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What are your early memories about
music and dancing? 
Paul: Going way back then
in primary and secondary school, we were dancing to the music of Alex O because
he was a very good dancer then and at our tender age, we danced to his songs at
birthday parties. It got a point that whenever we were passing and saw a
birthday party going on, we would go in there and start performing without
invitation.
Were you performing individually
then or as a group?
Peter: We were like a group;
Paul, my elder brother Tony and I were doing that and at a point, we
found ourselves miming the songs of MC Hammer, Bobby Brown and others but the
main singer to push us a lot was Michael Jackson.
How did Michael Jackson influence
your dancing then as kids?
Paul: I think performing
Michael Jackson’s dances was the first performances we did that really gave us
money because while we were singing and dancing in school then, it was
energetic and fun but nothing was coming to us in terms of money but when we
started doing Michael Jackson, the money started coming.
Whenever we performed Michael Jackson, we tried
as much as possible to dance the way he used to do it. But we faced the
challenge of costumes; the clothes, the hand gloves and everything we put on
was crafted like those of Michael Jackson. 
But it helped us in the sense that people took
us serious and knew that they had to pay us for our performances. And again we
realized that there was demand for some particular songs, like Billie Jeans,
Thriller and so on but Thriller was the hit performance that was
most sought for.
How old were you then?
Peter: we were 14 years-old
when we started doing that. Thriller was the most expensive performance
we had at that time because the costume and the painting of our faces and
fixing our hair to look like Michael Jackson were quite strenuous.
Does it mean you realized early in
life you were destined to be musicians?
Peter: There were a lot of
things happening in our lives then; we were trying to go into football, music
and other things.
We were the jealous type whereby if we see
anyone doing something, we would go back to do that same thing. Finding
ourselves doing music, dancing and playing football at the same time was just
was not an easy task to overcome but we chose music.
At one point did the interest in
music overshadow the rest of your ambitious?
Paul: It was in
1996 during the
Atlanta Olympic when Kanu Nwankwo and the Dream team won the gold
medal in football. We were still into music having left football but that
singular feat made us take up our boots because we heard the Head of State
then, Late Gen. Abacha, was buying cars, houses and what have you for the
footballers .
Immediately we dropped the
microphone and picked up our boots again and headed straight to the field. But
all of a sudden, we realized we couldn’t cope. We then decided that we had to
go back to music.
You have more brothers than sisters,
how was growing up like them?
Peter: It was difficult
because parents always look at boys as being stubborn and try so much to
prevent them from getting involved in criminal activities. Our parents were not
an exception. They always were watchful for any kind of misconduct we might
engage in. They fixed their attention on.
Training many of us through the
university was quite challenging, it really was. At a time, my Dad stopped
paying our school fees because of our over indulgence in music; he
was of the opinion that since you loved music so much, he would stop paying our
fees. He wanted us to be educated. 
What are your education backgrounds?
Paul: We attended Tempest
Nursery and Primary School in Jos after which we went to St. Lumumba College
also in
Plateau
State. We later went to do Diploma programmes at the
University of
Jos. After which we proceeded to the
University of
Abuja for our Degree programme but I didn’t finish there; I
completed my first degree at the
River
State
University in
Port Harcourt. I studied Mass Communication while Peter read Business
Administrations.
Peter: Both of us
were at the
University of
Abuja studying Business Management but Paul hates mathematics and
calculations, that made him opt for the Arts. What made me continue with
Management was an experience I had while in the secondary school. There was
this boy that was always taking the first position.
I looked at him and asked myself if
it was possible for me to use an injection syringe and suck his brain into mine
be as brilliant. So I asked him how he does it and he invited me to join him; I
didn’t join him to be taught; I wanted to know his secret. I discovered that
the boy was denying himself of so many pleasures; the playing, the excitement
and so on.
When I denied myself likewise, I
took the second position and that experience later went on to help me in my
career in music; I learnt that for you to excel, you go for what you want with
passion. Today Paul can play the guitar and I can handle the piano; we never
went to any music school to learn to use these instruments.
