Why I Left Infinity-Kore

The name Kehinde Akinbode
would hardly ring a bell. Maybe
the name K ’ore could, but Infinity
will surely and readily will. It’s
the name of the five man gospel
group whose hit album Olori Oko
ruled the airwaves in 2006 and
even subsequently. They were
the toast of most gospel music
lovers in Nigeria and abroad.
Churches also courted them to
bring in the crowd.
But alas, while the group basks in its
success and lapped up its newfound
fame and fortune, the lead vocalist of
the group, Kehinde Akinbode who has
some of the hit songs in the album,
Olori Oko and Aye o le to his credit
called it quits with the group. Recently,
Sunday Sun caught up with the young
man who is in his late twenties. He has
since moved on with his own music
and re-branded as K ’ore.
In this interview, he answered the
question that has most been thrown at
him since his exit from Infinity: Why
he left. He also opened up on his
humble beginnings, his musical career
which he considers his calling, fame,
women, money and his Christian faith.
Excerpts :
Born in Ajegunle, raised in Mushin
My family had been middle class all
along. My dad used to work for
Leventis Motors. He was brilliant at his
work and he traveled abroad for
training. He worked in different states
in Nigeria, as a mechanical engineer. I
was born in Ajegunle. We moved from
there to Isolo, and because it was quite
close to Mushin, my mum didn ’t allow
us to go out because she didn’t want
me to mix with the wrong crowd.
Until I was 11 or 12, my playmates
were just my sisters. I have three
sisters; a twin sister, an elder sister and
a younger one. Then I could tie
wrapper very well like a woman. In
fact my mother almost turned me into
a sissy. My dad was not always around.
In fact Jesus has done a lot for me,
because this was how I was saved from
that trap. I ’m a guy, I needed to ride a
bicycle, play football, do what other
guys are doing, but my mum was just
loving me all the while. She didn ’t
know any better.
Mum didn’t allow me to ride bicycle
Or even play football but she allowed
me to attend church.
However there was a fellowship just
behind our house, and though she
wouldn ’t allow me go and play
football and ride bicycle, she was okay
with me going to the church. We were
nominal Christians all the while. We
weren ’t going to church often, so I
became the first person that would
really become a serious Christian in the
family. In the sense of being born-
again at least. I remember my mum
came to look for me in the church, then
my sisters started following me, and
gave their lives there too with my
mum. Then they also started attending
the fellowship, and we started
attending church.
Subsequently, I became a member of
the choir. I was about twelve then and
I wrote songs and took lead roles in
the choir until my family moved to
Agege where my father has his house.
Then I changed school and became a
leader in the school’s fellowship.
When we started out and people
asked us for our album, we asked
ourselves if we were that good.
At that time we were thinking of doing
something to make the fellowship
more vibrant, because we were losing
young people to secular clubs. So we
started a group we called All for Christ
because we were four. However, a
friend later told us that name wasn ’t
original enough because it readily
reminds you of All for One, the R and B
sensation of the eighties. That we
should think of something else. So we
thought of different names and came
up with Infinity. That was how the
group came to be. From the excos of
the fellowship in school.
That was how we started getting
invitations from outside the school,
and people would ask us for our
album. At that point we began asking
ourselves if we were that good,
because we never saw ourselves as
good enough to do an album. We were
just having fun. The four of us, and
another person joined us. And at some
point we started adjusting to the vision
and Infinity ’s Olori Oko album was
launched in 2006, it became a hit and
the rest is history.
We couldn’t afford to translate the
first idea we had for Olori Oko
video. As a team what we did was sit
down and critique several musical
videos, because we wanted ours to be
the best. So we ’ll sit and play the songs
over and over, because we wanted
something very grand. The first idea
that came was like a Zulu movie,
depicting war, with the lord of the
army coming in.
An African man tall and regal, but that
was going to cost us a lot, and we
didn ’t have the money. So we thought
of how to streamline and still pass
across the message. Then Sunny
suggested we did a drum thing and
ideas started flowing. And we thought
Dayo Liadi whom we had met
previously could do the dance. So it
became a subjective idea, whereas
what we thought initially was to
literally depict a war scene, and a war
hero coming on the scene.
