Ikenna Obioha
Urban highlife singer, Adekunle Kosoko popularly known as Adekunle Gold, rose to fame with his debut single, ‘Orente’ which was met with moderate success, subsequently establishing him as one of the promising acts of the 2010s. Influenced by King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey, Gold furthers the genre of highlife music with a touch of elegance. Today, he is revered by music critics and has garnered an impressive fan base.
Following his highly acclaimed ‘One Night Stand Concert with Adekunle Gold,’ the musician returned to the stage as one of the headlining acts for the ‘100% Live Music’ concert – a show geared to bring to life the quintessential live concert experience.
In this chat, Gold talks about his new album project, relationship goals, opined on actress Doris Fapson’s alleged rape ordeal and introduces us to his band, The 79th Element. Enjoy it.
Concerts are becoming the best new thing in Nigeria right now, how do you think it has influenced the way people view Nigerian music?
I think people are beginning to understand that concerts and shows are a way of experiencing the songs live – the songs that you listen to on your phone – you go to the concert and then you see it as a fuller experience with the artiste performing, with the dancers dancing, with the backup artiste, with the band, so I think it’s a good move that we are doing this more now. I like the fact that we are cultivating the habit of doing festivals, shows, live concerts and everything. I think it is a step in the right direction.
What basically goes into your rehearsal?
A lot of rubbish we do for six hours. I tell you sometimes we can do like bare rubbish for four hours and the rehearsal is just two hours, but when we go on stage… it feels like we have done all the rehearsals in the world. Basically, what we do is have fun, you see us on stage and it looks like we are rehearsing; that’s it, we have fun.
Your kind of music, what would you say its content conveys?
I’m a lover boy. I love ‘love.’ I’ve not been love depressed to be honest but I’m a lover boy, I talk about love, what happens to my people what happens to me, real life issues.
Talking about real life issues, recently you faced major backlash online concerning your views on actress Dorcas Fapson’s alleged rape by a Taxify driver, how did you take this reaction?
That’s normal. I took it as one of those days when you are talking to people and they either misunderstand you or they don’t get it or because they want something to go a certain way, so, they don’t necessarily agree with you. What I said was simple, I said: ‘people need to allow people to narrate their ordeal without getting bashed; whether it is true or not.’ I am saying, let them narrate their ordeal without getting bashed… because the world is really cold, a lot of people don’t have the guts to come out and say what happened to them, because they are afraid of being abused or not believed. I am not on anybody’s side but when she posted the video and stuff, you cannot imagine that some people in the comment section of the blog that I read said that she probably was dressed indecently and that’s why she got into the drama. I was like… ‘what has that got to do with anything?’ That’s what I said but of course, the person who says the truth is the enemy of the people. I think people felt like I was bashing the guy, I didn’t even say one word about the guy; I said, let people share, narrate their ordeal without getting bashed, because that way, we get a lot of people to speak out more if there is a trouble.
Why do you think people behave like that, their anti-feminist behaviour?
We are living in a crazy world, I tell you, I’m not even afraid to say that one. We are living in a crazy world, so I feel what happens on social media these days; nobody has logic reasoning at all, at any point. It just takes one person to abuse you first and the others will join without thinking about what happened. Again, I was not there, this is not even sentiment in anyway, let people narrate their ordeals so that more people will have the guts to speak up when there is trouble. Okay, what if what happened was true? What if the guy was wrong? What if the guy was right? Only way to find out is to let people narrate their ordeals and let them not be afraid of what happens to them, but then, the world is getting crazy every day. Nobody is trying to have any logic reasoning. It’s fun to troll people online and that’s it.
Is this the first time you are having such a reaction online?
Definitely not.
Do you think it will influence the kind of music you will put out in future?
Never, there’s nothing like that. My people love me for me.
I mean music is a device, more like factor of change…
I get you now. Definitely, I talk about things that happen to people, so definitely that is something I want to talk about. It’s crazy how the world is going and it is sad that people aren’t realising that we are in deep shit.
You had quite a busy year last year, what are we to expect this year?
Album, tours and collaborations that you’d never imagine.
How far have you gone with the album process?
It’s done; it is dropping soon.
Which quarter of this year are we to expect it?
This quarter.
Can you give a little hint of what the album is about?
It’s everything you’ve not heard about. I feature acts like Flavour, Seun Kuti, and I will leave it at that.
Any single dropping soon?
There is going to be one dropping soon; I hinted it online that ‘Ire’ will be dropping. ‘Ire’ means goodness.
With your busy schedules now, how are you dealing with relationships, is it relationship now or you prefer to do music now?
I’m doing everything; man is growing old now and man’s hot (laughs). You have to balance everything out; I’m a family person so I understand the power of relationships and career, it’s just balanced.
So, if I get what you are saying, you are seeing someone?
Of course I am. The way you see me, I no go get babe?
What I mean is there is a difference between I have a girlfriend and being in an open relationship.
I’m not freelancing (sleeping about). I beg oh! Please don’t wreck my home (laughs hysterically).