Encomium
– T.W.O’s TUNDE OBE
DELECTABLE showbiz couple, Tunde and Wunmi Obe (T.W.O) probably have the sweetest and most compelling love story in this side of the world. In an industry where marriages and indeed relationships crash as soon as they commenced, T.W.O have for
ged on as one for all of 26 years!
In this exclusive interview with ENCOMIUM Weekly, conducted at their multi-million luxury mansion at Justice Coker Estate, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, Tunde Obe shared the secrets of what has kept them together this long. The creative force behind T.W.O also revealed how they celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary on June 26, 2014.
And obviously elated by their forthcoming album, T.W.O Plus, he spoke glowingly about the hit-track, Green-White-Green, a classical collaboration with multiple award winning African pop super star, 2Face Idibia.
Tunde Obe equally opened up on their eye-popping Alausa, Ikeja abode, saying it’s no big deal being Governor Fashola’s neighbour.
He was more than glad to let ENCOMIUM Weekly into their very private world…
You’ve been married for 16 years, but you insist it’s actually 26 years. How did you arrive at this?
Wunmi and I have been together since 1988. And from the day we met, we knew we would end up getting married, because the kind of connection we had at the beginning was more than mere friendship.
So, how did you celebrate?
Funny enough, that particular day (June 26), we were actually moving from one radio station to another trying to promote our new single, Green-White-Green.
It was when we came back we just had our own little romantic candlelight dinner. And we spoke about 16 years of our marriage and how much of our goals we have achieved. We appreciated each other, shared a bottle of champagne and renewed our marital vows.
What has been the most pleasant thing about being married to Wunmi these past years?
Being married to your best friend, being married to somebody you know you can trust 100 per cent. Being married to somebody you know you can’t doubt her loyalty at any point in time.
In what special way has she changed you in the last 26 years?
I would say she has made me a better person. When somebody shows you so much respect and loyalty; when you have a woman who believes in you, it’s the ginger you need in life. Nobody wants a wife who scolds or talks down on him. Every day, my wife encourages me. “I know my husband can do this and that,” she says.
Has there not been challenges?
Definitely, there has been. But we have a unique way of disagreeing. We talk and reason like intellectuals. You would never hear us raise our voices or haul insult at each other. What we do is to present our cases like two lawyers (laughs). And the person that has superior argument wins. If there is a stalemate, we go with what the Bible says, that the husband is the head of the family.
At a critical time, marriages are breaking up as soon as they are contracted, what has kept yours other than God?
Communication, understanding, patience, genuine love, attention to each other.
How many kids have God blessed you with?
We have two boys and a girl. The girl is the eldest, Roxanne, the boys are Ricardo and Andre.
We learnt Roxanne is interested in music?
Yes. But she would only go into music after school.
Why?
Because what has helped me and Wunmi is the fact that we have the intellectual balance. We also have the ability to do other things if music fails. Music is not 100 per cent reliable. Today, you might be on top, tomorrow, you would be out of circulation. With education, you are guaranteed to find your footing in life. She has agreed with us. She has no choice anyway. She is well brought up. She knows we want the best for her.
The advantage Roxanne has is that she has all she needs to promote her career. We’ve got all the equipment she needs to record and even the label to launch her career.
How do you juggle family and show business?
It is a fine balance because it is not all that difficult. When we sit down, and we are discussing issues, we can easily move from one area of our life to the other. When an issue related to the family crops up, we sort it out and when it is about our business, we handle it, too. But it’s family first.
Could anyone had suffered at the expense of the other?
No. It’s the two of us, we can always find a way to get things done. She can do one, while I face another thing. It is more of division of labour.
You have a very beautiful house here but you seldom talk about it. You are even privileged to be Governor Fashola’s neighbour.
Because I don’t think a house defines me. I don’t think a mansion defines whom I am. I think I’m more than the house. The real people who matter to me are those who value me for whom I am, not my material worth. I used to live in a smaller apartment. And I don’t think my true friends didn’t see my real worth back then. I built the house, I think I’m more than the house. The people who value me in respect of this are not the ones I want to associate with. I did it for my family. It’s not what people think you are that is important. It’s what you actually are. It’s not what people think you are worth financially that is important, it’s what you are actually worth.
