Solomon Oyeniyi, popularly known as K-Solo, has produced top musicians in the industry. After a failed first marriage, which affected his music career, he remarried last year. In this interview with OLUSHOLA RICKETTS, he speaks about his ex-wife, why he remarried, how artistes do ridicule Timaya and Klever Jay, among other issues.
No doubt, you have contributed immensely to the growth of the music industry. What happened to all those glorious years?
I don’t need to compete with anyone again because I have made my mark. You cannot always be the number one at all times. I am not a current champion and I understand it.
Recently, I told D’banj’s manager that he should not try to compete with other artistes because he has made his mark. I expect him to know his fans and feed them with the right music. They should stop linking him to Don Jazzy because he is not god. As producers, we just do a good job, put it out and leave the rest to God.
When we started the industry, we used our power and might to take it to the level it is right now. Then, we were not internet freaks but music has gone global now. In other words, new names have come out. Today, people buy followers on social media but all my fans are organic, real people. I started the dancehall music in Nigeria, but people were calling it noise. They actually messed it up at a time.
You must feel bad that the ovation is not loud for you anymore?
I don’t feel bad about it. Before I came in the limelight, there were other people in showbiz. I didn’t even make money all those years I was working seriously with artistes, though I got the fame and accolade.
I now do more of corporate jobs and I get good money. I cannot be running after an artiste because he is even yet to get the money to promote his songs. Don Jazzy might be making a lot of money, but it will amaze you that he is not making it from the artistes on his label. The money he makes from them, he spends it back on them. He is using the brand, Don Jazzy, to make money for himself. If you check well, he has not made any hit song since last year. All the hit songs from the label are done by Baby Fresh and Altims, his producers.
People should always understand that there is always a time-frame to things in life. The highest an artiste has ever paid me for a production is N300, 000. Do not also forget that most of these people are my friends and I do free jobs for them. Despite that, I am a landlord in Lagos, I own a company and I am married. How many producers are comfortable? That an artiste is mentioning your name on the song is not enough because it cannot feed your family.
You introduced Timaya to the world but things went wrong at some point. Was it that he didn’t reward you well?
The first amount of money I made on Timaya was six million naira, his first album. But we had our issues, which is normal. When two people are working as a team and you leave a little hole, things will go bad. People fed us with different things. As we were still growing, there were certain things we displayed that didn’t go well. So, at some point, we went our separate ways.
Also, Timaya never believed Klever Jay would get to where he got too and I didn’t like that. I believe so much in God and hard work. He was supposed to be on ‘Konikoni Love’, but he didn’t turn up for the song. The song, however, became a hit.
While I was working on Faze’s ‘Kolomental’ album, I was doing Timaya’s first album too. Face was supposed to be on Timaya’s ‘Everybody Call Me Timaya’, but he turned him down. He didn’t believe in the song and Timaya. The story has turned around today. I am always grateful to God that I supported young producers who came my way. Mastercraft, D’tune and many more passed through my tutelage and they are all doing well for themselves now.
Nobody believed in Patoranking too then, but I did. He is now the voice people want to hear, though he cannot remain there forever as well.
Why don’t you have a record label?
Having a label is one thing, but you need investors who believe in your dream. We started it earlier, but we didn’t call it a label. We were just promoting and bringing up artistes. We would pick up the artiste, produce him and get a marketer for the job.
What is your major regret so far?
What actually contributed to my break from the industry was the bad press I got from my failed marriage. I had to take a break for the story to go down because all I set my hands on were just hitting the rock. We were putting in our best, but it looked like we were not doing things correctly. No matter who you are, if a woman sets out to destroy you, you need the grace of God to survive it; people will believe her. And there is no love in this industry.
You claimed you were not the father of her baby; was it that you didn’t touch her at all?
Did I come back to say I was the father?If I were dealing with a Genevieve, I would have let so many cats out of the bag. But she was nobody. She actually told me that she would destroy my career. So, what do you want me to drag with her? If I had dragged anything with her then, I would have been seen as a lunatic. The best I could do was to remain calm, though people will always have divided opinions. When Tiwa Savage came to say her side of the story after Tee Billz’s outburst on Instagram, some people still did not believe her.
Did you do a DNA test to confirm if you were the father or not?
I am not interested in that yet. What is meant for the future you cannot drag it to the present; you have to wait. When the future comes, we will know what to do about it.
Another woman had a son for you in April; is she your wife or baby mama?
I tied the knot with her, but I have learnt how to keep my private life from the media. I even begged people not to post pictures of my wedding on the social media platforms.
Does it mean this marriage will be your last?
This is the final bus stop. Apart from being a wife, she believes in my dreams. She is a wife, manager, friend and many more to me. We have been married for almost a year, but I had known her before the other woman.
So your ex-wife didn’t believe in you?
Believe in what? I don’t want to go into details because I have deleted her from my memory long ago. For the people who supported her then, I am sure they are regretting now, including Toni Payne, 9ice’s ex-wife.
Have you tried to settle your differences?
We have gone our separate ways. What differences do you want us to settle? I had divorced her. If she calls my phone, I am sure somebody did it mistakenly.
Has she married another man?
I don’t know and I don’t want to. I don’t even care. I don’t know what is happening in her life.
I told Payne then that her loads were too much for her to start carrying another person’s loads. She has carried that person’s loads now and she is back to her own problems. She is still carrying her own loads.
How do you advise up-and-coming producers?
In the past, I didn’t take time to study the issues people I met in the industry were battling and it was a mistake. A young producer needs to study the industry very well and look at why people are in different positions. When you do this, you don’t make silly mistakes.
Also, be certain that you have an idea of what you like to do because you will spend your money and time. The fact that I am not the number one now and I am still relevant is God’s grace. And the fact that another person is making hit songs presently doesn’t make his production better than others.
