More than a Tease

Although he has featured in some music that's received massive airplay, General Pype believes many of his fans are yet to put a face to the name. Born Olayiwola Majekodunmi in Lagos to Ogun State indigenes, his sound might be recognised from tracks like "It's Okay" with Loose Kaynon and "Teaser" with MI.

Fresh from South Africa after shooting the "Teaser" video with MI, the patois speaking Nigerian sat with X2 and let us into his world.

How did you get your start in music?

It started back when I was a child growing up in the ghetto (Obalende). I used to be very conscious of the music around me; music from bars, beer parlours, etcetera, so that when I sleep there is still music in my head.

Music has always been all over me; everywhere I go I take interest more in music while my peers will take interest in playing football. I just love music.

When did you start professionally?

I started in 1999 when I performed with a classical music choir called Triumphant Choral Voices, with the likes of Laz Ekwueme acknowledging our existence. Some of us also did backup for Late Pa Steve Rhodes at some point.

How did you get the name Pype and what does it mean?

Pype is an acronym to Prolific Youth Positive Entertainer, P.Y.P.E, not pipe as some people think. I got the name from my manager. He was like anything that goes through you comes out fine at the end of the day, you're prolific. So it's not because I'm slim and my waist line is 28.

The ‘General' part, however, came from fans and admirers; they were like ‘You are like a soldier, you don't apologise, you are a general!'

How would you describe your kind of music?

Like my name prolific implies, I'm very versatile, and I can do a lot of genres. I started off singing R&B and doing rock but along the line, I discovered the part that many know now as the dancehall. I believe when my upcoming album drops, fans will know that I'm just a music man.

When is your album dropping?

The album should be up for grabs in the next two months, even though we are still trying to screen the many songs we have; not to meet expectations but to surpass [them]. Right now we have over a hundred collaborations home and abroad, so we are really working at screening as it is the first album.

Who did you collaborate with on the album?

There is Vector the Viper and some international artists but since the collaborations are so [many] that they can't all make it. I won't want to mention names until the album is out.

What will the album be called?

I think fans should keep their fingers crossed as we're not sure yet if it's even going to be a double CD. Each time a fan tells me ‘General Pype, you're doing a good job,' it makes me work harder.

How did you meet MI?

With MI, it was like, ‘Pype, I want you on my track' and I was like ‘Talk to my people,' but it took like some months before we understood each other. Even then, we didn't get to know wha'gwan until the MTV/Zain Advance Warning where we both featured. We later got into the studio and I freestyled on the beat and "Teaser" was made.

With the current complaint about the lewdness of Nigerian music, how would you rate the content of "Teaser"?

"Teaser" is like a club scenario (switches to patois) with a ‘made man' in the club. Trying to have a nice time and trying to make it clear that ‘I'm not a juvenile; people out there know what I can do and what I'm here to do is have a nice time.'

To the girls them, I'm like a diamond to them. You know how much girls like diamonds. So "Teaser" is about a lifestyle.

How did you learn to speak patois?

(Continues in patois) it's about the consciousness and the will power; it is about how much I willed it. While I was trying to learn, I invited a well spoken artist to come and perform on my track but he missed the sessions I booked at a studio. Since session time is expensive, I decided to lay the patois thing myself.

After the demo was recorded, I took it to my friends and they were like the song is alright but it wouldn't have been this good without the guy that did the patois verse. I was like, ‘I did it!' and people like Paul Play, Sunny Nneji, Sasha, MI, Bigiano all applauded it and that's how it started for me.

A lot of upcoming artists think recording a dancehall track is an easy route to limelight; do you share this view with them?

(Still patois) You are right to think dancehall music is the easiest way to limelight but recording a dancehall track is not easy. There is a difference between the real dancehall and afro dancehall. When you ask a typical dancehall artist what kind of songs they do, they'll tell you they do Afro dancehall or afro hip hop.

If you want to do hip hop let it be straight hip hop. If you want to do reggae music, do it and key it down like a true reggae artist. If you want to do rock know there is nothing like afro rock. If you want to do Afro beat, you have to do it like Fela Kuti.

Dancehall music is not an easy genre to dabble into or you will end up breaking a whole lot of rules which won't get the message to the corner you want to pass it to.