Don’t you consider yourself lucky to have built what many value as the most beautiful house of any old or contemporary Nigerian artiste?
That’s serious (laughs). I have not been to anybody’s house. So, I don’t know what their houses look like. We give God the glory. All I will say about that is that God gave us all we’ve wanted in a house here. This was all we ever wanted. It didn’t fall off the apple cart, it has always been our dream and we worked towards it. We made a lot of sacrifices. I didn’t spend nights in clubs drinking champagne. I don’t have children outside. It has been a lot of sacrifice to get this. It’s no big deal. We started the project in 2007. It wasn’t a day’s journey, we even bought the land two years earlier.
Some say the house is worth N500 million, others say it’s close to N1 billion?
Let them continue. What does the cost of Tunde and Wunmi Obe’s house got to do with the state of Nigeria economy? Will it bring back our girls?
Who designed the house?
Skyblue Concept.
You worked with them?
Yes, I knew what I wanted just that I cannot draw. We sat together and sketched my own idea which they brought to life.
What is your advice to younger Nigerian artistes who still live in rented apartments that cost them millions of naira?
When Wunmi and I started, we could have afforded to rent a luxury apartment on the Island, considering the kind of money we were making that time, but we were living in Gowon Estate, Ipaja, Lagos where we paid minimal rent so we can save for other basic needs. It wasn’t a day’s journey. Many artistes don’t get it right. You are driving a car you don’t have a quarter of its total cost in your account, you are a failure.
My advice is they should not live above their means or income. And those who are doing very well now should invest wisely because no condition is permanent.
Let’s talk about your new single, Green-White-Green and forthcoming album, T.W.O Plus.
Now, you are talking. Green-White-Green came about because of the situation in the country. Wunmi and I have not been around for two years or thereabout. Our last video was released in June 2012. So, coming back to the music scene, we knew we were not going to be singing, Shake your bum bum or Roll that thing. With everything going on in the country, as senior artistes, we wouldn’t close our eyes as if nothing is happening in Nigeria. So, we decided we needed to address this situation. And who else could we have championed this than one of Africa’s best, 2Face Idibia.
How did he buy the idea?
The whole story of Green-White-Green started at Femi Kuti’s 50th birthday. I was there with some of my people and 2Face also came with his own people. As he was sitting down, he just said something like, “Ah, T.W.O and 2Face don enter the place o. Come, why we never even do anything together?” Funny enough, we were on the same management at that time (Now Music). That was how 2Face sowed the seed for the song. When the time came and we invited him, we recorded the single despite his very busy schedule.
Who else did you work with in the album?
We also did a very beautiful song with 9ice. People should look out for it. Dammy Krane, too. We also did a song with my brother, Segun Obe too. We equally featured up and coming artistes like Teniim (Wedding Day)…There is also Floss a.k.a Mazi of YSG Entertainment and Brace.
Who produced for T.W.O?
We had Bayo Johnson of Pjay Productions. We also worked with Del-B, among others.
When is the album tentatively dropping?
Sometime in November, 2014. But between now and then, we would have dropped other videos.
So, the song has been massively accepted?
Oh yes. And the album is full of so many good songs.
This is your fifth album?
Yes.
Why does it take T.W.O about four years to release an album?
You know the music industry is still growing. And for you to release albums very often, you would probably get people bored. So, we appear and reappear. And that has worked for us. Some who always throw themselves out to the public easily fade away. I think it works for us because each album we release provides enough content to last as long as we are ready for another album.
Your fans and critics say you guys play good music. What’s your genre of music?
That’s what many say. And this has given us great respect and reputation in the industry. When people respect what you do, that alone keeps you going. With this album, we would probably fall into the Afro-pop genre, but we also have reggae, highlife, gospel and hip-hop. So, it’s a pot pourri of beats.
Do you have issue with the type of songs Nigerian artistes churn out these days?
