The K-Peace Story:From HawkingIn Traffic To Idolisation…

FOR the newly crowned Etisalat sponsored Nigerian Idol, Ogunrounbi Olakunle, popularly known as K-peace, he will dedicate his time and put a larger part of the money prize he won into his music career. With his emergence, Olakunle became the fifth winner and first South-westerner to win the music competition.

During the show, K-Peace, shone like the star that he is today. He was a leading light among the final top 12 contestants and left no one in doubt about his music qualities and was rated a top contender for the coveted prize of N7.5 million, all-expense paid trip to Dubai, a Hyundai Sports Utility Vehicle, and a N7.5 million recording deal with South Africa-based Universal Music among other largesse, throughout the seven weeks that the show lasted.

Recounting his journey into music, Olakunle said, it all began in his church where he worked with work with choristers, and has worked with some of Nigeria’s known artistes including Yemi Alade, Skales, Dammy Krane, Niyola, and Terra Kulture chief executive officer, Bolanle Austen-Peters among others. Rather be demoralised by the let down from the established acts, he saw it as a challenge and determined to take his game a notch higher and this help distinguish him from other contestants.

Growing up somewhere in Mile 12, Lagos, the Ogun State-born singer revealed that he once hawked edibles like Gala, pure water and beverages in the traffic to make ends meet after the death of his father. “My growing up was tough, I used to be one of those guys that hawk sachet water in traffic. I also work as a factory worker. I’m from a family of five children and we were well-catered for.

My father was an engineer with Leventis Motors at a time, but he lost his job and later tried his hand at trading in motor parts, but we eventually lost him to cardiac arrest.

That marked the beginning of many difficult years for every one of us, including our mother whose duty it was to provide for us,” he said. For the 32-year-old who took the Nigerian Idol by storm with a unique genre of music, FujiRnB, which he calls a fusion of contemporary and Fuji music, young and upcoming artistes are not usually encouraged by the established acts, and this often makes them remain at ground zero.

I have worked with a lot of people in Nigeria music industry who does not appreciate what I do as a backup vocalist. I was a backup vocalist for some people that make me feel like am just a mere backup, and they pretend not to see me. “Sometime you rely on people like that, thinking you can call them when you are in trouble, but they pretend not to know you.

They even say it to your face that the only thing they have with you is only business relationship. For someone like me, I never mind or have problem working with them, but I learned from them,” he stated Prior to his emergence as the Nigerian Idol season 5 winner, K-Peace worked as a casual in a factory.

On what inspire his style of music, K-Peace said, “my background really influences my style of music. I know I can never be like the Western musicians; however, my culture, environment determine the way I sing.”

What stood you out from other contestants in Nigerian Idol Season 5? “One thing that made me different is that I never forget my route, this is Nigeria and a lot of Nigerians want to listen to something that has a little touch of Africa, Nigeria and if even if you are going to do some kind of Western thing, never forget to put what people want to listen to.

So the unique thing about me is that I do Fuji and I do RnB” Asked his most embarrassing moment in the Nigerian Idol house, Kpeace said it was when he was given Broadway music. “I was down because I was meant to do three songs that week and I didn’t grow up watching movies and cartoons; I grew up hustling on the street. Most of the songs I was meant to perform were really strange to me, I never heard them before. So, it was difficult for me to cope; my fellow contestants were amazed and they said ‘how can you say you never hear this before’.

There was a time I needed to perform a song with Dolu and when I try to do the song, I forget every line.” Describing himself in three words, he said, I’m jovial, goal-oriented and humble. He noted that this endeared him to the fans and the judges. “People really encourage me; someone said to me, I have never seen someone like you, you perform as if you won’t have opportunity to perform the next day. I was happy to hear that and it really helped me to give my all,” he said.

On his next plan after the Nigerian Idol, Kpeace says it his music, adding that he intends to have a musical equipment company. “Before I came to Nigerian Idol, I had little musical equipment I used for myself and also give out for commercial purpose, but now I want to invest my money into that business because I belief so much in music and it is taking me far.

He noted that getting to the grand finale of the competition was not by his power, and he is ready to support any charity organisation to the best of his ability, adding that he would be visiting the motherless homes with team soon.

To those aspiring to become musicians, he said, “I will like to say that life is a process, some time, you might start something and it will work for you within two years and you start making it but some time you see yourself going through a long process just like in my case, after 17 years of trying.

He said, “I never knew I’m going to win the Nigerian Idol, but I want to assure Nigerians that this is not the end of my journey; it’s just a boost to go higher as the love they showed to me throughout the show gave me joy, and I want to promise all music lovers that I will always give my best. I have the feeling that my career has just been kick-started, and I’m starting afresh, only to get stronger.