Of all their classic records, one which has survived the test of time and has become one of pop culture’s most inspirational additions is the record ‘Temptation.’ Here is how it was made.
Remember Alaye? The guy who jumped on
Psquare’s 2006 classic record, ‘Temptation’, and delivered a rap verse?
Music listeners of an older generation will
remember a time when Psquare was the hottest thing Africa had and celebrated.
From Ouagadougou to Conakry, Peter and Paul Okoye held pop music on the
continent in a chokehold.
Of all their classic records, one which has
survived the test of time and has become one of pop culture’s most
inspirational additions is the record ‘Temptation.’ Off their 2005 “Get
Squared” album, which featured other heavyweight records such as ‘Bizzy body’ and ‘Oga Police’,‘Temptation’
was right there in the mix.
The record was interesting because it was the
first time Psquare had worked with a rapper, an unknown MC from the UK named
Alaye.
The UK-born Edo rapper, with a mixed ancestry
of Nigeria, Jamaica, and Grenada, met Psquare in London, via his
brother-in-law, who was a show promoter.
Alaye’s relative had a show in Benin, and
Psquare were the other ‘African’ musicians billed to perform. During the ride
to the concert, they began to have conversations, introducing themselves and
their music to each other.
“They played me their music,
and I said this is good, they heard my stuff, and said ‘let’s collaborate…That
song happened to be ‘Temptation.’ I knew I loved the song, and I happened to
drop some incredible bars on that song,” Alaye said via a
telephone conversation.
Alaye said both parties
didn’t foresee the greatness that the song had, and had no idea of how big the
record will become.
“It’s
a great song, it’s definitely stood the test of time,” Alaye says. “People walk to me till today,
to say “Zoom zoom in your boom boom.”
Where is Alaye Now?
Raised by his Grandmother “Alaye”
was a talented sportsman, musician & academic in his early school years his
recollections of life comes from the lenses of the unfair distribution of
wealth in society.
He wasn’t born into a wealthy
family, and that helped shape his decisions in life. Alaye acquired an
entrepreneurial spirit and started hustling any and everything in his teen
years “to
buy the things I couldn’t ask my Grandma for”. With his father
seldom around and his mother working and living abroad before her untimely
passing left him as guardian for his younger brother & sister. He also
became a teen father having a daughter.
With a lot of responsibility on
his young shoulders, Alaye got kicked out of college while studying his
A-Levels and decided to pursue his dreams to be a Artist/Entrepreneur. He’s
since had some success in it. Interestingly, he was the one who discovered
singer May
D, and hooked him up with Psquare.
After the Psquare record,
internet penetration was still inadequate in Nigeria, and a lot of platforms
didn’t exist. Music videos and records were the primary source of information
in the music industry. Alaye, who was based in the UK, appeared to fall off the
radar. But according to him, he never left.
“I’ve been creating and doing
music, I never actually stopped. I was like, ‘I need to do it correct.’ I
didn’t want to enter the game and disappear. I needed to come with my full
catalogue,” he says.
According to Alaye, worked on
building businesses, and made enough money “to secure me for life, beyond music.”
He’s also been working in the
UK and USA, pushing the African music sound and culture. Between the time when
he recorded ‘Temptation’, and 2018, African music has grown, spreading to
various parts of the world, and empowering lives both on and off the continent.
Alaye says he has been a part of the process, pushing the music from “the
back-end.”
“I took Psquare stuff to
Universal Music, and told them ‘this is about to be the new wave,’” he says. “They didn’t
get it at the time. So when Psquare and D’banj blew up 8 to 10 months later,
they were trying to sign these guys.
“What’s happening now is no
surprise to me, it was inevitable. I still think we are in our infancy, and but
it’s evolving, and the work is locked on to in.”
In 2018, Alaye is ready to
return to the music industry. He’s recording numerous songs, and has a plan
starting in April, to drop a single every month. He’s created the wealth to set
him up for life, now it’s time for him to chase the music.
‘Temptation’ might have
introduced him to an older generation of music listeners in Nigeria, but his
onslaught to get the attention of the younger crowd will begin with his new
records, recorded for a time like this; when he is getting his money, pushing
the culture and focused on the music prize.
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