does not disqualify me as a musician . Michael Jackson , Usher Beyonce ; people write for them .’
In all truth , Whatever Peter lacks in the songwriting department , he makes up for it in quite a number of ways especially in other music arts . He plays almost every music instrument , he is a walking dance machine and he used to be a professional footballer . When I asked what part of his body he would most likely insure , I already knew what the answer would be . His legs .
He joked : ‘ Imagine a Mr . P show and Mr . P comes on stage limping … After the show they will tell him to refund the money .’
In this new era of Nigerian music , Mr P is quite impressed with Tekno , Wizkid , Davido and Runtown especially because of how they remind him of P-square , 2face , 9ice and Styl Plus back in the day . As for the music industry in general , he agrees that albeit slow , there is positive progression .
‘ We have done well so far but some things are still lacking . It may get better but so far we have done really well . A few of us started off selling albums in Nigeria but now , some people even throw their songs for free . “ Just download make I blow .” As long as that is still existing we still have a long way to go . An upcoming American will stick to his rights saying you must download it from here o . They won ’ t give you for free . I pray the change will come . We are between 35-40 percent . Not bad but we will get there .’ what Peter loved to waste money on .
‘ Party ! Chilling in my house . Instead make I waste the money for club , make una come here . There ’ s never a dull moment , anybody that knows me know . I still go clubbing o but I still love the fact that I can stay in my house . Even if I get drunk at least I ’ m in my house and not outside .
For new life to occur , something must give . P-Square will forever have a place in the hearts of music loving Nigerians but in a world where even Siamese twins sue themselves for the most trivial of things , this separation may have been written in the stars .
For Mr P , this individual journey is deeper than trying to outdo another . This was mostly about the freedom to explore and channel his creativity in all the ways he had always wanted to .
Of course there are quite a number of things to prove especially as he has been confined to a particular profile all through his career and he is well within his rights to change whatever notion that did not sit well with him .
He said to me ; ‘ There are a lot of things that people don ’ t really know about me but I think time will tell . All they just believe is that I dance but what happens when you realize that I know how to sing ? It will come . let ’ s wait for it .’
Photography by Image Faculty Styling by Peter Okoye
By far the most intense interview I had conducted , there was still some time to ask questions like