Before then, we had a few stints with
arts practitioners like Mr. Wale
Macaulay, grandson of Herbert
Macaulay. It was actually on the set of
his play, The Rape of Gidiolu, that we
met Dayo. It was a socio-political
drama and we handled the music
aspect while Dayo handled the dance.
We were camped on Snake Island for
the production for a month, after
which we did a presentation at the
National Arts Theatre, and it was
beautiful. For us, it was a taste of the
arts and the experience remains
memorable for me.
When I left Infinity
Some people said I was crazy, but I was
convinced it was the next thing for me
to do.
I was convinced it was the next thing
to do, we had been together for
eleven years. Having been together for
that long, we had set out to achieve
certain things, and I ’m the kind of
person that likes to take stock of what
I ’ve done. For example, after you’ve
gone I will take stock of things that I
did in the course of the day.
I do that a lot and I was convinced it
was the next thing to do. It wasn ’t easy
for me, because it was at a time the
group was at it ’s peak. We were
enjoying a lot of favour and goodwill.
We were traveling. We just came back
from the UK, things were rosy and
good. ill date I ’ve heard people say, I
was either really just courageous
obeying God or simply crazy to have
done what I did at that time.
It’s not true that I left the group
because the others were distracted
by the opposite sex.
If I may throw this back to you, if
perhaps there was any truth in that, do
you think I would be the one
spreading that about? Would it be my
job to squeal on them? Of course, you
would expect me to call them, and talk
to them. Even if I would leave on that
basis, it shouldn ’t be me spreading the
story. And I would say categorically
that my leaving the team was not on
that basis. I attribute all that to yellow
journalism.
I love them and I miss them. Oh God, I
miss them sometimes!
But for now we need to give space so
that people can differentiate Kenny
K ’ore from Infinity.
For now, I don’t perform with the
group. No, because that would be
confusing people. If you say you ’ve
left, let people see that you left,
instead of hanging around with them.
I ’m sure sometime in the future, we
may be doing things together but for
now, a lot of people are yet to accept
that I left, so we need to give that
space for people to really know that
this is Kenny K ’ore, and that is Infinity.
They’ve recorded an album but it’s not
out yet. I think they are shooting the
video. They ’ve been doing some
promo on Radio.
On my part, I’ve been promoting my
album titled Eledumare, that’s the one
that has Yannibo. I don’t know if you’re
familiar with folktales of the tortoise.
The tortoise will be a metaphor for a
greedy, sly, cunning and evil person.
Usually they say behind every great
man, there is a great woman. Behind
every bad man too, there is a bad
woman. So the tortoise has a wife and
usually in folklore, his wife ’s name is
Yannibo . So the idea came from there.
Basically she is the everyday woman,
who likes a guy who unfortunately is
married, and she didn ’t know how to
deal with that. And she wanted to
force the guy into a relationship.
The idea behind Yannibo is to erase
the notion that men can ’t resist
seduction.
The idea is not to paint women as
Yannibo , as bad people. I wanted to
fight the idea that almost every
woman out there has. That men cannot
resist seduction. The belief is that even
with the best of us, the pastors, “make
the woman just shake body, e go fall”.
Though there is a level of truth in that,
but we need to fight that kind of
thinking. Our generation is formed by
ideas. And how do you fight an idea?
You fight it with another idea usually a
better one. What I ’m trying to do with
that song is that I want every man that
listens to that song to be able to say
“ Yes, I can do it! I will not yield to
temptation, I’ll be faithful to my wife”.
I’m normal like every other guy
The thing is I’m a very normal guy,
which means every normal weakness
that the average guy has, I have them
too. I ’m so like that. However I love
God, and I see that people perceive me
like that, “This one is a child of God”,
and that matters to me a lot. We don’t
have that a lot anymore. Our
generation is moving towards the
precipice, everyday our musical videos
are always about sex.
If they’re not about sex, it’s about
money, about greed, it’s about lust,
everything negative, everything anti-
Christ, anti-good nature and character.
It ’s out of character, out of custom, out
of tradition, it’s just crazy. The fact that
our government, music censors board
or whatever is allowing this
outrageous trend. is bad.
So if you have one guy, a lady out
there who can still be an embodiment
of light, embodiment of what we used
to be in terms of culture, respect,
character, in terms of everything that is
scriptural, why would you want to
trade that off for momentary pleasure
of sleeping around. It just doesn ’t
make sense to me.
