- Modenine Opens Up
Listen to Olusegun Babatunde, otherwise known
as Modenine for the very first time, will definitely
left no one in doubt that probably the U.K born
lyricist is not a Nigerian. Modenine ’s swagger
coupled with his ‘punchy’ lyrical wit are some of
those qualities that stand him apart from other
few Nigerian lyrical heavyweights, and he ’s one
artiste you cannot talk about with a few words.
Though, Modenine might not be your regular
commercial hip-hop artiste, the stoutly-built rap
music star remains a force to reckon with in the
Nigerian music industry, his beef with acid -
tongued rapper, Ruggedman is no longer news in
the music scene, as the two frontline rappers
have been trading words both in the newspapers
and on the vinyl. In this exclusive interview, the
gifted lyricist opened up for the very first time,
when KAZEEM POPOOLA caught up with him,
where he spoke on the genesis of his lyrical war
with Ruggedman, his music career plus other
issues. Enjoy the excerpt.
Gone were the days when nobody seems to
reckon with your kind of rap music, but now you
are more of a rejected some turned cornerstone.
What is the secret?
Longevity, consistency, perseverance and hard
work are the secret. If you exhibit all this, people
will definitely listen to you. But you have to be
strong, because more than three or four times, I
have almost called it quits, when the situation
was getting really tough. I was almost forced to
do some other things that I felt are more
commercial and the bad aspect of it is that you
may lose your old fans, and those who you are
trying to please might not feel you at all. This
might just leave you with no fans at all; and you
might disappear. The best thing to do is to find
something that you are good at, and continue to
push in that direction.
During your trying period, can you recollect one
of the bad compliments you had?
I went somewhere to deliver my CD and when I
got there, the person just look at me and my
dusty shoes. The look on his face was really
terrible; he just hissed and said, “All these
penniless artistes who are fond of disturbing us
with their CDs ”. I just left Abuja at that time, and I
was hanging out with Elajoe. I just needed to
spread my CDs to different radio stations and I
ran out of money, so I had to trek a little bit, I felt
so bad, but it really inspired me to continue
pushing hard.
One can feel the touch of ‘KRS-One’ in your music,
are you KRS-One’ ‘wanna be’?
(Laughs) No! KRS-One and I are talking about
different things, but people are just feeling the
force. This is because anything KRS-One does, he
does it with authority, and he doesn ’t ever show
signs of weakness or losing control. That’s the
same thing about me; it’s not as if I sound like
him.
Why rap music?
I ’ve been doing this hip-hop thing for quit a long
time; it’s not as if I stumbled on it. It’s something
that I really liked. The first time I heard hip-hop, I
did not think that I was going to be a rapper but
later, I developed a likeness for it and after
sometime, I started writing my own little raps.
Even though, I did not know that I was going to
release an album, I knew deep down that it ’s
something I wanted to do more than any other
things. I like reggae music and pop. My father
used to buy a lot of records, but the first time that
I heard hip-hop, through my big sister, I just
knew that it ’s something I wanted to do.
Is there any difference between rap and hip-hop
music?
It depends on how you look at it. I would say that
hip-hop music can be generalized, people refers
to hip-hop as music of the youth. So, you might
not need to be a rapper to be called a hip-hop
artiste. Hip-hop encompasses all the music of the
youth, such as rap, R & B and all that. Hip-hop is
not a genre of music; it ’s a way of life, attitude
and the music of the youth.
So, what is your own definition of Rap music?
Rap music is the act of putting words together,
rhythm and poetry. It is putting words together
to make sense and sound good, which is the
rhythm and act of passing your message in a
musical form.
You said that Rap is part of Hip-Hop and music for
the youth, what about the old ones?
I said, according to the people, they refer to hip-
hop as music of the youth, but left to me, if you
don ’t rap, you are not a hip-hop artiste.
How did you Mode the nine in your name?
The name just happened; it ’s from being able to
manipulate the scientific calculators. It’s a
function on your calculator that said mode 9. I
usually press that in front of one girl who did not
know my name and she called me ‘Mode 9’. The
next time she saw me, the name Mode 9 has stuck
as my name.
You and Ruggedman were good friends before,
but why are you joining issues ?
Ruggedman and I were cool back in the days, but
it ’s not as if we used to visit each other. I’ve been
to his birthday party once or twice, I was Abuja
based then. Words, speculations, rumours fly
around, all one needs to do as a friend is to pick a
phone and ask the next man that, this is what I