You grew up with
Chelsea star, Mikel Obi, in Jos, what was the relationship like?
Paul: It was great. While
we were still playing football, we went to the Pepsi Football academy together
though he was our junior then; we were in the under-17 category while he was in
under – 13. Growing up with Mikel was exciting because he lived opposite the
stadium with his parents and they operated a shop where we normally converge
for drink water after playing football.
How did your parents feel when they
saw your addictive interest in music?
Peter: They never liked it;
our Dad never liked it at all. Our Mum was supportive but at the same time she
was scared; she felt like, “if these boys disappoint me, I am finished.” You
know how mothers are, she supported us financially, morally and all that but at
the end the fear for what her husband would say should we fail was there all
the way.
It was difficult for us during then because our
father never wanted us to take up music. In fact, our interest in music brought
quarrel between our parents. It wasn’t funny at all.
Were there cases where you got
punished because of your involvement in music?
Paul: It
happened on several occasions. There was a time that we had a motorcycle
accident while carrying our piano and guitar; the instruments got broken and we
got injured but when we got home, our father flogged the hell out of us despite
our bleeding hands and legs because we came home late.
Did your father ever take your
musical equipments away from you?
Peter: He has broken our
guitars on many times over. We used to construct guitars before we started
buying but he kept destroying our instruments and always shouted at us to face
our studies. Our mother would be pleading on our behalf. It was too much drama.
How did you feel anytime you lost an
instrument?
Paul: It was very painful
especially the one we got from the school. Before we started buying guitars, we
used to practice with that of our school but it became a casualty in our
father’s hands.
That his action got us punished for
two weeks; we were asked to pay for the damaged equipment and punished by being
asked to dig a hole that had the depth same as our height.
The
Nigeria Music scene got to know about P-Square when you won the
Benson and Hedges Music talent hunt. How did you get involved?
Paul: I think it
was one hell of an opportunity for us then. We were still in our first
year at the
University of
Abuja in 2001 when we were informed about the competition in
Jos.
We were already popular
in
Abuja
and bought the form. We came tops out of 38 artistes that participated. We took
the first position and eventually represented the Northern Zone in the
Abuja final where we won again out of the 22 artistes that took
part in that show. At the finals in
Lagos, we became the overall winners which made Benson and Hedges
offer to launch our album.
When you declared your interest, did
you know you would go that far?
Peter: Yes
because we had all the strategies. When people started loving us as entertainers,
we developed our strategy. The Jos event wasn’t really the challenge because we
were known in Jos as dancers. P-Square was already known
then. It was the
Lagos final that was really the most competitive part but we still
came tops.
Was that when you got the name of
the group?
Paul: No, a
friend of ours at the university called Richard gave us the name. We were
assigned a room in the hostel and when we got there, we met him cleaning up and
he was like, “You are brothers, twins, Peter and Paul.” He got confused and
said, “Peter or Paul in fact P-Square, anyone can serve.” That was how we
got the name.
Describe that moment when they were
named you winners of that talent hunt show?
Peter: It was
very exciting and memorable but it didn’t come as a surprise after we
performed; we were the last to perform out of the 38 bands on stage. The way
the fans were screaming while we performed gave us the confidence.
I will say that the
strategy we used when we got to
Lagos was our dance performance. When we arrived
Lagos, we were told that if you don’t sing in Yoruba and play the
talking drum, you were not going anywhere. It was as if we were competing with
Fuji artistes who were very popular there. But we used our
dancing to confuse everybody when we performed our songs Kolo and My
Life.
P-Square did not exploit the success
of winning that show, why?
Paul: We didn’t
use the platform for a couple of reasons. Immediately after the show, the
Federal Government came out with a hard policy on tobacco companies which
banned them from placing adverts on radio, print or billboards, this came at
the heels of our winning the competition and it really affected us.
