How many ladies will allow their bae leave a great job in the states to
come to Nigeria in the bid to fulfill his passion at a time when others
were running out?
This is a touching story for our ladies to take
a cue from and understand that most great men have passed through
terrible times and i’m so positive that if he has had a lady stood by him
during his hard days, he won’t be confused as to which lady to marry
because most of our stars are happily married to their long time
girlfriends.
Story By Banky.W
The morning of
Jan 1st 2009 was one of the worst of my life. I went to Church the night
before to pray in the new year… and there I poured my heart out to
God. You see, i moved back to Lag on Feb 14th 08. It was a tough decision quitting my well-paid engineering job in nyc and moving back,
but I felt incomplete and unfulfilled. That decision however, led to a
tough year. I had gained some small popularity in music, but fame comes
way before fortune in my line of work.
So yes there were videos
on tv, but I was flat out broke. I’d spent all my savings on my music
business.. I was driving a beat down car that broke down on every
possible major road in Lagos, and I had resorted to “borrowing” 5k from
my manager weekly, to fuel my car and buy recharge cards. I’d started
second guessing my decision. Shld I have moved back at all? Shld I have
listened to folks and stayed in nyc? It was hard. I wasn’t getting any
show bookings, infact Segun & I used to show up to events wayyy
early just to make sure we could get inside, and times without number we
wld beg & plead to get 5 mins to perform on shows only to get
turned down. I was frustrated. Why wasn’t my music working here? Why
couldnt ppl see what we saw?
Maybe I wasnt meant to be here? And
then after church that morning, I got accosted by armed robbers, driven
around on the joy-ride-from-hell, roughed up, and robbed of everything
on me. Phones, money, jewelry, ipod, hat, shoes, u name it. They kept
threatening to shoot me, but I just kept praying psalm 91 and somehow I
made it home to Segun’s house in one piece. And while I was grateful to
be alive, I sunk into further depression. For a week plus I wouldn’t
leave my room. I felt like my whole world had come crashing down, and
like I had nothing to show for all my effort and prayers. And then Segun
walked into my room and said “hey bro.. I know it’s really bad right
now. But the good news is, this is rock bottom. U have hit it, and ur
still alive. It can only get better from here, but U can’t let it defeat
U. U gotta get up, dust it off, and channel all that nervous energy
into making music again!!” I was in shock..
I was in shock. How
did he expect me to just shake everything off just like that? My mental
state was a total mess. I didn’t have a penny to even pay for the
studio time, and even my car had been bashed. I said “bro even if I want
to record, how would I pay for it?” He asked who I’d wanna work with
and I said Cobhams. He asked me to find out how much it would cost… I
did. The next day he walked into my room with the entire amount in full
that he had borrowed from someone. Plus extra for cab fare.
I
paid for the Cobhams sessions, and the very first song we created was
“Strong Ting”.. till date one of my biggest hits in Africa. The requests
for performances started coming.. I started actually receiving airplay.
Ppl finally started understanding me and my music, and better yet, they
ACTUALLY liked it! My life changed from that moment and so did my
finances.
God has used Segun to guide, direct, help,
support and save me on too many occasions. I want to wish my big brother
and role model a veryyyy happy birthday, and pray for him that he and
his family will never know lack in Jesus name. For the seeds of
kindness, love and support he has sown in my life and many others, may
God bless him and every generation born of him. I love you forever, and I
look up to you.
I shared this particular story because I also
want to encourage y’all. I know life can be hard and harsh, but don’t
give up hope after the darkest of nights, because your morning is right
around the corner.