22 —Vanguard, SARTURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2012
What was your growing up like? It wasn’t easy . First of all, we both have National Diploma and degrees from different institutions. Smash had a Diploma in Social Works and a degree in Psychology from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, while Vast had a Diploma and degree both in Mass Communication from IMT, Enugu. Are you in anyway related or you are just friends? We are not related in any way. But we grew up together in the university town of Nsukka. Smash’s dad used to work in UNN while Vast’s parents lived within the neigbourhood .Then, we used to attend the campus shows when we were in secondary school. How did it all start? Those days, we use to have tape recorder. And each time, our mums purchase all these christian cassettes, we usually use the cassettes to record the songs of some of the great musicians in those days such as 2pac, Michael Jackson and others. Our parents would be wondering if anything was wrong with us. Sometimes, after listening to the music, we usually write down the lyrics and memorise them. Later, we would mime such songs at school shows alongside other aspiring rappers. It was dur-
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No matter what he is telling anybody, deep inside his heart, he knows the truth and we all know the truth and God knows the truth.
ing one of such shows that we came in contact. The rest is history.
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ou were three in your group. What happened to the third person? It is a long story. Igwebuike Amobi a.k.a Bistop was with me (Vast) before Smash later joined us. We had some issues that made him to take his leave. It wasn’t our fault that he left the group. According to reports, he alleged that you people connived with your manager to kick him out? Nobody kicked him out. We read most of those allegations he leveled against us, even the claim that he was the one that composed almost all our songs including Yori Yori. Was he actually the one who composed Yori Yori? If he was the one who truly composed it for us, we could not have released another album, we will be waiting for him to come and compose it again for us. It is normal for people to say all sorts of things but for him not to be in the group is his fault and he knows it. No matter what he is telling anybody, deep inside his heart, he knows the truth and we all know the truth and God knows better. He made mention of taking you guys to Ape planet? He was not and doesn’t
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know Ape Planet from Adam. I (Smash) was in the same class with Ape Planet.He didn’t know him. He just cooked up the story. What was the name of your record label then and now? It was and it is still Ape Planet Marital status? We are still single but we are not getting any younger. Please oh! You should advise us to go and get married, all we need is gingering. So, are you guys planning to get married soon? We do love to get married and we believe that most artistes’ think about it and they look forward to getting married as well as thinking of where they will be in the next twenty five years. Is it with my kids or am I going to be doing something different? You might be the biggest artiste today, tomorrow you might not be. Artistes come and go, so we believe we must think about it too. Why did you relocate? Hmm....We don’t know o! But we relocated because of the nature of our job. Most parents complained that we disturb the neigbourhood. But its not as if where we are staying now do not have their rules but it is far. We have our studio here in our house but we couldn’t do it there because of the complaints and we do everything without anybody complaining again. We never said we must stay in Lekki. It was a friend that secured it for us. Is there anybody like Mr Odor whom they said sponsored Happy Day? Mr Odor? No! This is the first time we are hearing such name. If it’s Mr Nazy, he is our manager, and talking about sponsorship we got was from Ape Planet and from a man who wanted to work with the person who gave us ten thousand Naira which we used to book a section that we never made use of. However, the only
Our pain, our our story — B spon sorship Happy Day got was from Ape Planet. Before then there was no name like Ape Planet and Bracket. It was then that the whole name was created. Is it true that it was you guys who bought a jeep for Mr Nazy? Well, Mr Nazy bought a car for himself on his birthday and we all celebrated along with him. How was your show in Germany? It was a very nice show because we get to meet people, people who have not been to Nigeria for a very long time. They are really enjoying it because they believe you are taking them back home. Some of them at the end of the day cried because your bring back lost sweet memories. You use that medium to reach to our fans that are over there. It was an awesome show, you know Germany is big. We went to just a place and few places in Europe. When you talk of all these outside concerts like Europe, America, it is not as
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BUMNEME Ali a.k.a. Smash and Nwachukwu Ozioko a.k.a. Vast popularly known as Bracket are the rave of the moment in the Nigerian music scene. With hit tracks like Yori Yori, Ada Owerri, Muah Muah, among others, the group has become a household name across Africa. Showtime celebrity recently engaged them at their Lekki home in a lot of issues, including the secret behind their parting ways with their long time friend and colleague, Bistop.
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By MUKOSOLU NZOM
They are not really joying it because yo are performing, the are enjoying becaus they believe you are taking them back home. Some of them ended up crying.
massive as those in African countries. Africans pay you well and they are the ones that show true love. Your relationship with PSquare? We are like brothers, we are very close. We visit them and the repeat teh visit as well. We even planned spending this year’s Christmas with them but we are to have a show at Equa-