When a friend asked me recently if there was still Kennis Music Records, I looked at him as if he was from another planet. He did not even really remember the name, he just said: “Is this label that signed 2face, Eedris and all those big artistes then still existing.” Immediately he gave the description, he did not need to say more for me to know what he was talking about.
Truly, my friend was right to think there was no Kennis Music Records again. I live and breathe entertainment, so I am informed in that direction. He does nothing close to entertainment. He just likes and listens to music.
Though Kennis Music still functions, like my friend, many people do not think it exists anymore. I think they only have one artiste on the label now, JoEL, signed in 2011. Or maybe they have more artistes, but only one is known to the public.
Wikipedia says Eedris Abdulkareem, JoEL and Via Oluwa Burna are signed on to the label. So, let’s hold on to that even though it could be misleading.
But if I wake up tomorrow and it is in the news that JoEL had walked away from the label, I would not blame the poor singer. The potential of the Kaduna-born singer has never been in doubt, but for some reasons, he is still struggling to hit it big.
For someone who has been compared with 2baba both in look and style of music, his growth leaves so much to be desired. Back in those days, I only knew a record company in Nigeria and it was no other than Kennis Music.
On the label, founded by Kenny Ogungbe, who started out as a DJ, they paraded the finest musicians in Nigeria. At different times, they had on their label the likes of the late OJB, Tony Tetuila, Kenny Handsome, 2baba, late Goldie, Sound Sultan, Baba Dee, eLDee, VIP from Ghana, Jaywon, K.C. Presh, Mike Aremu and many more.
Then, if an artiste had no ties with Kennis Music, his career was yet to begin. But despite their dominance and success in the music industry, their relationship with most of their artistes did not end well.
Tales of their artistes being maltreated and used always made the news. Though their market ing strategy and distribution used to be second to none, almost all artistes that passed through the record label have regrets and bitterness.
Over the years, in chats with the late OJB, Marvelous Benjy, Jaywon, Baba Dee, Kenny Handsome, among others, the impression they gave me was that the label’s management did not have their interests at heart, and that they were too greedy, which gave them no choice than to walk away.
When Kenny Handsome had a fallout with the label, he explained that since his first album, ‘Maga Don Pay,’ Kennis Music had not paid him. He narrated then, “They promised to get me a house, car and other necessary things. When I was with Kennis, 70 per cent of the shows I did were, as I was made to understand, free.
When I later found out that they had been collecting money from these people, they now assured me that they were going to pay me.” But according to Baba Keke, the story that artistes on Kennis Music are just being used is not true. He said, “I see it as a beer parlour talk.
There is no artiste that will allow someone to use him and still remain with that person. Remember that someone spent money on an artiste when he was nobody. And so, the person that has spent his hard earned money on the artistes will like to get it back later.
“The unfortunate thing, however, is that a lot of fraudsters and unscrupulous people are coming into it. They will tell you that they want to take an artiste to the next level. They end up buying him a flashy car, like a jeep, not minding the fact that he is not talented. But within two years, you find out that both of them are nowhere to be found.”
When a business brings two people together and things get bad, it takes the grace of God for any of the parties to admit being at fault. While Baba Keke and his ex-partner, Dayo Adeneye aka D1, have always insisted that most Nigerian artistes were ingrates and betrayers, artistes who have worked with the duo think otherwise.
I believe largely that the fact that artistes do not trust them contributed to Kennis Music’s decline in recent times. Instead of working for a label like KenStories: Olushola Ricketts nis Music and ‘being broke’, more artistes are setting up record labels as soon as they get little fame even though they have no knowledge of running it.
I also do not think Baba Keke is still taking the record business seriously like he used to do. His partner too, D1, is now more of a politician than an entertainer. I suspect this could be as a result of the battle they have had to fight with artistes, though.
Apart from Baba Keke being the managing director of RayPower FM, he now runs Kennis 104.1 FM too. It seems he has diverted his energy into other things, risking the collapse of an empire he has built over the years.
If he chooses to redeem the glorious days of Kennis Music Records, the days he was at the centre of anything music, it is better he starts now. And if he decides that it is no longer worth the time, stress and money, it is better he closes market just like Obi Asika did with Storm Records. But for anything, his reputation is at stake.