heard and all that. I had never really had any
problem with Ruggedman which will require me
calling him, getting him upset on the phone or
sending text messages back and forth. I have had
problems with my friends; ‘Terry de Rappman’
before. It cannot be smooth all the times as
friend; you might just have some disagreement
once in a while. I have had this disagreement
with the likes of “Terry”, O.D and other people
like, but till today we are still together, because
we were able to settle it in a mature way. But
when somebody is constantly dodging, he does
not want to respond to lies somebody might
have told him about me. For instance, there was a
show at the ‘Vault’ Nite club; somebody went to
tell him that I came on stage to rubbish him
indirectly with a ‘head Warner’. Honestly, I cannot
remember doing that; I had never gone on stage
with ‘head warnner’ to say that it’s not hip-hop.
Things are happening, imagine the beef between
Jay Z and Nas, nobody really knows how it
started.
Are you saying that your beef with Ruggedman
was caused by ‘hearsay’?
Yes! People have called me several times that
some people were abusing me, but I had never
taken it seriously.
Why can ’t you call him?
I’ve called him once for a ‘collabo’ about all the
speculations and all that, but he told me that he
was busy. It ’s just like the ‘hearsay’; they wanted
to put on ‘Sauce kid’. I have only met Sauce kid
once in my life, that’s when we met in South
Africa, and he was cool. They were saying that he
was abusing me, and I later found out that it was
not one of his friends.
‘ Sauce kid’ had said in one of my interviews that
he does not know anybody that goes by the
name ‘Mode 9’…
Don’t mind him, he was just joking. Sauce kid is
cool, but I can understand him getting angry,
because everywhere he goes, people keep asking
him about the beef between him and Mode 9. If I
were ‘Sauce kid’, I might even say the same
thing. Sauce kid and I are cool right now; we are
actually trying to do a track together. The reason
why we are cool is that we spoke about the issue
for seventeen minutes on phone. It ’s good when
two men sit down to talk things over.
Ruggedman and I never sat down to talk things
over. Let me be straight with you, we were on a
musical tour to Germany in 2006, from there, I
and Eedris Abdulkareem went to Italy, and he
went to London. When I came back from Italy,
Ruggedman, K-Show, Six-O, 2short and C’mion
were alleged to have done an abusive track about
me. I was confused, because we were together in
Germany, had fun and all that. I later asked him
about the song when we met at the ‘Vault Nite
club’, but he denied it.
In that same song, I learnt that they dissed
‘ Elajoe’, infact, he was really upset, but I have to
calm him down because we’ve not heard the
song, and we should not lose our heads on
something that it ’s not out. Unfortunately, we did
not know hat happened, the song disappeared.
It ’s got to a stage when I was thinking that,
probably it’s all lies, until I met OJB Jezreel, later,
when he confirmed the existence of that song.
Who started the lyrical war between you and
Ruggedman?
I don ’t know.
But you actually diss him in your last album…
He has been doing some indirect stuff, tracks like
‘ Ruggedy Baba’ ‘Waka ‘aka’, ‘ speak your mind’
and some other songs like that in his last album.
Go and listen to that album very well, everything
was about me. If you listen to my previous
albums and the one that contained my popular
song ‘Cry’, those albums came out at the same
time, I don’t leave to abuse anybody. I was doing
songs like ‘Nigerian girl’, Cry’, Africa’, Ogun Isoye’
and stuff like that. All of a sudden he came with
album with those insults.
So, between you and Ruggedman, who is doing
the real rap music?
I speak for myself. I don ’t speak for the mechanics
and shoemakers. I know that I am doing the real
hip-hop.
Tongues are wagging that the beef is a publicity
gimmick for both of you?
If it helps him to sell his record, fine, but I was
just replying his song ‘Banging’ that he did for
me, that was my first reply, and it hit him
hardest. I don ’t need to diss anybody. Eldris has
always been my friend, Maintain and I were not
close then, but we knew each other.
But Ruggedman is doing that to correct some
things in the industry …
No! Correct what? If somebody is doing
something wrong, do your own right and let
people compare.
He actually forced Eedris, Maintain, Rasqie and
others to change for the better?
No! Guys changed with time, even if he did not
say that. When a bunch of talented artistes come
out; those people would be forced to change by
all means. Nigerians were not fools; the problem
was that, there was nothing else at that time.
Eedris and other guys were trying to eat, do
something, and get money out of it, and you are
coming against them. I’ve learnt from everybody
including Eedris, when I was on a musical tour
with Eedris. I learnt from African China, Ade Bantu
and other people.
Since the problem started, we ’ve never seen you
and Ruggedman exchanging blow…
