By Femi
Akinpelu Joseph
The Nigerian
music scene is undoubtedly blessed with many talented singers, song-writers,
producers, directors and even managers.
And the
coming of the urban (Hiphop and RnB) genre of music that now dominates the
scene since this new millennium era began, could be traced back to the early
and the mid 90s, when a number of music groups started to form.
Interestingly,
there were some of these music groups that were exceptional considering the
personalities in the groups, their talents, popularity, and the quality of
music they have produced.
These are
people that we could refer to as the legends of our time. The most outstanding
five or the ‘BIG 5’ of those groups that have rocked the country in the past
and till present time are presented below.
Plantashun Boiz
 |
| L - R, Faze, 2face and Blackface |
Plantashun
Boiz was an R n B and Naija hiphop group that was formed in 1997 under Dove
Records, and this consists of 2face, Faze and Blackface. During their reigning
days, their style of singing was compared to none, not only in Nigeria but
even in Africa.
They serenaded the ladies and mesmerized all Nigerians with
their smooth and flowing singing. They had hit tracks like Knock Me Off My Feet, Plantashun
Boiz, You And I, and Baby Don't You Know from their first
album, and other songs like One And Only, from their second album.
They, however,
went separate in the year 2003, shortly after 2face got signed on to Kennis
Music. They came together and produced one more album together in 2008, and
that made it the last group engagement between the trio.
The Remedies
 |
| L - R, Eddy Remedy, Eedris and Tetuila |
Remedies was
one other very popular group that pioneered hiphop and shook the country with fine music from the
mid 90s (1997) to the early 2000s. The members of this great group were Eddy Montana,
Tony Tetuila and Eedris Abdulkareem.
 |
| Eedris Abdulkareem |
This group, which was signed on to Kennis Music, appeared to be very interesting
and endearing to
Nigerians because of the fact that the three guys that made up
the group hailed from three different regions of
 |
| Tony Tetuila |
the country; Tetuila was from
South-West, Eddy from South-South and
Eedris from the Northern part of the
country. They were the most formidable hiphop group of their era.
 |
| Eddy Montana |
They produced
hit songs that include Shakomo, Shade,
Jealousy, Belinda and many others. The group later broke up to pursue solo careers, with Tetuila being the first to step out of the group due to some
irreconcilable differences between him and the other members. They all still went on
and had enjoyable and very impactful solo careers.
The Trybesmen
 |
| L - R, K.B, Eldee and Freestyle |
The
Trybesmen were the next successful hiphop & rap group that came out with an
outlook of a more conscious and the modernized hiphop movement. They blew out
to limelight in the early 2000s. The group had Eldee (D Don), K.B, Dr. Sid,
Freestyle, and others like Sasha, Blaise, and 2Shortz (all very good rappers at
that). They were known for hit-tracks such as Plenty Nonsense, Shake Body, Shake It and others.
They blended so
well with a fusion of mainly rap with some singing, which sounded so good, so
modern and created a huge interest from a large section of the youths and even
the much older bracket. They were very impressive with hiphop lovers during
that period. Just like the ones discussed earlier, they also broke up after
issues began to generate between the members. The members all went solo one
after the other afterwards.
Styl-Plus
 |
| L - R, Tunde, Zeal and Shifi |
Styl-Plus
was a purely R n B music group that made its debut in the year 2003. Their
first song was the ever popular Olufunmi.
The group was made up of three fresh-out-of-school good looking guys,
Shifi, Tunde and Zeal. They formed the group while they were still
undergraduates at the Federal University of
Technology Akure (FUTA), Ondo
state.
Their first album “Olufunmi” was a banger and a block buster, with very popular
songs like Olufunmi, Runaway, Call My Name and Stay Alive, which won them a
couple of awards, including a Channel 0 Award, winning as the Best R n B group
in Africa, in 2004. Their second album (Expressions) too was big.
It was produced in 2006,
and had hits like She Drives Me Crazy, Always On My Mind, Iya Basira, Delila
and some others. They were the people’s first choice when it comes to love
songs, such that music lovers already were comparing them with Westlife, the
U.K popular band.
In 2008, they released a track called Four Years, which was
more or less a thanksgiving song, through which they shared their experiences,
challenges so far and thanked God for having kept them thus far. Tunde was
afterwards rumoured to be stepping out first to pursue a solo career, though
nothing really was heard from him.
The group then inexplicably went out of
limelight, unannounced and in such an unusual and disappointing manner, and
none of the group members tried his luck in music again as a solo artiste.
P-Square
 |
| Peter and Paul Okoye |
P-Square is a music group with a
difference. The group consists a duo of twin-brothers; Peter and Paul Okoye.
Interestingly, they are the only group from the early 2000s that is still
active up till date. They began their career in the entertainment dancing and
singing, and miming songs and performances from MC Hammer, Michael Jackson and
others, and they were formerly called “Double P”, “P & P” AND “Da Pees”
Peter and Paul, and then eventually settled for P-square after they went into
music fully.
Their first album was ‘Last Nite’ in the year 2003 and almost
immediately, they began to got huge recognition from Nigerian music lovers, for
the fact that their coming into the scene brought something fresh
and uniquely
different (cool hiphop and R n B music and clinical break -dance moves), with
songs like
Senorita, Igbedu, Last Nite, Kolo. But
as soon as they dropped their second ‘Get Squared’ in 2005, their name was already
on the lips of every one that followed music in the country and the African
continent, the album could boast of hit-tracks such as Bizzy Body, Story, Omoge
Mi, Temptation, Oga Police, Get Squared, Say Your Love, E Don Happen,
Temptation.
Their third album (Game over) in 2007,
was a monster and it turned out to mark the beginning of their bigger career
breakthroughs in music as nearly all the songs on the album became a hit. It
had hits like No One Like You, Ifunnaya, Do Me, More Than A Friend, Roll It,
Miss You Die, Game Over.
Their fourth album ‘Danger’ in 2009,
was likewise successful with songs like Possibility (with 2face) E No Easy
(with J. Martins), Danger, Gimme Dat, Trowey, Who Dey Here, Do As I Do (Ft Tiwa
Savage and May D), and Beautiful Onyinye (with Rick Rosss). Then they had ‘The
Invasion’ in 2011, and ‘Double-Trouble’ in 2014.
P-Square has been known for dishing out hits
after hits, since they started. Also they have won several music awards both
national and international, including The Headies, Nigerian Music Awards, MTV Europe
Music Awards, MTV African Music Awards, KORA Awards, MOBO Awards, BET Awards,
Ghana Music Award, and more. Some of their most recent hits are Chop My Money
(Ft Akon and May D), Alingo, Personally, Shekini, Collabo (With Don Jazzy),
Bring It On (Ft Dave Scott), to mention a few. P-square could be rated as the
best and most successful music group ever to come out of Nigeria.
