as the Nigerian press that even named me ‘the
rainmaker’, I didn’t name myself ‘the rainmaker’, how can I make rain? I’m a
mortal; it is only the immortals that can make rain. After your song ‘send down
the rain’ what is next? I have an album now; it’s a 10-track album. What do you
think brought me home? I just finished a 10-track album which I recorded in
London. By God’s grace I want to mix it here in Nigeria because Nigerian
artistes are becoming very good now. We also have very good studios, I’m very
impressed with Nigerian artistes. In my time, girls didn’t go on screen to do
music. Many parents refused to allow their female children to do music because
they didn’t want anybody to sleep with them. But our music industry has
improved now,that’s the reason I decided to come back home to produce my album
after recording in London. London has its own market and culture while we have
ours here in Nigeria. So I’m home to capture that sound because I can’t get it
abroad; I need to capture that “Pangolo” sound that the young artistes are
doing now. I came back to be in charge because these young boys are making
money, they have more money than the older musicians. The likes of Olamide,
Wizkid among others are all doing well. How do you define the Pangolo sound you
have been talking about? Pangolo is a mixture of jazz, rock, hip-hop,
Afro-beat; it has all kinds of sounds mixed together in it. “Pangolo” is the
sound of many cultures, if you hear my sound you will hear the talking drum and
that’s from the Yoruba culture, Shekere which is from the Igbo highlife, rock n
roll which is American; so it’s a sound of many cultures put into one sound.
That’s what all these boys are doing now, not their own style. If I decide to
produce in London, I won’t capture the sound I want because they only listen to
rock sound, but in Nigeria we are more open to other sounds. While your
spiritual tribulation lasted, what did you miss most? I’m still going through
tribulations my brother, tribulations never end. Even a millionaire is going
through tribulations. If you give your life to Christ then the tribulations can
be less, as long as you are on earth there will be tribulations. For example,
we have a house in Lekki and another in Magodo, in Magodo whenever power supply
is interrupted we switch on the generating set. Imagine an apartment that we
paid millions to rent and we cannot enjoy the benefits, is that not
tribulation? In your new album, are you featuring any Nigerian artiste? That
seems to be the trend but the 10-track album I am presenting it as a gift to
Nigerians because for 5 years I have not dropped an album. Later, I will do the
one that will feature many Nigerian artistes. The only person that was featured
in my forthcoming album is Tuface. He is going to be on the album. The album is
a revelation album and it is titled, “Weep not children.” The children are
weeping because our leaders are not doing what they are supposed to do. They
have forgotten that they were once children; all of us were once children. We
are going to give 10% of the proceeds from the album to mobilize the motherless
children. Africans should be wise enough to respect the children. I have lived
in the United States for 25 years; if you go to UK they have special bus that
comes to pick the children all the time. The British and America governments
take good care of their children. Until our government learn how to take care
of the children and recognize the value of children there will always be recession.
All of us including the president were once children. The mentality of the
white men is that they always take care of their children. So, we should try as
a nation to take the welfare of the children very seriously. You once had an
issue with Timi Dakolo. What happened? I don’t want to talk about young
artistes, he is a kid. Let my manager speak on that. Manager: Timi remixed the
song without the knowledge of Majek Fashek; It was the period I was in the US.
So, when I came back I heard the song on ITunes where people were downloading
it and they were making money, I was surprised. As a sign of respect, Timi
would have come to meet the legend because the song is not an ordinary song.
Tuface came and even paid for our flight to Abuja, he followed us back to back
but he never did this to us. When we confronted Timi, he said he spoke with
Majek’s manager. Who is the manager? I am the manager and he didn’t speak with
me? People started saying all kinds of things, thinking I knew something about
it. I told Timi to present evidence of his transaction with the manager in
question to the media. Later, Charles Novia and Azuka wrote that they were
managing Majek before so they had the right to such things. Even if you were
managing him before , were you his manager when he did that song and would you
give consent without the main artiste? My own part is that you remixed the
song, you didn’t not even give him a call, nothing like that. That’s what
generated all these scandals but God is so kind that Majek is coming back. Some
people did not want him to bounce back. You were once called a prophet, are you
still one? If I were not a prophet, I probably would not still be around. As a
child I used to fast for 7 days. For you to see me come out with a 10-track
album after a long time is a confirmation of the fact that I am still a prophet
and a trained prophet. While in America, what actually happened that you were
not able to break into the American music scene? I wasn’t in Nigeria for about
10 years, Charles Novia told me he wanted to start a record label and he needed
musical contents to boost it. He spoke to my manager then, I begged the manager
to help him. So, while I was in America they were saying all kinds of bad
things, that I was into drugs. So, I decided to come back to Nigeria to reunite
with my fans. Charles Novia took that song and made a lot of money for himself
and family. After 10 years, I came back to Nigeria, that was when I came back
with Jay-Z, Buster Rhymes, Snoop Dogg among others for a show that was done in
Polo club, Lagos. The show was organized by the publisher of “Thisday
Newspaper.” That was the time I came back to Nigeria but I had to go back to
America. I stayed back in America because I was training my kids, giving them
direction and all that. Right now, I am happy because my children have my blood
in them, they can find their way. The story about your rehabilitation in Abuja
seriously went viral on the internet, what’s the true story? In that rehab I
didn’t take their drugs and medications which they always administered. I used
spiritualism to heal myself. Ayiri Emami was broadcasting his name that he was
helping me. But the person doing the whole work, Captain Hosa Okunbo, was not
broadcasting his name at all. He has spent millions of naira on me, while I was
sojourning in London and he has not announced it to the world. That rehab you
are talking about, if Ayiri
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