I once lied to wriggle out of
temptation
At a time I was in a relationship with a
very good friend of mine. I think I still
care about her but we just realized
that we couldn ’t go on and we
amicably settled to just remain friends.
But while I was in a relationship with
her, I was in the UK and I met this lady.
She was very beautiful, and then we
went to this eatery which also doubles
as a library. It overlooks the city of
London. We sat at a table, we got
books, tea and small chops, and we
were talking. That moment was like a
dream come true for me.
It was a picture perfect scene but I was
already committed to someone. And
that dampened the whole atmosphere.
So while I and this lady were together,
I felt there was chemistry, and I didn ’t
like it, because I felt it was wrong. I
had somebody back here at home, that
I was committed to. So while I was
talking to the lady, I just said, “Ah! I
miss my girlfriend”, whereas it was a
lie. The last thing on my mind at that
time was missing her. I wasn ’t missing
her ; infact I was wishing she wasn’t in
my life(laughter). But I needed to do
that at that moment, and the magic
disappeared because I brought in my
girlfriend, and I felt bad.
Naturally she was already warming up
to it but of course now knowing that I
was attached, any self respecting lady
will ease out, which was what
happened. I saw all that and didn ’t like
it, but in the long run, I can sit with you
and talk about it and I ’m proud I was
able to do the right thing. That was
why I sang in Yannibo. You look at me
like I am cruel, but I ’m not an ordinary
man, I fear the Lord, I have a wife and a
son. I ’m going to do what is right,
though it seems so hard. Then I go, ‘so
hard baby’ like it’s painful.
Why I’m into music
We sang Olori Oko mainly in English
and Yoruba, then we spoke in tongues
a lot. Speaking in tongues is a
deliberate thing that I decided to do in
most of my projects because Jude said
in the Bible, “Building up yourselves
on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Ghost ”. Speaking in tongues is a
Christian reality, it is one of our most
holy faith, when we pray. I felt like we
should flaunt it. These other guys they
flaunt bling, bling, they even tell us
they smoke igbo. They show girls that
are shaking their backsides in their
videos. What are we proud of?
Americans flaunt their heritage
(culture). I ’m a Christian ; is there
anything in my heritage as a Christian
that I can just flaunt, and be proud of?
That’s why I do what I do.
Music is not what I’m doing to make a
name or just to put food on my table.
It ’s something I’m doing to make a
mark in my generation, so I have to do
research. I won ’t just get a catchy
phrase and just put a rhythm together
and put beats together, no. People still
refer to people like Bob Marley , Fela,
Ebenezer Obey, and Sunny Ade. Their
music is still relevant today. If it was
just something they were just
lackadaisical about, their songs won’t
be evergreen. They would have passed
with time.
There is a song I have, I got the lyrics,
the rhythm, melody in a dream. I woke
up, took my recorder and took
everything, however you still need to
work. Sometimes I want to say
something in Yoruba, I don ’t want to
use the Lagos dialect but the very deep
ones, so I consult with my mum or
other elderly persons. My mum is from
Ogbomoso in Oyo State while my dad
is from Abeokuta in Ogun State.
I chose the name K’ore because it
speaks to my destiny
K’ore simply means ‘Ku
orire’(Congratulations). I wanted
something artistic, something very
African that is meaningful and can
speak over my life, because I believe
there is something in a name.
Oftentimes people don ’t realize this
when they call themselves funny
names. Those names answer over their
lives. Call it my bias, but I ’m convinced
there’s something in a name. I thought
about several names, there’s one I love
so much, Theodore-it means lover of
God, but I decided against it because it
isn ’t African. and I wanted a name that
will reflect my heritage. I’m proudly
African, I’m proudly Nigerian, and I
want to flaunt it. So K’ore is a
shortened form of Ku orire. It’s a name
that is speaking over my life and
speaking over my destiny.
Three things convinced me that music
is my calling
One, because one is gifted . Two, being
passionate about it, and three because
you have the know-how. God will not
call you into an area in which you ’re
not gifted, or passionate about. If
someone ’s trying to find his area of
calling, the first thing he’ll be told is to
first find his area of passion, his gifts,
and to develop himself in that area.
And one wouldn ’t have strayed too far
from that calling. For me I’ve noticed
that I was gifted in this area. In fact, if I
had counsel earlier, I wouldn ’t have
done science. I could have just stayed
in the arts, because I can paint, write,
and of course play music.