Though in our first album, in the CD
case, the Benson and Hedges logo was there, they couldn’t use our pictures
because of the ban but had to use the pictures of our eyes instead. It was a
very bad period for us. It came to a point where we had to just leave
everything since it wasn’t their fault or ours. The money we were supposed to
have won was given to our management team and they held on to it and later
misused it.
What happened after that?
Paul: We had no
option than to go back to school when the deal fell through. Benson and Hedges
sponsored our album launch, Last Night, but we didn’t reap anything
financially.
After that unfortunate predicament,
you came out stronger, what metamorphosis did you pass through?
Paul: We passed
through a lot of difficult situations; we were getting popular but there was no
money to show for popularity; it was like a disease. We went through a lot of
hard times and kept reading so many stories about Benson & Hedges giving us
millions but yet we didn’t have anything, not even a car. We were still jumping
Okada then but people thought we were made.
Peter: At a point,
because of all thee false stories flying all over the place, we started having
problems with our band. The popularity was there but the money wasn’t.
But the story changed with your next
album, Get Squared. What were those areas in music you saw and
exploited that stood you out?
Paul: We saw
that there was no need for us to belong to record labels; that gave us some
amount of independence to do songs we wanted to do. Our experience with
Benson & Hedges saw us doing songs they forced us to do which were usually
not our type of music which our fans didn’t like. We managed to get a car but
ended up selling it again it along with some of our properties to be able to
fund our next album. We made up mind that we would sell everything and put it
in the album and if it doesn’t sell, we would give up music maybe take up our
boots again. We took music seriously; we didn’t’ try to compete with anybody.
The major strategy we used was our musical video because we saw that music
videos were lacking in quality.
Your lyrics are as unique as your
videos, what inspires them?
Paul: I write
the songs and produce them. I approach music from a general perspective; I
don’t see it as being for educated or uneducated people. I do music for
everybody irrespective of your educational status. I can’t write songs in pure
Queen’s English because I know that not everyone is educated. We had to come
down to the basic level and break it down for everybody to understand and enjoy
it. Our music does not have class; it is for kids, mothers, fathers, grand
fathers and so on.
Your musical video brought some
flavour into the industry, who amongst you came up with the concept?
Peter: The
concept is a collective thing between, me, Paul and Jude. In fact, we compete
amongst ourselves who would bring the best idea. We work as a team and try to
consolidate on the ideas we suggest.
Many music observers are of the
opinion that your songs are not really original, that it always comes with an
adaptation of something done by someone else. What are your reactions to that
insinuation?
Paul: I will
make three comments. Firstly, they say P-Square don’t sound originally and
readily point to Usher; they say we look like Usher and dance like him.
Secondly, these music critics send us emails but yet our fans don’t complain.
That makes me believe that the people behind these insinuations are our fellow
colleagues.
Thirdly, there is no song in this
life that comes out as original; there must be a connection somewhere. In three
days after we released our last album, someone had already started complaining
that P-Square had deviated from what they were known for. It’s no longer
P-Square being copy cats.
Let me look at it this way; we copy
and make a hell of money from it, you that is trying to be original has not
sold your album to the extent P-Square has. P-Square the copy-cats has sold
over 8 million copies of their album and you are still there trying to be a
composer like Handel. Well, I wish them luck. We just released out last album, Game
Over, and not up to six days later, it sold over a million. I don’t know
what they are still saying.
Paul: Whatever
people might say, they are entitled to their opinion. What I know is that
P-Square does good music. What they are pointing at that Peter’s resemblance to
Usher makes us copy cats. Now I ask, should he then go and do a plastic surgery
to make him look different? When we came out with Get Squared,
they said we copied; we released Game Over and it’s now a different
story; they are now complaining that P-Square didn’t copy but did a different
thing from what they are known for. What else do they want us to do?
In your last album, you had tracks
that talk about societal ills, what informed this new dimension?
Paul: I think
what pushed us where the fans. Apart from the fact they commend us, they also
tell us to use our music and portray the ills the society in general suffer
from. And in a larger sense, it was a worthy thing to do; we listen to our
fans. Our fans are yearning that we talk about corruption and other vices in
our society and that is what we did.
