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Versatile producer, Nelson Brown, started his career in music production in the early 1980s. His love for music drove him from home at the tender age of 13.
Versatile producer, Nelson Brown, started his career in music production in the early 1980s. His love for music drove him from home at the tender age of 13. But he never lost his focus despite all the odds. He went ahead doing what he knows best and today, he is a force to reckon with in Nigeria's entertainment sector.
Winner of the popular AMEN award for best producer in 1998, Brown's attitude towards discovering and promoting new talents is a major quality that distinguishes him from other producers. He has discovered a great number of musicians from different parts of the country.
Speaking recently with Daily Sun at his studio in Festac Town, Lagos, Brown explained factors that led to the break up of the famous Plantashion Boyz and the effect this had on his record label:
Background
I am Nelson Omoiri, but people call me Nelson Brown. I hail from Delta State and had my primary and secondary education in Lagos State. I bagged the Ordinary National Diploma (O.N.D) in Computer Science from Yaba College of Technology, Lagos.
I am a music producer, although I intend to go back to school to study another course. After my secondary education in the late 1980s, I went into music, which my dad opposed because he thought I would never make it in music. But right now, I am the bread winner of my family.
Challenges
As a music producer, it has not been easy to make a breakthrough owing to poor economy. I started producing music not as professional because I just wanted to do it and make a name for myself. But today, a lot of people see me as someone they could come to for help.
This is most challenging, especially when one has a name but lacks necessary resources to back it up. Meanwhile, I have set a standard and principle for myself. I like to discover young talents. In my entire career, all the people I have worked with are those I discovered and worked with from the scratch. From Daddy Showkey, Baba Fryo, to the Plantashion Boyz and a host of other musicians, the biggest challenge for me is to make it big internationally as a music producer.
How I started
I started playing musical instruments right from the church. This actually boosted my interest in music. I left home at a tender age because my father did not want his first child to go into music. He wanted me to go to an institution of higher learning to enable me take care of the family later in life.
But I love music and had to leave home at the age of 13. I grew up alone and faced the good and the bad sides of life.
Interest in Ajegunle music
The Ajegunle people patronise me a lot and so, when I moved to FESTAC Town, I became the pioneer promoter of Hip-hop music in Nigeria with the likes of Plantashion Boyz, Sound Sultan and others .
I met these stars at FESTAC and a lot of other young talented people, like Azadus, Black Tribe and the rest of them. I am not just interested in Ajegunle musicians, but I started with them. I met the likes of Daddy Showkey, Baba Fryo, Daddy Fresh, Nico Gravity and others at Ajegunle and that was why I was able to produce their music. But when I left Ajegunle, I met a different set of musicians and also produced their works successfully.
Me and Plantashion Boyz
The break up of Plantashion Boyz affected my record label because they were the biggest artistes that I discovered. But as a good producer, when an artiste leaves you, you definitely have to look for others. A lot of people have asked that after Plantashion Boyz, what next? I told them that I needed not rush because I didn't want to make the same mistakes I made while the Plantashion Boys were with me. I discovered I had to look for the right guys and get them together, bring them up like I did with the Plantashion Boyz.
I am not in a hurry, neither am I under any pressure to produce musicians. I just wanted to look for young talents and produce them. I have a lot of artistes right now that I hope to produce at the right time.
The break up of the group affected me because the three of them left when I needed them most. This is painful because having brought up artistes whom nobody knew, polished them and made them popular, when it was time for one to start reaping from them, they decided to go their ways and people who never did anything to bring them up started reaping from them. Definitely, this affected me, but life goes on although I would have been making more money from them than I earlier made. I made my own mistakes just as they too, but I am happy they are all doing fine now.
Me, Kennis Music and Tu Face
I do not have any problem with Kennis Music because of Tu Face. I saw Tu Face shortly before he travelled abroad for the MTV award in Portugal and we exchange calls often.
I had a three year contract with the Plantashion Boyz which got expired on September 30, 2003. After that, they were free to stay or go wherever they wanted. Tu Face felt he had to go to Kennis Music while the two others- Blackface and Face also left.
I never had any problem with Kennis Music except for the politics it played in the whole show. Basically, Kennis wanted the Plantashion Boyz from the onset but after the experience with the Remedies, it never wanted to sign on any group any longer, hence, it had to take Tu Face away. But even when the contract between the group and I was still on, Kenis Music mounted pressure on Tu Face to leave the group. It is possible to have an artiste on your label, but not when the artiste's contract with another label is still on.
Record labels
The more record labels we have, the better for the artistes here in Nigeria. We have to come together as a team so that we can develop the music industry. We need to interact and see how to develop ourselves and help one another to grow in the business.
Discovering young talents
I am much more interested in discovering young talents than working with the already made ones. Almost all the popular artistes we have today are people I discovered and worked with from the scratch. I have worked with the likes of Daddy Showkey, Daddy Fresh, Plantazion Boyz, Azadus, Alariwo and the Mamuzes.
For me, it makes no sense working with someone like Eedris Abdulkareem or Tony Tetuila when you still have young talents who need to be exposed and discovered. Although, this does not mean that I would not produce Eedris if he calls on me to do so, but I would rather produce one or two songs on his album than to handle the full album project because he is already a popular artiste. But there is no way people would talk about Tu Face without mentioning Nelson Brown and I derive joy from this.
Fulfilment
I am fulfilled here in Nigeria becase I have tried my best and achieved some success. But I still want to go international and until then, I can't say I am really fulfilled. The only side I would say I have not had any good success is in the area of discovering female artistes. I have all along discovered only male artistes.
Not owning a car as a top producer
Having a car is a big problem to me. If I want a car it is only a matter of this is what I want to get and I will get it. Like I said, I need cars to do a lot of things but that is not my priority for now.
Vision for Nigerian music
I want to see how I can export our music and indigenous artistes to the international market.