There is nothing basically wrong with doing songs that only have commerical value, but it is more rewarding to do songs that would outlive you. That’s why I used to ask if an artiste would be happy to be identified with a song even when he is old. Can his children and grand children appreciate the song in terms of its lyrics.
Which of your songs falls into this category of being timeless?
Adupe. You can play it anytime, any day because of the message. Adupe is even bigger than T.W.O because a lot of churches sing it without knowing the original composers.
Whenever you send us SMS with T.O and refer to Wunmi as W.O, the question of separation as artistes comes to mind. Can T.W.O split in the future?
I never like to say never because I might get to a point in my career when I think I’ve done it all or as much as I can do and I no longer want to be a recording artiste. I can just be doing shows and core business, especially if it’s not financially rewarding anymore. If W.O (Wunmi Obe) wants to continue with recording, that would be it. And it could be the other way round. We would give each other the necessary support. But T.W.O as indissoluble life partners in marriage, that one is forever as solid as the rock! Musically, we are two individuals who might decide some day to have self expression. I also want you to know that every album we produce often have some sort of individuality. There are songs you would listen, you would know it’s mine or Wunmi’s.
In terms of style, where do T.O fall?
Naturally, I always love songs that have melody and lyrical content but I’ve learnt lately that the beat is also very important. So, I still try to marry the two. Wunmi likes everything. She’s very, very open-minded much more than me. I want people to look out for a song, Bianu, in our new album and another one in Spanish. That’s the essential Wunmi Obe. She is cross-cultural, and I appreciate her for that because she brings in things that make us sound different.
Where is T.W.O’s live band?
Déjà vu.
Yes
It’s still very much around. The baddest band in town. We are rehearsing to be stronger, bigger and better.
What’s happening to Cupid Ball?
We were doing so many things at a time, so the show had to rest for now. Though, it brings in money, we don’t always break even. And it is so time consuming. Now, we are working on the album. We also want to put a new TV show together. But we would definitely rebrand the ball.
What is the new TV show all about?
We call it It Takes T.W.O. It’s going to be a variety show. You know we did the Charly Boy Show years back. It’s going to be close to that. We changed the face of TV shows with The Charly Boy Show, though we started small.
We even learnt you just brought in state of the art production equipment for It Takes T.W.O.
You know we can’t start renting camera at this level, so we had to bring in all the equipment we needed for the show. Everything is ready for It Takes T.W.O, but we just needed to finish the album.
Where would it be aired?
Across the nation and on satellite TV platforms, it would also be accessed via the social media. In fact, we want it to take over the entire media space.
What about your label and production company, KopyKats?
It’s doing very well. KopyKats Entertainment was formed in 1995. But we didn’t release our work on it until 2003 when we started working with Now Music.
To go down memory lane, can you take us through your sojourn in music?
My music life started from childhood. I was one of the so-called bathroom singers (laughs). I started singing before the public in secondary. That was when we came back to Nigeria, I joined the school band. When I left secondary, one of my seniors had a band called Outbreak, which he invited me to join in 1984. Two years later, the band broke up. I joined another one in 1987 when I got to the university, that was Turning Point Band. The guy that invited me was my neighbor in Festac, Lagos. A lot of people thought I went to UNILAG, but I didn’t.
Where did you study then?
Lagos State University (LASU). I read History/Education. It was in 1988 that Wunmi joined the band. And that was how we met (laughs).
So, professionally how many years have you put in music?
28 years!
28 years on, where are you headed?
You already have the idea. We can’t complain, I’m honest with my myself. Sometime I do work with the feeling we are not appreciated as much as we deserve, but then, I still thank God that people still hear that T.W.O have a new single and they are excited about it. If that is the case, we cannot complain. And we are hoping that this album will break all barriers. We are optimistic that T.W.O Plus will break all the records we set in the past.
What about T.W.O’s ultimate ambition?
That at some point, we would become industry legends. People who came and left their mark. And who did it in a way that anybody would be proud to be associated with the brand.
Which state are you from?
Ondo-Lagos. I’m closer to my mom’s side. My dad was a retired Ambassador before he died. We are four in the house, I am the third child.
– UCHE OLEHI
