Encomium
Felix Olajide Omolafe, popularly known as Stunnah Gee, might be new to the Nigerian music scene with his fresh club banger, Baby Le, making waves at the moment. However, this super talented artiste has been inspiring thousands for years from his days as a chorister and a gospel artiste in the UK.
Now, fully into secular music, the Ondo native, who recently relocated to Nigeria from the UK to fully pursue his music dream, in this exclusive interview with ENCOMIUM Weekly, revealed his reasons for abandoning gospel music despite being the son of pastor parents.
Stunnah Gee also bared his mind on why he is not interested in signing onto a record label, his music and much more…
Your name, Stunnah Gee, what does it mean?
It was actually impressed upon me by a couple of friends of mine. I have a background in fashion, I usually dress to kill, so I was dressed for an occasion, I looked stunning and they started calling me stunner. I guess, I looked more stunning another day and he decided to add Gee to it when he saw me. I liked the name actually so I adopted it. Besides, in the French fashion scene, which I follow keenly, there’s this group, called Sapolo Gee. They are high class fashionistas and I like them a lot because of their impressive fashion sense. So, Stunnah Gee made me feel as if I belonged to their family.
What kind of music do you do?
I do all kinds of music, as far as I’m allowed to sing. To me, music is an artistic expression, that’s why we have different genres of music, depending on how you express yourself. Some people rap, others do dance hall, rock music and all. As long as I am allowed to sing, I do all kinds of music.
How many songs do you have out now?
Officially, I have two songs, unofficially, three. I dropped a song called Celebrate today, when I was in London about three years ago but it was just online among friends and family members to sample their reaction and it was great. I dropped my first official single last year, Dengeme and followed it up with a video in February this year and I have just released a new single, called Baby Le. Those are my songs so far.
What’s the feedback like with your new song, Baby Le?
I would say it is doing very well from the feedback I have been getting so far. In fact, all of a sudden, I got posted videos of people dancing to the song. I have four videos now and I am told I would get many more. That is from people I don’t even know so I can’t complain. I’m satisfied with the feedback. It’s very encouraging. We plan to shoot a video for it in a month or two because it looks like the market now is visuals inclined. People want to see your video on TV so, we are working on having the video in a month or two.
When did you relocate to Nigeria and why?
I moved to Nigeria last year because of music. I moved back because I want to be rooted where the music is. If I say I want to do afrobeat. I have to do it where afrobeat is rooted. I’m not a believer in what a lot of people do abroad and call UK afrobeat. Africa is the source of afrobeat so it only makes sense if I want to take this serious and want to be taken serious, I should be where the action is and get inspiration directly from the source. It’s better to be in the right environment rather than in another culture. There, you rack your brain to give people what they want and in most cases a lot of people abroad get it wrong. Maybe when they realize it’s not hardcore afrobeat, they decided to name it UK afrobeat.
Which Nigerian artiste do you look up to?
The one person that I feel is an absolute musician in 2Face Idibia. Obviously, his artistry says it all. He’s complete because he’s a live performer and a studio performer and that makes him a fantastic musician. I came into this industry late, I’m not a young artiste. I’m like a boxer who’s had his amateur days, semi-professional, before becoming professional. I can say I have a full understanding of how music work. I don’t look up to a lot of artistes, to be honest, but I would say 2Face is a proper musician. Apart from him, it will have to be the older generation. I went to an event Sunny Ade performed last month at late Chief Otedola’s burial. I saw King Sunny Ade perform and I was like, if at his age he can still do this, I’ve not gone wrong. I made the right choice listening to him and looking up to the likes of him and Ebenezer Obey, Orlando Owoh and the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
Your parents are pastors, how is their support like for your chosen profession?
They support me all the way, they are fantastic, incredible parents. They have put me on the right path setting me on a platform where I can’t go wrong. My mom in particular has been calling every time to find out how things are going, asking if I need anything. At the moment, she’s my major investor. She drops money when she has and it goes a long way. I thank God for my parents.
How do you reconcile being born and raised by pastors with being a secular artiste?
As a pastor’s son, it’s either you are singing or doing something in the church. I started from church, that’s why I said I started as an amateur. I started singing gospel music before I moved on to my comfort zone which is new soul. New soul is the genre of music done by people like Maxwell, also done by the likes of Miguel, Eric Bennet, D’ Angelo, and Trey Songz would pass for a new soul singer and now I do afrobeats as you can see. The truth of the whole story is that, my voice was too much for the church. Someone actually convinced my dad to let me go and do what I want to do. He knows I know what I’m doing so, it’s not a case where I will get carried away by the gimmicks of the music world. I’m here for a reason, I need to be professional and I’m trying to do my job seriously.
So, what are your plans going forward?
We intend to drop the video to my new single, Baby Le and two more singles before the end of the year and follow up with videos as well. God willing we hope an investor comes on board because it requires a lot of money to promote your work and be heard. I also have a number of collabos, I don’t know when the artistes intend to drop them. I intend to drop one or two of the ones that collaborated with me, including songs with Lola Rae, and some UK artistes I worked with. There are fantastic songs coming from me and I know the public will like them. I also have collabos with Shank, XP and I’m anticipating doing a song with Ketchup. Davido was supposed to jump on board, but he’s a very busy man. He was supposed to do a remix of my song Dengeme with me. So, hopefully, when he comes back we will do it or another song but he is keen on doing a song with me. We’re trying to speak with Runtown’s people for a collaboration as well as Patoranking and Burna Boy too. So, there are many things coming up from me.
How confident are you on your chances in the industry?
I’m confident but not overconfident, I know what I have and I will stick to my gun and do what I can. It’s not going to be easy, we know that but there’s not going to be any holding back, you need consistency, perseverance and we have that in abundance.
-AJOKE ONITOLO
