| I benefitted nothing
from Yahoozee
Puffy T, Olu Maintain’s producer tells tale
of woes
By Kayode Fasua
Sunday,
March 2, 2008
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•Puffy
T
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Like a ragtag group of ambitious musicians, five young men
walked into the studio, toiled all day long and came up with
a trial. That trial, like a miracle, turned out an embarrassing
success.
That perhaps was the scenario that ushered into life Yahoozee-Olu
Maintain’s wildly celebrated album. Yet at a time when
the Big Five ought to be rollicking in consummation of the
success of Yahozee, it would seem that only a Big One has
emerged the indomitable beneficiary of a common struggle.
At least, that was the impression created by Puffy T, producer
and co-singer in the Yahoozee album.
Thirty-year-old Puffy T, whose real name is Temidayo Joseph
Babatope, in this interview with Sunday Sun, talks of betrayal
with the bile of the stoic. He alleged that Olu Maintain did
not pay him a dime with his tireless effort, so that today,
he treks along the highways while Maintain glides in his Chrysler
car and SUV. And as a lesson from his ordeal, Puffy T has
sworn by Jove, never to produce any album based on a Gentleman’s
Agreement, any longer. To him, getting one to be trusted outside
a written agreement is tantamount to looking for a virgin
among nursing mothers.
Excerpts:
Musical background
My experience has been a wonderful one. I started as far back
as 1996 in a studio in Victoria Island. There I worked as
a trainee and at the same time as a Sound Engineer, Producer
and I later became a Script Supervisor. I left there to another
studio in Apapa where I spent some time. I’ve worked
with a lot of people; I’ve met with a lot of people.
I have been able to get the minds of most of the actresses
now in Nigeria, probably because of what I did in Yahoozee.
I also co-produced Nigeria Jagajaga album for Eedris Abdulkareem.
At the same time, I produced his album-Letter to Mr President.
I’ve worked with people like Free Style, Black Face,
Crazy Culture Exposure, KC Presh, Earthquake, Soul E, Muma
Gee, you know a lot of people-Pasuma, Obesere. I have achieved
much but I am working towards achieving a lot.
I’ve written a lot of songs like Letter to Mr President
by Eedris Abdulkarim, Sip Easy for Free Style, featuring Tu
Face; I also did songs for Ghana VIP, Crazy Culture on their
track Gbamileti kin dolowo (slap me to make me rich), X-Project’s
Gombe, Olu Maintain’s Yahoozee, Earthquake’s Bus-Stop.
Who wrote Yahoozee?
I did not write Yahoozee. I was part of the singing and the
producer. I produced the song as well as took part in the
singing.
Yahooze is a chart-buster, which means you are now a millionaire…(cuts
in)
To be honest with you, I didn’t get anything from Yahoozee
album. What happens is that as a producer, you get your dues
from the artist directly, you don’t get deals with the
marketers, you don’t get deals with the record labels
and at times you don’t get deals with the sponsor. Except
there was a deal before the job. Until the job is done, the
artist is probably paying you for production or he wants to
compensate you-probably he’s happy with what you have
done. In Yahooze, I played a dual role- I re-arranged the
song and I also sang.
Definitely, you must have been adequately rewarded
I wasn’t rewarded. Maybe the reason is best known to
the artist (Olu Maintain). As you can see, Olu Maintain benefitted
immensely from the album. Yahoozee fills the airwaves. For
somebody who bought a Chrysler car and a Jeep and enjoys himself
around, I mean, he is making money.
So many times, I raised the issue (of the need to adequately
reward me) all to no avail. The last time I stopped discussing
the issue with him was when he told me ‘Oh, Puffy, the
last time you produced me, your worth then was 10k (Ten Thousand
Naira) per song. So, okay, I can pay you the 10k per song.
So, calculate the number of songs you did for my. Probably
they are six in number. So, I’ll give you 60k’.
And I replied him,’Look, when I was doing this job (Yahoozee)
there was no money. We did it based on friendship. So why
tell me you want to pay me 10k as my worth now that there
is money?
I didn’t collect his N10, 000. We didn’t make
any agreement. We didn’t see it coming. We didn’t
know Yahoozee would be a chart-buster. We just did it; we
were five. Olu Maintain and I were like twins. We were going
around in my car then. I’m surprised he can now behave
like this to me.
I’ve taken it in my stride; I’ve left everything
to God.
Do people appreciate your plight ?
So many times people call me and say “Baba, this is
our financial problem, kindly assist, I don’t know;
they would not just believe the experience I am passing through.
But it is true and real. I got nothing for my effort in making
the Yahoozee album the success it is today.
What this experience, though bitter, has taught me is never
to trust anybody in the line of business again. If I am producing
work for any artist, we must enter into a written agreement.
It doesn’t matter who you are. There must be a written
agreement.
I am now wiser.
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