‘Why substandard music, nude videos pervade Nigerian airwaves’
By Ladi Ayodeji
One of the surviving stars of the ’70s/80s, considered the golden era of Nigerian music before the current global dominance of Afrobeats, Steve Black, turned 70 on July 21, 2024.
A decent musician with a closely-knit family, Steve Black has been in show business for 56 years, and he celebrated this milestone at Freedom Park, Lagos last Sunday, his birthday, performing with his band – a blend of Afrojazz, funk and Afrobeat.
In this rare interview, the septuagenarian, who is also a respected activist and farmer, opens up on a number of issues with his usual candour and boyish passion. Please enjoy it.
How do you feel turning 70? Are you satisfied with your life?
I feel terrifically great with all glory to God for keeping me alive. I’ve been hearing and seeing people including my friends celebrating their 70th birthdays, so now that I’m celebrating mine, I feel very good.
You are still active on the music scene. What’s the response to your kind of music today?
Yes, I’m still very active on the music scene and the response to my kind of music today could be described as ‘slow’ because crap has taken over the Nigerian music scene, but I’m doing very well abroad.
How has the exit of foreign record companies like EMI, Sony affected the growth of the local music industry?
The exit of those big record companies has both positive and negative effects on today’s Nigerian music. The positive effect is that the Nigerian musicians are now setting up their own record labels and being in control of their talent. The negative effect is that crap has taken over the scene. Those recording companies used to censor music and made sure it’s good enough for release, but now nothing like that; anybody can go into the studio and record trash and pay radio station’s OAPs. That’s why there is substandard music on our airwaves, with nude videos.
The new generation of Afrobeats artistes like Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Tems, Davido are thriving abroad on the concert circuit; is the local scene dead? There are no live shows on the scale we see abroad?
Yes, they are thriving abroad because those big companies are based abroad; here the economic situation and government policies are not friendly to the record companies and many other companies. Even companies like NBL and telecoms sector that would have been sponsoring those concerts are running at a huge loss. So, they are not thinking of sponsorship of music concerts like they used to do in the past.
Yes, I can say the local scene is dead. Many people can’t afford tickets to shows these days, because of hardship brought on the masses by government policies and the type of democracy being practiced in Nigeria. In our days, you can wake up at 12am and still catch a kabukabu (cab) to the club. But these days, you have to think of your safety because there are kidnappers everywhere.
Considering your age, do you have any plan to tour Nigeria or abroad?
I don’t have any plan to tour Nigeria because I can’t guarantee my safety. I don’t want to be kidnapped. But yes, there are plans for Europe tours.
You chose to release your autobiography instead of a new album. Why?
I’m releasing both; my new songs are on Spotify, SoundOn, AudioMark and so on. The autobiography titled, My Imperfections Made Me A Perfect Man, is for my fans to know more about me.
Your activism seems to be getting stronger. Don’t you fear it could overshadow your music?
My activism can’t overshadow my music. First and foremost, I’m a musician, and in this situation that Nigeria has been taken over by bad governance in form of democracy, I can’t keep quiet. Is this the type of democracy being practiced at where we copied it? Hell no! British Prime Ministers and parliamentarians use British made automobiles, same in America, China and the rest of the civilized clime. But in Nigeria, our politicians spend N168 million in our current harsh economy to buy one bullet proof SUV for themselves, while our universities are being shut down because the students protested over inadequate power supply. Our rulers’ priorities are just to look after themselves.
Your hat is now part of your fashion statement. Why is it so?
I’ve been wearing hats and berets since the ‘70s. I love hats.
What are your immediate and long-term objectives?
My immediate objective is to take my Afro funk music to the world, and that also forms part of my long-term objectives.
Nudity seems to be taking a hold on the music stars; what’s your opinion?
Like I said earlier, the departure of big record companies gave room to ‘anything goes’ and our musicians began to copy wrong things from abroad (just like our politicians), forgetting that our culture is different from what they’re copying. You can imagine Nigerian musicians copying Kanye West when we were supposed to be helping the lost sheep to trace its routes. But it would soon fade out.