Would you say that PMAN being doing
well for the Nigerian musicians?
Paul: For me, I
wish I know PMAN the way they know me. I have not seen what they have done for
me and I don’t even know who the president is.
Are you members of PMAN?
Peter: we are
not.
What kind of PMAN would you want to
associate with?
Paul: I am
looking forward to that PMAN that would hold elections and the president would
be voted for by musicians in a very transparent polls. You can’t be doing
elections and the musicians will not be involved.
One admirable thing about P-Square
is your ability to keep off controversies and scandals unlike other artistes,
how do you achieve that?
Paul: We know
where we are coming from; we did not grow up in
Lagos,
We spent virtually all our lives in Jos; we are just three years old in
Lagos. Where we are from, there are a lot of things we don’t do
like they do in
Lagos. We try to avoid those things that we used to read about
people in
Lagos during the days we were in Jos. We know the family we come
from; we came a long way that was very rough and we don’t intend to forget
that.
Paul: One
unusual thing about P-Square is that we don’t hang out; anytime you come to our
house you will find us. We made sure we had everything that might take us out
inside the house; we have our studio, our gym and everything we need right
here. You can only get scandals when you hang out too much.
How religious is P-Square?
Peter: We are
very very religious; we are Catholics. Our mother is a minister and we don’t
joke with the word of God. The problem we have now is that we distract people
whenever we go to church.
Paul: For
example, when we were still residing at Illupeju, we had to start going to
night mass instead of morning mass because of the attention we create in people
but yet they always turn to look at us. Due to this problem, we find it hard to
attend our friend’s weddings because we usually become the centre of attraction
and it isn’t fair to the celebrants.
Talking about wedding now, are you
guys into a relationship and when is it likely you may walk down the altar.
Peter: We are in
relationships but we are not really ready to walk down the altar.
Paul: No, I am
not ready now.
We have seen music stars trying
their hands in acting, setting up clothing labels and so on, is
P-Square likely to follow suit?
Peter: P-Square
for now is all about music. We would like to go into all that but we want to
focus on our music now.
Are you saying if you are given a
role in a top Nollywood movie, you wouldn’t think about it?
Paul: They have
been coming and I am not interested. First of all I will like to say that
Nollywood needs to step up on their game when it comes to the quality of movies
they do. I know they are portraying the culture but it seems they are not
moving to the next level. Music in
Nigeria has gone up to a level, some Nigerian musicians have won top
international awards, Nollywood should follow suit because they have the
potential.
How do you give back to the society
in terms of charity, are you thinking about setting up a foundation?
Peter, I am very
scary of foundations due to the fact that some people use it to get money from
government. We help people passionately. There are times we will see someone on
TV who needs help, we call the station and get the details and go meet the
person personally. It’s just we don’t want to make noise about all these
because it is a thing of the mind.
What advice do you have for up coming artistes?
Paul: Be passionate about
what you are doing; don’t go into it because of the money but because of the
passion.
Peter: Love what you are
doing and money will come.
You appear different these days unlike in the
past, what is the reason?
Paul: I started growing on
dreads to make people able to distinguish between the two of us.
Out of all the awards you have
gotten, which one stands out?
Paul: We have had numerous
awards but the one that we are very passionate about is the one that came from
one nursery school. They called us not to perform but to collect the award.
What marvelled us was that they performed all our songs on stage.
Your mother said that her earlier
dreams were for one of you to become a reverend father and the other a doctor,
would you guys realize this dream for her?
Peter: We don’t
know. They say man proposes and God disposes. I don’t really know.
Paul: Yes, she
always tells me that I will be a reverend father but I don’t know.
She also mentioned longing to do a
song together with you, will you oblige her yearning?
Paul: Yes we
will do it but we will not do it as P-Square, it may have to be with Bro. Peter
and Paul.
As football lovers which clubs are
favourite?
Peter:
Chelsea because na there Mikel dey.
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Posted by Robot| 05.02.2008 01:29