It’s not a physical thing, its hip-hop, and right
now Michael Steven (Ruggedman) is not my
enemy and I don ’t hate him.
Who are your friends and enemies in the music
industry?
I neither have friends nor enemies; I have people
as personal friend whom I don ’t see as industry
people. The likes of ‘Terry de Rapman’, ‘O.D’, ‘Six
foot plus’, ‘Kraft’ and ‘Jonah’, these are my friends.
I really appreciate the likes of Sound Sultan and
Baba Dee who gave me my first real show for
which I got paid.
How many awards have you won so far?
I ’ve decided not to talk about awards again,
because there is an influx of different awards in
the industry. An average artiste can just come up
with a song, manage to shoot some nice musical
video, and all of a sudden, he had ten awards in
one year. Awards are good, that shows that
people appreciate you, but to be sincere I am
trying to concentrate on how to please my fans
the more.
You have decided to put a question mark on your
recording deal with ‘Question Mark’…
I signed a recording contract with ‘Question Mark’
in 2005 and it ended in2008.
Are you happy leaving the record?
I won ’t start saying that Question Mark did not do
this or that. I won my first award and got
introduced to the rest of Africa through “Question
Mark”. I don’t regret to be on the label, because
things were very hard for me before I got signed
on ‘Question Mark’. I was really underground,
trekking long distance, entering buses, climbing
okada, even though, I still climb Okada, and all
that. I actually stopped entering buses toward the
end of my recording deal with ‘Question Mark’.
Who and who would make up your own top five
list of the Nigerian best lyricists?
In no particular order, I would pick a guy from Jos
called ‘Henchman’, ‘Terry De Rapman’, lyrical’,
he’s based in Port-Harcourt, ‘O.D’ and last but not
the least ‘M.I’,
What makes a good rap song?
From my own point of view, the beat has to be
tight, good choruses that people can easily relate
with, just like ‘Spartas’, a track four song on my
last album.
How many albums do you have so far?
I have four.
Let ’s compare your first album to the last?
The first one was very monumental; T-Joe who
happened to be my marketer pushed only five
thousand copies.
How many copies were sold?
He sold quite a few copies, but I don ’t really know
the exact number I think ‘Malcom IX’ stopped
selling in 2007, and I suggest it might have sold
more than five hundred thousand copies.
What about your second album?
That was ‘Pentium IX’; It was like a mixed-taped,
a prelude to ‘Pluribus Unum’ which was the main
album. Question Mark only made fifty thousand
copies of that, and it was a sold more than
hundred thousand copies in the first few months,
and that was not bad for a rap album. My last
album ‘Paradigm shift’ is not doing badly, people
are buying on-line, and so many Nigerians have
copies, they have been quoting my lyrics. I am so
happy that Nigerians are not stupid, it is a big lie
that Nigerians don ’t listen to lyrics, and there are
some people who know my songs, words for
words.
Let ’s talk about your love life…
That’s my private life; I don’t want to talk about it.
Are you trying to dodge the fact that you are into
a relationship?
Music thing is a business, and one doesn ’t have to
push his relationship in the faces of his female
fans.
Probably you don ’t want your trailer loads of
girlfriends to know that you are into a steady
relationship …
My private life remains private.
The first time that you had sex, how was it?
What ’s wrong with you? (Laughs) No comment.
Did you do it with your house help or your
girlfriend?
Let ’s just say the person is slightly older than me.
It was a quick thing (Laughs)
Who chases who, you or her?
I cannot really say but it was due to peer
pressure.
How do you get spiced up for stage performance?
I don ’t really need anything to spice myself up,
performing is a mental thing, I pace a lot, walk
back and forth in my hotel room before going to
stage. So, immediately I get to the venue, I have
to perform within five minutes because I ’ve
already ‘psyche’ my self up, which is like a build-
up before the main thing.
How was your first time on stage?
I was nervous, walking back and forth, because
my heart was beating fast, then one of my friends
just called me, and he gave me a sip of whiskey,
even with that, I was still very nervous.
How is the acceptability of ‘Modenine’ in the
Nigerian music industry?
I am not yet in the mainstream of the Nigerian
music industry, but a whole lot of people in the
industry have learnt that it ’s either you run with
me or run into me.
No doubt that fame is coming gradually, what
about fortune?
I am not fully there, but I thank God that I am not
broke; I can afford things which I could not
before. I have a studio in my house, three great
partners who I trust and who understand that it’s
not about what we can get right now, but about
building an empire.
about 5 months ago
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MODENINE
Back to SHOWBIZ EXTRAVAGANZA- (REALITY .1 ENT)

