Wasiu Alabi Adetola is better known as Pasuma Wonder. He is one the most respected musicians in Nigeria, with the Fuji star having been active in the music setting for over 30 years. The Kwara State-born entertainer made a decision to go into Pop music fully last year and he will be releasing his first pop album which features collaborations with stars like Tiwa Savage, Olamide, Phyno, Terry G, Oritsefemi among others.
In this exclusive interview with NET, Pasuma speaks on his forthcoming album and sundry issues.
Tell us about your forthcoming pop album
The album is ready. It will be released on the 30th of July. It is a 15-track album that features pop stars like Tiwa Savage, Oritsefemi, Terry G, Phyno, Olamide, Patoranking etc. The album is titled My World. We have released a couple of songs off the album and the acceptance has been great.The first track we pushed out was ‘Abo’, it’s a dancehall song, we followed it up with ‘Ife’, the one that features Tiwa Savage. After releasing dancehall and R&B singles, I decided to do a rap single titled ‘Ogede Ti Pon’. I chose not to feature anyone on the rap single because I don’t want people to see it like ‘Ife’ blew because Tiwa Savage is on it. And recently, we dropped ‘Oruka’.
You are a renowned Fuji musician, what inspired you into getting involved with pop music?
I got the inspiration from the street. And at the same time, I have been doing pop music before now. I can say I’m one of those who started pop music in Nigeria. I am not new in the game.
Hope your going into pop music will not affect your Fuji career?
It’s not going to affect it. The whole thing is, as an artiste, you should be able to diversify. Diversity is very very important in anything you do. My fans have always known that I can do pop music, because I have always been infusing it into my Fuji music, and it has really helped my career a great deal. My fans have always been yearning for it, they have always been asking me when I am going to drop my pop album, and now that me and my management company AO@21 media thought it is long overdue, we have decided to give it to them .I love my Fuji music more. That is where I belong anytime any day. I am a Fuji musician but I should be able to do something new. And it is not a surprise to a lot of people because we have always been doing the hip hop thing right from when it started. Way back in 1996, you would remember I did Keep On Rocking with Remedies. 1996 till now is 18 years ago and I believe some of the new artistes making waves today were still in primary school then. So I have always been doing it.
You have been recording with big acts in the last one year, how has the experience been?
The experience has been wonderful. They all love me and see me as their brother and as their daddy. Like when I met D’Banj, he was like Baba Pasuma, and I said don’t call me Baba, and he was like he has been listening to my music since he was a little boy. So that shows the respect they have for me. So working with them has been very interesting. I am enjoying the swag that goes with the hip hop thing. Even when I am doing my Fuji, I still do it with swag. I am enjoying it, it makes me feel younger and I am happy about that. I think if I want to come back to this world again, I will still want to be Pasuma. We don’t get to see new Fuji musicians coming out like before when there were quite a lot of them like Shanko Rashidi, Wasiu Container etc. It’s because the marketers have stopped the Fuji musicians from doing collaboration albums. If we have been doing the collaboration thing, you will see new Fuji musicians coming out but we have been doing everything to ensure that they lift the ban on collaboration albums. The hip hop people have been helping themselves by doing collaboration. Nobody knew Phyno until he featured Olamide in ‘Ghostmode’. If the young Fuji artistes are doing collaboration with the established ones, it will help their career a great deal.
what are you doing on your own to help grow the industry?
We have a talent hunt platform we are working on. It’s called ‘Ohun’ which means voice. With this, we should be able to discover new Fuji musicians and they will be signed to my record label , WASBAR Records.
Tell us more about the label
WASBAR record is owned by me. I and my manager, Afolabi Oyekoya, the boss of AO21 media sat together and said this is the right time for us to have our own record label. And we have signed Q.Dot who sang ‘Ibadan ni mo wa’ and we are still hoping to sign a few other artistes.
How did you arrive at name of the label?
I coined the name from my daughters’ names – Wasilat and Barakat.
Are they involved in the running of the label?
They will later be involved because our plan is to make the label a very big brand. But for now, it’s just me and my manager, Afolabi Oyekoya that are running it.
Would you allow any of your children to go into music? They are free to do whatever they like. I won’t stop any of them from going into music. But they have to finish their university education first.
How long have you been doing music?
I have been doing Fuji music for over 30 years. We were supposed to celebrate my 30 years anniversary last year but because of our busy schedule all through the year, we had to push it to this year. I started in 1984.
How has the journey been?
It’s been interesting and challenging. It’s been 31 years of hard work. I just want to thank God. Have you achieved what you set out to achieve with your career? I think what I have achieved so far is fulfilling…
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