Nigerian rapper/singer, Raoul John Njeng-Njeng aka Skales
was launched into the Nigerian music industry through Banky W and Tunde
Demuren’s Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) but struggled with success as a
rapper as he was mainly featured only in EME’s numerous collaborations which
always featured Banky W and Wizkid too. He always appeared to be backing up
Wizkid without being successful as a solo artiste.
Rapper Skales was quick to change his music style from
rapping to singing when he released ‘Mukulu’ which garnered him some moderate
attention. Fast forward to February 2014, Skales’ contract with EME ended and
both parties ended their business arrangements peacefully.
The Nigerian music industry was quick to see that Skales was
indeed a talented singer when his ‘shake body’
quickly topped the charts and became an instant hit.
In a
recent interview with Encomium, Skales speaks on his music, being signed under
EME and now Baseline. Enjoy the excerpts below:
Why
are you doing songs now and not rap?
I see myself as an artiste, and that means that I can do
whatever kind of music I want. I can be a rapper, I can do pop music, I can do
dancehall music or even soul music. Heading for a Grammy is rap, Mukulu,
Take Care of me and Denge Pose is a fusion of rap and pop, Shake Body is pure
afro pop. My new song, I am for Real is dancehall and Jekanmo is popular music.
I am a musician, and my unique selling point is my ability to be versatile and
do music that will make money for my mom, my management team, the label and
myself, without watering down the quality of my music.
Will you say Skales is better off after leaving EME?
Yes, but without going through EME, I doubt I would be
here. I will say my time in EME was a learning process. You know the saying
that without fire, you can’t get gold. That is how my stay in EME is for me. I
am grateful for the period I was signed there, but Baseline is home now, and we
are making this work.
If you were with them, do you think you would have
gotten this far?
I don’t think so
I don’t think so
Original post: magbedu
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