'I moved from Hip pop to Gospel R&B music' - Obiwon Obiora

Obiwon Obiora has come a long way since the Thoroughbred days. After storming the Nigerian music scene years ago with hip-hop group the Thoroughbred,
Obiwon surprised fans by subsequently switching to R&B, only to even further astonish everyone when he announced his switch to the gospel music genre. In an interview with NET, Obiwon shares his reasons for becoming a minister of God through music, and his experiences and challenges thus far.

You have come a long way since the Thoroughbred days, how has the journey been?

It’s been amazing and intriguing, but after that era was my R&B/Pop era where many more people got to know me.

What led to you making that switch from hip-hop to R&B?

Thoroughbreds was a hip-hop group but, afterwards, I came out as a solo artiste doing R&B/pop and that was when I had the hit song ‘Onyinye’. The solo album was my introduction to mainstream and fame. It was along that line that I had some personal experiences that reshaped who I am and my focus in life.

What major change instigated your switch?

There have been two eras in my career, that of ‘Thoroughbreds when I was a younger man who fell in love with hip-hop. From there, I graduated to become an R&B/pop artiste and that was when I released my first solo album. Believe it or not, there is a certain lifestyle that comes with being a secular musician. It was like a lifestyle that was calling me to delve more into it, or to ask myself more questions.

What was the nature of the lifestyle?

The parties, freedom, attention from the opposite sex, the perks and places you have to be. I was involved in all of this and at the same time I wondered where this was leading me to and how I would end up as an individual. The whole lifestyle made me ponder and wonder about my talents, about life and how it will be for me. I asked myself if it was possible for me to explore my talent as a secular artiste and have a sane lifestyle. All those questions basically led me to an encounter with God. I mean, I grew up in a Christian household, but I was more like a passive Christian. To cut the long story short, I became ‘born again’ and I had a natural epiphany and then my ambitions, my desires, my goals, and priorities changed.

Was it a gradual change?    

Well, it was something that happened in the space of a year. It was between 2007 and 2008 when I won two awards and it was like the industry had accepted me. Stepping out there, I now saw what it was really like and that made me to really look inwards. Even with all the awards and fame, some things weren’t working in the way I thought they should for me and it was like, ‘if you really want to make this thing work, go into the lifestyle and let’s take it to where it really should be’. That was the kind of thing that was staring me in the face, and it all led me to God. Initially, the plan for me was like, seeing the way things are, I just want to get saved and take my faith seriously and then come back to the industry and do clean R&B. But what happened to me was the closer I got to the church, it was becoming clearer to me that there was something God was demanding that I hadn’t surrendered yet. I am not saying that everybody should follow my path, but I felt more convinced the more I got closer to God that there was something I had that I hadn’t yet given to him.

When did you make that decision to switch to gospel?
I made the decision towards the ending of 2007 by responding to an altar call at the church and also towards the New Year service. By 2008, some people around me would sometimes say that I’d end up singing gospel, but I would say no! Never!  It wasn’t something I planned to do, but I was beginning to constantly battle with it. Then one day, I was like, ‘You know what? Let me face the fact; I’m scared of losing my fans, I’m scared of what the people will say, but I just said since you are God, I’m gonna trust you. I’ll just let go of all these things and really do what you are telling me to do’. After I made the decision in February 2008, I felt free and I started having more divine encounters with God than I used to before. I then realised that this is what my life should be about. That was when I found myself and knew for the first time what my purpose was.

During that period, did you ever go back to get a paid job while you stopped the music for a while?

I didn’t really stop the music. What happened was that I started writing and recording the music for my second album, which is the album that had ‘Obimo’. It was supposed to be an R&B album that had one or two gospel songs, but it turned out to be a gospel album that had a few love songs and I just had to let go of some songs and started re-writing some to be gospel songs. After I made the decision, I went on to inform my management of my intentions. Honestly, it was a shock to them.

Did you face a situation where the gospel scene didn’t take you seriously?

Sure, it’s only until recently that the Christian community started taking me serious and this is my sixth year, and my second gospel album. Sometime last year at a gospel award show, a friend of mine came to me and said, ‘You know what? When you first said this, I didn’t take you serious but now I truly believe in you, so keep it up.’ That was very encouraging and inspiring.

Did you get resistance from the gospel sector of the industry?

Yes, because as you know, Christians are very difficult to convince. I don’t mean that in a bad way and I wouldn’t blame anybody because when you look at some international artistes deviating even after telling the world that they have gone gospel. So I really do not blame anybody. I even had an occasion were the youth of a particular church invited me to come and minister at their church, and after we had planned everything, the pastor heard and he said, ‘On my altar? Obiwon? Never!’ This was like the early challenges until I started getting accepted by the Christian community. I thank God for that and I also think it takes a while to get into this kind of role of being a minister of music in gospel. So, one has to be patient, or else you’ll go with the skin you came with and that wouldn’t really change anything because gospel music is about changing lives.

There’s this general belief that the gospel facet of the industry is not as lucrative as the secular part. Was that a challenge or is it still a challenge for you?

Based on what you mean by lucrative, it is a very difficult question for me to answer. I went to gospel because I discovered who I am, and what my calling in life is and even when I went in there, I found out that things were kind of different from where I was as a secular musician. But of course you can make more money as a secular artiste. But one who is really serving God in spirit and in truth will never be abandoned by God, and when God wants to bless his children, it will require loads of patience, and loads of getting to know who he is. Before God can trust you with his resources, you really need to prove yourself and your faith has to be well tested. At this point, I’d like to advise those who want to come into this line of music to please take financial gains off their minds. If you need to get an extra job, get it, but let money be the last thing on your mind.

What was your wife’s role in all the changes that happened over the years in your life?

Well, I got married in 2011 and it’s been amazing ever since, but I had known her for like four years. She was quite an encouragement, as well as being a born again Christian too. I strongly believe that she was sent into my life at that point in time when I was seriously seeking God to help put me in the right path. I will always remember she bought me my first ever devotional and encouraged me in seeking God.

What should we expect from this new album?

Well, if you are Christian, I would say check it out for the message because it will really help your spirit. If you are not really a Christian, I’ll say check it out for the quality of the music. I worked with Phat-E on the entire record. I had previously worked with him on ‘Obimo’ and he’s done some work for Sammie Okposo and Sunny Nneji. He produces both gospel and secular artistes and, funny enough, I met him around that time I made a U-turn.

Did you work with any gospel act on the album?

There’s a major collaboration with the likes of Frank Edwards, Eben, and Kenny Ko’re on one track called ‘Hail my king’ and we’ll surely do a video. I also worked with Mike Abdul on a single we released before bringing out the album, called ‘Testify’. I worked with ministers in rap (hip-hop); I worked with Recky-D, T-box, and Madaraka.

Any chance of a ‘Thoroughbred’ reunion in the future?

Why not?  Everyone in Thoroughbreds knows that I’m fully available to work with anyone once we agree on the subject matter of what we’ll be talking about. Once you bring a track that doesn’t represent what I want to talk about, then, there’s no point. It has to make meaning and preach a good message. Not just with Thoroughbreds, but anybody.

Besides music, do you have any other thing you are cooking-up?

I have my eyes on a couple of things like radio. I would really love to do radio and TV jobs. Anyone interested can contact me. I’m all about doing unique shows that will touch the society, and I’m also open to collaboration with anybody on anything good.

- NET