Ibadan-born Fuji maestro, Mr. Saheed Okunola, popularly called Saidi Osupa, has revealed he got into the limelight with his first music album; Fuji Fa Disco.
In an interview with SaturdayPUNCH, Osupa, who is his final year at the University of Ibadan Distance Learning Programme, said “the album brought me out and made people know me. And you know fame is in stages. Before then I had been singing but people didn’t really know me.
He, however, disclosed that when he released Master Blaster, “it gave me a huge level of fame.”Before stardom, Osupa explained that “I was singing and acting movies. But I started acting movies before I ventured into music.
“I will say the journey is not a smooth one, it is tough but I am grateful to God for how far he brought me.”
He also spoke on the challenges he has faced.
“One of the challenges I faced in the earlier days of my career was acceptability from people. People were not used to my style of music. I was the first person to come up with that style of fuji using saje to preach morals. They didn’t understand that there could be a slow style of fuji. It was new to people. But later, it gained acceptability and people began to love my special style of singing.
“Another challenge I faced was the issue of finances. When I first started, there was nobody to give me any financial assistance. The first time I was to give my song to a marketer, I recorded with my money and took to the person. Although I was promised some percentage of money by the marketer, I never got any.
“Also when I became big, some of the people who knew me from my hustling days and thought that I was supposed to have become big were even the ones envying me. I saw that their concern wasn’t sincere. The beef started then it became rancour and before you know it, it turned out to be a big fight in the fuji music industry.
“Everybody has their own caucus then they began to use the media against me; writing many negatives stories about me in the media. That issue got to me a lot. It almost brought me down but I thank God for how far he has brought me.”He said late Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and King Sunny Ade are his role models.
On his success secret, he said that “Consistency, determination, hard work and creativity; consistency has brought me far. When you do something continually over a period of time, you will be successful in that thing. Also, if you want to sell something different, then you must do it creatively.”
He said that he does not have a particular style of music he would still love to sing, adding that “I have done a different style of music and most of them usually come as requests from my fans. They know that I am dynamic with songs.”He noted that some of his fans come to meet him at his shows, while others on social media and also via text messages to make music requests.
Osupa doesn’t have a favorite of all his songs. “I love all my songs because they are an advancement on previous ones,” advising up-and-coming artistes “not relent on their works. They should keep being their good self as anything can happen to people in life. If you continue to hit an iron sheet with your hand, one day it will have a mark.”
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