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Artquake returns with AQM Gang

By Chuks Nwanne
16 July 2016   |   3:29 am
Though they had been in the industry for long, the release of their monster hit Alanta, was all it took for Adegbite Adeniran (ADX) & Tomomewo Olakunle (Ice-K) of Artquake to stamp their authority on the country’s showbiz scene.
Music group Artquake. Inset: AQM Gang

Music group Artquake. Inset: AQM Gang

Though they had been in the industry for long, the release of their monster hit Alanta, was all it took for Adegbite Adeniran (ADX) & Tomomewo Olakunle (Ice-K) of Artquake to stamp their authority on the country’s showbiz scene. The track, which came with a unique dance style that caught fun lovers like wildfire, remains their biggest and probably best outing so far.

Artquake emerged on the Nigeria’s music scene in the late 90’s, representing one of the pioneers of Afro hip-hop, with unique performance that is classified by originality and creativity. Their first major release was the 1991 track, Abulelawa and since then, the group has been working and producing new sounds.

However, for some reasons, they took a break from active music to attend to family concerns. And just as many had started asking of their whereabouts, Artquke is back, but this time around, to concentrate more on Afro Pop genre, a deviation from their traditional hip-hop style.

“At some point when we released Akanta, we had a little bit of slowdown as a result of marriage. We also though of diversifying and make some little more money and see what we can do aside music; that actually brought the slow down. But after then, we did release some music afterwards; we’ve released over six singles after Alanta. But like you observed, they did not really catch the attention of people as Alanta did and that’s why we are still giving our best,” Ice-K said.

Aside from changing their sound, Artquake has also gone through some levels of rebranding, with the hope fitting into the current music industry that is dominated by young and fresh talents.

“Sometime in 2015, we decided to rebrand; we noticed we were doing a couple of things that were not getting to where we wanted them to get. So, we though of doing things differently, you can’t be doing the same thing every time and expect to get a different result,” he noted.

To announce their return on the scene, the group dropped a new single, Adura. Featuring Sound Sultan, the video, which was shot on locations in Atlanta, United States of America, is currently enjoying airplay across the country.“There’s a breath of freshness in that video and we got a lot of good comments after that,” ADX hinted.

Besides working on their own music career, Artquark as a group has also established a record label, with AQM Gang and their first signee. The gang, which is on the verge of dropping its first album, is made up of Emeka Opute (Dollarsyno), Toba Shina (Fixo), Naiwo Olamide Ayodeji (Holly) and Ukadike Chidiebere David (David Cee). And from samples of their works, the group is set to play big in the industry.

“We thought of brining on new guys on our record, AQM Records (Achieving Quality Music). We thought of signing these guys; we’ve always been around us. We’ve been watching them since we launched our studio; they’ve been coming around. For us, it would be very bad to see such talents and have them pushed away. So, we decided to work on them,” Ice-K said.

Unlike the usual paddy, paddy relationships that exist between some established acts and upcoming talents, AQM was officially signed on the record label for a three-year contract of two albums.

“We’ve let the boys know that we are doing business; I remember the day they were going to sign their contract, they were shocked. But I told them, ‘you are lucky that we took you guys to sign a contract. Anybody who signs you and does not look like he wants to make money, he’s not after your progress; he only wants to use you to show off.’ We are taking this serious, that’s why we are doing all the legal aspects. So, if tomorrow they wish to go, then we will look at the legal issues. Whatever we are doing, we keep records of everything, so, this is purely business,” he noted.

Though currently signed on as a group, AQM Gang members would eventually go solo, after they might have successfully established themselves in the industry.“We are trying to deal with them as a group first; that will give us enough financial convenience. Once they gain attention, everybody will go solo. We started recoding in 2015, by early this year; we had a proper contract with them. We were able to put in place welfare package for them; we actually got them an apartment. The first thing we did was to shoot a video with them so that people can relate with them,” he said.

Aside from family engagement, working on AQM Gang actually slowed down Artquake’s return.
“Earlier, we did Asiko with Oritsefemi, did Adura with Sound Sultan and then did Fara Bale with these guys; that’s very unlike what we used to do. There was a time we used to release just one single in a year. In between all that, we shot Abulelawa video with Jahbless and Seriki; that’s a different approach from the way we used to work. If not for the guys, we would have even dropped another single. But we decided to sort them out first, and then we will get back to work as Artquake,” ADX said.

Right now, the Gang is gearing up for a video shoot of one of their yet to be released singles. This time around, Artquake won’t be involved.“That will be their first video as a group. For now, we are trying to decide which of their songs we are going to use for the video; we’ve been talking to different director for the job, but we are ready to put them out,” Ice-K said.

As much as the album seems ready, there’s no indication that it would drop any time soon.“The album looks ready, but we have a way of dealing with this kind of situation; we need some level of awareness first before we drop. So, we are looking for just one song that will do the magic; that was what we did with Alanta. We will keep promoting singles, because people are not really crazy about albums anymore. There are some artistes without an album today, but they are doing far better than those who have albums. So, for now, we are trying to launch them properly and do things that will create that attention in the industry before we talk of their album,” he noted.

“Besides, these guys are so talented; they keep recording. We don’t even know what they are going to do after we leave this studio now. You can decide to release the album and by tomorrow, they will call you and say, ‘boss, we have a new song.’ So, we are giving them time to be creative and get the best,” ADX added.

To Artquake, the era of enslaving young music talents in the name of contract is over.“We just want to encourage them and let them know they are not under slavery. Like I tell them, it’s not always easy for artistes to sign fellow artistes. Currently, we are working on getting a management for them so we have less work to do. But we took our time to structure the relationship in a way that it’s going to be a win, win situation. We are going to treat them even better than Artquake was treated,” Ice-K submitted.

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