Too long and jam-packed. . .couldnt read

well i biliv modenine just tok stuvs personal, same as rugged!
rugged did a song that didnt come out dissing modenine andbla bla. . . . . .oshi ni yen!
they are both actn on hear say abeg!

he said he replied to banging in his album!!!!
wasnt talking to u ft banky out before banging?

tosinaded@:

well i biliv modenine just tok stuvs personal, same as rugged!
rugged did a song that didnt come out dissing modenine andbla bla. . . . . .oshi ni yen!
they are both actn on hear say abeg!

he said he replied to banging in his album!!!!
wasnt talking to u ft banky out before banging

Actually banging came out before talking to you, if u remember vividly there is a banging ft durella that came out in early 08.

There is actually a diss track from ruggedman and came out in 05/06 recorded by ojb studio and was actually the reason ojb and ruggedman fell out cos ruggedman was angry ojb leaked the song.

Nice interview. This their baseless beef sef na wa. Make them collabo and make some moola already

Based on the interview, the beef between Modey and Rugged is baseless. Abeg squash the gra gra and do some work together jare!!!

deji.ariyo:

Actually banging came out before talking to you, if u remember vividly there is a banging ft durella that came out in early 08.

There is actually a diss track from ruggedman and came out in 05/06 recorded by ojb studio and was actually the reason ojb and ruggedman fell out cos ruggedman was angry ojb leaked the song.

bangin track was released before talkin 2 u? Dude,wat hav u bn smokin?pls pass it around. U r being biased nd u knw it.rugged neva dissd mode9,he only threw warning shots @ him.na only mode9 dey do all these one,dude is gettin paranoid cuz he wasnt replied.this mode9 beef is dry,useless nd 4gotten.he shuld better start adopting other publicity stunts 2 stay up in d news.
#nuffsaid

mode ix don tire oooooo

Modenine's comments in this interview indicates the baselessness of this rubbish they both call beef.I had even been thinking there was more to it.Abeg squash this nonsense and do collabo make we feel classic hiphop.

this interview is old, i read same.word4word around feb 2009, it was for compass newspapers.so wots d big deal.

This is an old interview.
Did he not mention he asked rugged to do a collabo?
But rugged said he's busy?

Did M9 not mention he called RM, asked him bout the 05/06 diss
but RM lied bout it until t'was revealed?
How will M9 ask if they got issues
and RM denies it but goes on to record a diss track?
How else does beef get ignited?
It always starts kinda trivially but then escalates.

admire M9's openess on most matters. . Beef, RM, SK, hustle e.t.c
But it seems pple M9 doesnt have issues with have issue wit him.
I hope they all get 2geda soon. .

But, can u compare this to the abuse laden Interview RM did?

I think not.

oNe

So cos rugged refused a collabo and also refused to be friends. . . Was that y mode did talking to u and deathblow?
He should stop tryn to justify the baseless beaf abeg!
Must rugged do a collabo wit him?
Must ruggedman talk to him one on one?

Why was deathlow on his album? Publicity and marketn stuvs. .and u wnt to be cool wit him? Oshi . . . .

@dbr
dnt compare the interviews abeg. . .
Rugged's interview was replying deathblow. . .

Mode shld just make music and stop justifying his baseless diss songs. . .

