The love of music brought the
duo of Bracket together at the
niversity of Nigeria, Nsuka.
Nwachukwu Ozioko aka Vast
and Alli Obumneme aka Smash
have been great friends and
their song Yori Yori keeps
making the waves but lately the
duo are embroiled in a
controversy about who owns
Yori Yori. Amobi Clems aka
Bishop claims he wrote the song
but the duo disagree and throw
more light on the issue and
insist the song belongs to
them.Excerpts:
What informed the name
Bracket?
The name came from K barrister
who was actually meant to
sponsor us but it didn’t work
out because then we had a very
big crew and we never knew
that it was just going to be the
two of us. We had about ten of
us in the group then so we just
called it South Bracket. K
barrister now said we should
remove the “south” and we
were left with Bracket.
How long have you been
together?
Well, we have been together
since 1999 although we had
many people in the group then
and we never knew what we
wanted. We wanted to make it
like G Unit, a foreign group. We
wanted to be like Tupac and co.
All we wanted then was to
imitate them but we found out
that this was not what
Nigerians wanted because if
you are African you have to
play African music.
How did you guys meet?
We met through school shows,
because we grew up in the
same neighborhood at Nsuka
very close to UNN. That was
how we met.
Is Yori Yori your song?
Yes it is our song
But Bishop has been saying
the song is his …
If it is his song, let him come and
sing it and let us listen to his
voice. You know we all have
freedom of expression. You can
say whatever you like. If he
says he owns the song he
should prove it. Although he
was once a member of the
group, but Yori Yori is not his
song. The only thing he had in
the song was the “rap” but
when he had problem with the
company it was removed.
Initially you guys said he left
because of his studies …. so
why didn’t you just say he
left the group?
We didn’t say that , because he
was our brother and we didn’t
want anything that would dent
his image. You see, even when
he was not in the group we
used to talk to him but recently
maybe somebody advised him
otherwise…. to blackmail us … he
just changed and he started
saying that you guys said I
went back to school but you
drove me away from the group.
So our management felt it’s high
time we told the press our own
side too. Basically the thing is
between him and the
management and not us.
Is he still your friend?
Yes he is, but he is the one going
about painting the picture that
we are enemies. You see we
wanted to push this aside and
move on. We wanted him to
come to us and make us friends
again but he went on listening
to wrong advice and that is
very dangerous. You know
there is nothing as bad as
wrong advice… it kills. He should
come to us and let’s talk as
brothers.
What inspired Yori Yori?
It was the media . During the
days of Happy day it wasn’t
really good but because the
media was still writing about us
even when we were out of the
scene for three years we
thought we still had some
things to offer, so we decided
to do something special for our
fans. That was when the
inspiration came but we weren’t
really feeling it then and the
same Bishop that is now making
allegations against us said we
should give it Faze’ beat and we
told him we can not copy it.
He said we should give it to the
producer to produce and God
knows that we are telling the
truth. Bistop never wrote a
verse in the song aside the rap
and it was cleaned off when he
left the group. Honestly, it was
him (referring to Nwanchukwu)
that wrote the song .Why didn’t
Bishop say he wrote Adaowerri
too because we wrote that
when he left the group. He could
have said that too but thank
God he left the group before we
wrote that song. Bishop doesn’t
write songs, so he should stop
what he is saying and face his
work.
What is your relationship like
with P Square?
They are more like brothers to
us. It’s been a long time we met
them. Since we did the happy
day song we have been friends.
We call them our brothers.
Is music a family thing?
Alli: Yes it is in my family… we
love music because when my
grandfather was still alive, you
know he stayed alone in a very
big compound. He would make
drums, the local guitar and he
played it all alone. Even when I
was small I used to play music all
alone too.
Nwachukwu: Mine started from
the choir and also I had siblings
who were in the choir too… so I
can say it’s a family thing too.
At what point did you decide
to take music seriously?
It’s been a long time because
when you are underground as
an artiste and you have not
made it you have a dream that
one day you will get there. But
we started taking it seriously
when we released Happy Day.
Was there any objection
from your parents?
Well sometimes, they would
support you when it’s going
well but when it’s no longer
going well, they would then say
“We don’t think this is really
working out well, so go face
your studies squarely. It wasn’t
regular… but they were so
particular about our studies.
Was there a time you were
so frustrated you wanted to
pull out?
Ha… that happened a lot of
times…. we had several
experiences that almost made us
pull out. Even before we did Yori
Yori we wanted to go our
separate ways. But by the grace
of God we are still together….
unfortunately the third guy is
no longer here and it wasn’t our
fault but his own doing. If he is
not sincere enough to say what
really happened then let it be.
Was there any event that
really made you feel so bad?
I remember when we went for
Star Quest 2002, it was so
frustrating because we had no
money and from UNN then we
had to go to Enugu . We had to
hustle for transport fare and
what have you. Infact, we
hoped we could win a prize and
get money from there but we
didn’t win anything. We were
left with nothing and dropped
at the audition.
We went about borrowing
money and we were insulted
but some people helped us. Also,
you know sometimes your
parents won’t give you
attention because you are a
musician. Sometimes we were
unable to afford our school fees.
So it’s very frustrating. But we
still thank God for the
experiences we had.
What is the main challenge
you are facing now in the
industry?
The main challenge is that the
face and the name grow bigger
than the pocket. It’s not that the
pocket is not good but when an
artiste rises to a certain level
some people see you as a god
and people’s expectation for our
next album would take a lot of
hard work because people’s
expectation right now about us
is high.
How do you cope with
female fans?
Well for that question we would
say, business for business,
pleasure for pleasure.
Are you into any
relationships?
Nwachukwu: I don’t know
about him o! But as for me it is
still complicated right now.
Alli: I’m single but not searching.
If you had not done music
what would have done?
Alli: If I had not done music I
could have been a lawyer.
Though I’m reading Psychology
now.
Nwachukwu: Well I wanted to
be like you, a Journalist. You
know I am a Mass
Communication student.
How has it been combining
academics with music?
We thank God…. had it been that
UNN was not on strike we could
have finished this session and
by next year we would be
through. Other schools are in
session now, but we are not . So
it’s affecting us really bad.
Are you sure music has not
affected your studies?
Of course it has because we are
not always in class but we try to
balance things and make sure
we read and go for our exams.
We make sure we go to class as
frequently as we can.
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