9ICE

9ICE : Talent, Style and Bad Press
Taking a cursory look down memory lane, Great
men are touted to be great not because of the
talent which they exhibit alone but because they
make grave mistakes and even after been written
off would always manage to rise above water and
shut their critics up.
Abolore Akande aka 9ice means a lot to different
people. To many, he is a very talented songwriter,
lyricist and singer who is also very down earth. To
another set, he is talented but they have a problem
with him because he doesn’t ‘flow’ with the time.
The fact that he has refused to join the bandwagon
of musicians who go into the studio to spew
rubbish and sing about booze, sex and women and
who try to imitate the Western style of talking,
singing and dressing has also gotten him into hot
water with some others.
After the release of his 3rd album (TRADITION), he
had a marital problem and so the cracks began for
him. The Album itself was not bad as it is very rich
in lyrical content and definitely one for the
matured minds but still mad media conspired to
‘kill’ the album. As a result of his problems with his
wife, he lost so many fans who were unimpressed
by spats between himself and his wife on Twitter.
Then came his beef with Rapper Ruggedman. All
these led to a fall in his stock and here, the media
saw the chance to finish him off.
Perusing through blogs then, I was always
disappointed with many Popular bloggers who
came up with stories that they couldn’t
substantiate; all in a bid to diminish his worth in
the view of right thinking people. One popular blog
accused 9ice of fighting physically in public but
yet, this blogger couldn’t produce a single shred of
evidence nor did he satisfy the doctrine of AUDI
ALTAREM PATEM(Hear the other side). A radio
station in Ibadan claimed that 9ice was postponing
the release of his double albums because he was
broke.
The worst was one I saw on 360nobs.com. a certain
guy called ‘MONK’ in his column which was
published in November 2010. In the article, he
claimed that 9ice was finished and should hang up
his microphone. The writer displayed his ignorance
and emotions when he claimed that 9ice had
released a double album after Tradition and that
they flopped (That was in 2010). I was miffed when
I saw this and I had to ask friends if 9ice’s double
album was out and no one has seen it, ironically,
the Albums were just released a whole year after
writing that Maliciously intended write-up.
2011 was hell to fans of 9ice as the media had
written him off. On December 7 2011, while I was
in class awaiting my Civil Litigation Lecturer for the
day’s lecture, I saw on twitter that the double
albums (Bashorun Gaa and Versus) were out and
my heart skipped. I was unsure if the Albums
would make sense; not after the Nigerian media
had almost turned me against him. However, the
reviews I saw on twitter were massive as people
were rating the album an average of 4 stars over 5.
I couldn’t wait for class to end as I bolted to
Obalende and then every vendor told me that the
ALBUMS HAD SOLD OUT.
After the massive entry of the albums into the
market, one would expect the Nigerian Press to
‘hype’ them in their little way but many of them
refused to even acknowledge the release of his
albums. The conspiracy continued.
Many of the websites are still trying to downplay
the success of the albums. On the 6th of January, a
story emanated from thenetng.com or something
where it was written that 9ice moved out of his
House into Ogba and did that to severe contact
with his associates. The unknown writer went
ahead to state that 9ice was not ALIST and that
Davido and Wizkid was better. That story, titled
“9ice moves out of Ogba home, plans Solo
Concert” caused some uproar on Twitter and some
notable websites circulated the story and spread
the false assumptions.
To the issue of who is A list and who isn’t, the
doctrine of Res Ipsa Loquitor applies. 9ice is up
there with the Crème-de-la-crème of the Music
industry. His albums have been platinum and he
has won major National and International awards.
Comparing him to Davido is worse as Davido has
no album to date and I have never even heard his
song.
I am sure his music and the success of his albums
is an answer to his critics. He sure doesn’t have to
reply them. Whatever is incessantly attacked must
surely be so good. However, I am still expecting
360nobs.com or that ‘MONK’ of a guy to either
affirm or deny that story published in November
2010. Meanwhile, affirming it would be a volte-face
on their part while denying it would ensure that
their Credibility is at its lowest ebb.
All I am saying is that the Nigerian Press should
not sacrifice sensationalism for credibility. Learn to
say things the way they are and not the way you
want them to be
Ayokunle Odekunle, a Graduate of Law is a
Student of the Nigerian Law School and can
be reached on
Knuckleswithoddy@yahoo.com