Posted by By Ayodele Olalere on
29 year-old Emeka Okafor a.k.a Stranborella is the first child in a family of eight. He gained admission into the University of Maiduguri in 1992 to study Mass Communication.
29 year-old Emeka Okafor a.k.a Stranborella is the first child in a family of eight. He gained admission into the University of Maiduguri in 1992 to study Mass Communication. But after spending two years, he abandoned his studies due to financial constraint. Rather than give up, however, Okafor opted to develop his talent as a singer and dancer. His decision paid off as his debut album, 'DJ Efrebo" is now a chartbuster.
Genesis
I am from Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State. I was born in Maiduguri, Borno State where I attended Federal Government College and later the University of Maiduguri to study Mass Communication. I was in the university for two years before I left because of financial constraint. Things were not really going well for me that time. It was quite difficult so I had to move to Lagos in 1993. But I still intend to go back to school.
Music career
I have loved music right from my tender age. When I was in secondary school, I had a friend who was really into music and he was the one that inspired me. So, after leaving school, I started playing music as a disc jockey. I intended to release my first album, ‘Stranbobiko' in 2000 but it was not to be because of the death of my mother. I went back to the drawing board and came out with a new album, DJ Efrebo, released on April 14 this year. I have been working on this album since 2000 but have not been able to release it because there was no recording label wishing to discover new talents, all the labels want are ready-made talents.
Parents' reaction
My father was not totally in support of my music career. Of course, he did not know when I started because he was in the village when I moved to Lagos to play music. But when he eventually heard about it, he was worried and kept calling me to ask about my education. I told him not to worry, that I would go back to school. Since he was not financially strong to sponsor my education, he allowed me to go fully into music. My father values education because he is a pharmacist; he owns a pharmaceutical shop when we were in Maiduguri.
Efrebo
When I first came to Lagos in1993/94, I lived in Olodi Apapa, very close to Ajegunle. Most boys living there used to smoke ‘weeds' so whenever a policeman was sighted, the first thing they said was ‘efrebo, somebody dey come o'. So, efrebo is like a warning. For instance, as we are together now, if a cop comes around to ask for Mathew, instead of us saying ‘Matthew, somebody is looking for you, we would say ‘Efrebo, somebody dey find you'.
Once Matthew hears that, he would know that danger is lurking around and would just walk away. Since the policeman could not recognize him, that is how he would escape. So, efrebo is a warning code and in my song, I used it as a chorus. I used it to warn people of the dangers in indiscriminate sex, which may lead to HIV/AIDS. I also used it to talk about societal ills. So, anything wrong is efrebo. The police collecting bribe at checkpoints is ‘efrebo, you go wound o'.
Smoking
My father is a very religious person, a born-again Christian to the core. I grew up not smoking and I don't see any good thing in it. None of my siblings smokes neither do they drink alcohol.
Ambition
I want to see myself established in the music industry and also want to establish a recording label that would bring out the raw talents in Nigeria.