Gospel is gift, it’s sacrifice…but there
should be a balance
I think whatever you are doing, the
motive should be beyond money. Even
if it ’s secular music and especially
when it’s gospel, it should definitely
not just be about you because gospel is
gift. It ’s sacrifice, it’s a ministry, but
there should be a balance. Oftentimes I
come to a point that I ’m thinking, any
form of extreme is bad, whether to the
left wing or the right wing. The Bible
itself is a book of balance such that
Jesus would say “do this, but do not
leave this undone”. Such that they
would say, do not muzzle the ox that
threads the corn, don ’t put money
ahead.
He said “seek ye first the kingdom…”.
Then He said after seeking the
kingdom, “all of these things would be
added to you”. He knows you need
them. That’s the point I want most of
our pastors and churches to realize.
When we put ministry first, like I ’m
doing, Paul said “I’ve ministered unto
you spiritual things, now you minister
to me …” You look at me, listened to
my project, looked at my life, see
where I may need help. Don ’t make
me ask you to do it, because I will not
charge you, I will minister to you
spiritual things.
The reason why we have issues now
with gospel artistes and churches on
charging fees or not is because a lot of
gospel artistes have realized that it ’s a
jungle out there, nobody cares. You
will spend money to do quality
production. I ’ve spent over N3.5
million and I’m still spending on my
project. You spend money to put
yourself on TV, do a great video,
promote videos but guess what
happens these days? I dare say
churches are not inviting you, because
you are anointed .
They are inviting you because you’re
the happening thing. You’re the rave
of the moment. If you come to church,
more people will troop after you, and
come. All of that costs money but then
you do it. And then they give you an
envelope containing N10,000,
N20,000 or N30,000. That ’s ridiculous .
You’re not singing any less than the
secular artiste. Infact, in most cases, the
gospel artistes are better vocally.
The average lifespan of a secular
album ranges from four to six months
whereas that of a gospel album ranges
between six to ten years and more.
Midnight Crew ’s Igwe is still selling,
Infinity’s Olori Oko is still selling, and I
think Asa is an evergreen. She will sell
forever. A lot of all these swagger,
ginger, just name them, their lifespan
is between four and six months. At the
end of the day when we look at it , one
is perhaps better than these guys, yet
they are raking in money in their
millions. And the church doesn ’t seem
to understand that. Gospel music is a
strong tool of evangelism. If you play it
down, you ’re pulling down the
salvation and the sanity in a lot of
churches.
Many of the secular artistes that are
singing dirty songs today were church
people, but I don ’t blame them in a
way, because when they were in the
church nobody reckoned with them.
But now, they do one hit track and
they are buying houses in Lekki, they
are riding Bentley, living large. My
project(album) was given to about
three secular labels and they were like
men …if this guy was only secular. I’d
probably be in money by now, getting
endorsements, maybe I ’ll get a Bentley
or something close. It’ll come in Jesus
name, it usually does. I’m not saying all
these, because I feel sorry for myself.
I ’m saying this, because it’s an issue
that should be addressed. In any case,
I ’ve always known that even if they
don’t do it, if you’re faithful to God
who called you, He will be faithful to
you.
Of course I miss having a ride
especially in Lagos
How it has been since I left Infinity? If
you ’re talking about shows, yes I still
have shows but can’t compare with
when I was with the group. I’m not
even trying to compare, I’m convinced
it was the next thing for me to do and I
have my peace. God has been faithful.
I gave out my car, a BMW Coupe but do
you know my prayer everyday,? Father
have your way, just have your way
with me. Even if it ’s going to be hard
for me, help me to obey you. I love God
more than my reputation. When the
scripture says, “the life I live, I live in
Christ, the life I have is not my own”,
I’ve often noticed in my life that
anytime I have a strong sense of God in
it, for whatever I might lose, I get
peace of mind.
Of course I miss having a ride
especially in Lagos but it ’s ok. I can live
with myself. I feel I obeyed God. You
know there was something God
wanted me to do, and I never did it?
And it still haunts me till today. I still
had that car then. God told me to drop
the car, enter a molue, carry Infinity CD
and just share my testimony, no
preaching. But I was too shy to do that
and it haunts me. Anytime God asks me
to do something and I don ’t, I lose my
peace.