Kenny Ogungbe, popularly known as Baba Keke, has explained why Kennis Music has not been active in the Nigerian music industry recently.
Speaking with Sunday Scoop, Baba Keke said there was nothing wrong with Kennis Music, insisting that he deliberately didn’t sign any artiste in the last six years. He said, “Kennis Music has decided to look at another aspect of the entertainment business. We do not want to promote more than one artiste anymore. We had artistes that didn’t want us to renew their contracts and we were also not interested in working with them any longer. Jaywon is a good example.
“We wanted to stop music promotion so that we can focus on our radio station. If we sign an artiste, we have to do promotions, take care of his welfare, do good videos and other things. We are still relevant with Joe El and we are happy with him. But this does not mean music production has ended for Kennis Music.”
Baba Keke, who recently celebrated the first year anniversary of his radio station, Kennis FM, also stated that he intentionally didn’t want to speak on the allegations that Kennis Music was cheating artistes. He said, “The management fees we were collecting on 2Baba was 15 per cent and they said we had eaten all his money. I heard all the things people said about us .Once you are a progressive person, they will say ugly things about you.
“Today, find out what Don Jazzy collects from his artistes. I am certain the management fees can’t be 20 per cent. I have heard about artistes who pay 50 per cent as their management fees and they don’t complain.”
On the best artiste he has worked with, he didn’t waste time before calling Innocent Idibia, 2Baba’s name. “Innocent Ujah Idibia came to me; I did not go to him. He came to me and said we should work together. When they were known as Plantashun Boiz, Tony Tetuila introduced them to me after featuring them in his song, Omode Meta. I wanted to sign Plantashun Boiz then but they were with another record company. After the group broke up, 2Baba came to me and I agreed to work with him. At that point, I didn’t need any confirmation from anyone because I had known him as a gentle, humble and talented singer. My second favourite artiste is Eedris Abdulkareem because he is straightforward and honest.”