I hrd he dissed me, i cald him bt he didnt reply. . . .askd 4 a collabo,he refused. . . Bla bla bla

tosinaded@:

So cos rugged refused a collabo and also refused to be friends. . . Was that y mode did talking to u and deathblow?

Tosin. . na wa for u o!
Refusin to do the collabo,which is like M9 extending hand of friendship to a squash the beef/rumour is sayin it's on.

He should stop tryn to justify the baseless beaf abeg!

U no dey read?? How has M9 justified it. While pple were xpecting a terrible incident as the source of the issue, no be M9 talk am say it's based
on hearsay?? That is even forgivin the fact RM did a track based on the hearsay.
Tell me, who is justifyin it, the person callin to talk things over, or the person who didnt wanna sit down like men and talk  but rather recorded a diss track??

Must rugged do a collabo wit him? [b]Must [/b]ruggedman talk to him one on one?

Nope, but that's wat a mature person wld do. Honour an invite for collabo, or , and talk things over.
If they did that we wont be here discussin the beef. Nas honoured Jayz and vice versa on Black republican/ successful, that's sayin the beef is over.
Nickle 9 blessin mic wit Em is sayin the issue they had is sorted.
im sure they sat down ti iron things out too.

Why was deathlow on his album? Publicity and marketn stuvs. .and u wnt to be cool wit him? Oshi . . . .

Trust u to stil blame it on M9. . no be u?
But The pendulum swings both wayz, So if Deathblow was marketin stunt. Then i guess Waka waka, Speak your mind,Bangin' and others are all marketin gimmicks!

dnt compare the interviews abeg. . .Rugged's interview was replying deathblow. . .

LMAO. . Y not? No be same pple and issue e dey address?
the only difference is that, one is more thotful while d order was childish and frivolous.

If we swapped the interviews, and t'was RM that comported himself like this, and M9 was the one shouting "Ba$ta[i].[/i]rd person" "u'l die a pauper" "fool" and all sort.
Wat will your response be, Tosin ??

oNe

I dey feel you DBR

THERE IS NO POINT GOING INTO WHO IS WRONG HERE, WE AV DONE THAT SEVERAL TIMES. . . . WITH NO GAIN!

THATS MY OWN VIEW AV POSTED!

^^^^Good u finally realised that.

oNe

DBR:

^^^^Good u finally realised that.

oNe

dbr obviously you are more intelligent with ur point of viewing the issue

and can u pls post ur own point

DBR:

Tosin. . na wa for u o!
Refusin to do the collabo,which is like M9 extending hand of friendship to a squash the beef/rumour is sayin it's on.
U no dey read?? How has M9 justified it. While pple were xpecting a terrible incident as the source of the issue, no be M9 talk am say it's based
on hearsay?? That is even forgivin the fact RM did a track based on the hearsay.
Tell me, who is justifyin it, the person callin to talk things over, or the person who didnt wanna sit down like men and talk  but rather recorded a diss track??

Nope, but that's wat a mature person wld do. Honour an invite for collabo, or , and talk things over.
If they did that we wont be here discussin the beef. Nas honoured Jayz and vice versa on Black republican/ successful, that's sayin the beef is over.
Nickle 9 blessin mic wit Em is sayin the issue they had is sorted.
im sure they sat down ti iron things out too.

Trust u to stil blame it on M9. . no be u?
But The pendulum swings both wayz, So if Deathblow was marketin stunt. Then i guess Waka waka, Speak your mind,Bangin' and others are all marketin gimmicks!
LMAO. . Y not? No be same pple and issue e dey address?
the only difference is that, one is more thotful while d order was childish and frivolous.

If we swapped the interviews, and t'was RM that comported himself like this, and M9 was the one shouting "Ba$ta[i].[/i]rd person" "u'l die a pauper" "fool" and all sort.
Wat will your response be, Tosin ??

oNe

Nice post DBR. The only thing is deviants would stay deviant even when the truth is staring at them. . .

Truth be told, no one is right and no one is wrong but[b] one is mature and one is not[/b]

bouzymill:

Nice post DBR. The only thing is deviants would stay deviant even when the truth is staring at them. . .

Truth be told, one is mature and one is not

right bouzymill dbr is way matured wit his point of view, he shouldnt be arguing with the so called deviant

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