PEOPLE’S COURT: Sportainment Ice Prince: The Balance Of Humility And Ambition powered by Bedrock City Entertainment Africa has an edge in music and sport. We must leverage on our competitive advantage to burst into stardom. Bedrock City Entertainment is out to motivate and discover raw talents ranging from singers, dancers, comedians etc. We hereby present an inspiring success story of Nigerian record setting artiste that rose from limitation to endless possibilities. That dream of yours is a possibility! Just believe in yourself and trust benevolent God to smile on you with uncommon favour. Panshak Henri Zamani, famously known as Ice Prince is one of most influential rappers in the Nigerian music industry today. The 27-year old has travelled through the rough and tumble of life in Jos, Plateau State, as an orphaned teenager, to the glittering cities and centres of entertainment around the globe, to winning recognition as the Best African Act at the 2013 BET Awards in the United States and to becoming a proud father. He now drives a Bentley and owns houses in different parts of the country. Just recently, he signed a sweet endorsement deal with hotel booking site, Jovago. But the fire of Zamani is still raging to achieve more greatness and inspire the world. Just relax and read on! Get inspired now! At what point in your career did you feel that you have made it as an artiste? Even today I still don’t feel like I’ve made it yet because every day for me is a chance to grow bigger than I am today. I still see myself as coming up as an artiste. I set new goals for myself all the time. The goals I set for myself when I was in Jos are not the same goals I had when I came to Lagos to when I started to see London small (laughs). I don’t really feel like I’ve made it yet. There’s a lot more I want to achieve in my career. Surely, when you took delivery of your Bentley you must have felt like you’ve made it? No, it’s nothing really. I have always dreamt of having a Bentley but now that I have it it’s nothing because I also want to buy a Lamborghini and a Ferrari. I want to buy a house in Park View, and also one in Johannesburg and in Spain. So the dream goes on and on. I never really said to myself that I am satisfied to stay where I am. Also my goal is not just to be rich but to also inspire people. It’s a good thing for me that I already inspire people but I want to go further and inspire people around Africa and the world. What inspires you to inspire people? Well, it’s life itself. Because I am someone that has seen a little bit of life. I was the only son before I became an orphan. I came from a background that is far from where I am today coming from Jos to Lagos, the entertainment capital of Africa. I want people to look at my journey and to be inspired by it. You know I didn’t graduate from university, I am not the most handsome and I don’t speak the best English. It’s that story and my achievements I want to use to inspire the world and if I can do that then I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something. You just got back from the BET awards in the US a few days ago. How was your experience this time around? Yeah, I actually came back a few days ago and it’s always a big experience at the BET awards. Apart from linking with other African artistes such as Mafikizolo, Fally Pupa, Nadia Buari, Davido who won the award and I am so proud of, Wizkid, Sarkodie. It was also nice to run into people like Rev. Run, TI, Wale, Chris Brown and when they see you, they recognise you. That’s really something cool for me. I got a chance to get in the studio with Redman and Tarmac after the awards and we made a track called ‘Oxygen’ which dropped on yesterday (9th July). I also got a chance to record a track with a local Nigerian artiste called Yinks which was cool. Yeah and we partied, I was there for only a week so it was basically recording, partying and the awards experience itself where Davido won the award. What did the BET awards do to your career when you won it last year? The BET Awards exposes you to a whole new audience in the United States and it’s a huge platform. I know how I felt when I won it last year and it opened doors for an artiste like myself and puts you on a lot of platforms. Labels and the majors start to look out for you. I got a deal with Universal Music after winning the BET awards to put out my single ‘I swear’ with French Montana. When I got introduced to French Montana it was easy because of BET Awards exposure. Right after the awards this year, we were on REVOLT TV owned by Sean “Puffy” Combs. You don’t get exposure on those platforms just being an African artiste. It’s because BET opened those doors with the award. Some Nigerian fans on social media don’t appreciate the fact that winners in the African Category don’t receive their awards during the actual live show. What is your take on that? If you watch the show on TV anywhere in the world, you will see Davido receiving his award and that’s still good exposure. Plus it’s not only the African category winners that don’t get their awards live on the big stage. There are about 15 other categories that are not awarded during the show itself because there isn’t enough time within the show to award all the categories. They have a lot of performances and awards to give out so it’s not all the awards they can hand out on stage with the space of time they have. I am not trying to defend them but I kind of understand why they do it that way. Last year when I won the award when they recorded mine they also recorded Tamar Braxton at the same time, so they have other awards that they handout just before the show itself so they didn’t just single out the African acts. Even the Coke Viewers Choice Awards which is big is not presented on stage during the live show proper. It’s also done the same way. We need to appreciate it and not complain because the artistes are actually grateful for that exposure. It’s gradually getting better because years back they used to tweet the award on their twitter handle. They didn’t even record it. Now, a few years down the line they are recording it and who knows two or three years down the line we could see African acts collecting their awards live on stage. This category just started about 4 years ago so we can expect everything at once. It takes time and we as African artistes have to prove a point to the world for them to take us very seriously. What do you know about Chocolate City’s new artiste Dice Ailes? Dice Ailes is fresh and amazing. He can sing and he can rap. He brings a young urban flavour that is really fresh. He represents the youth that the choc boys had when we first came out. He reminds me of myself when I did ‘Oleku’ right before I did the Hennessey artistry. You just signed an endorsement deal with Jovago, How much is it worth? Well, I am not sure if I can say exactly how much its worth but I can tell you that Jovago is a hotel booking site offering thousands of hotels across Africa, South Asia, and Europe. You book directly and pay the actual hotel price without paying booking fees and all that. I’ve been using Jovago for a while and everything is so easy plus the variety you get is really crazy. I am the first African Ambassador for Jovago. As someone that travels a lot I use them a lot so if you are someone that travels a lot like me to places like Nairobi, South Africa basically anywhere in Africa and other places it’s simply the best. I don’t do these kinds of deals regardless of how much you are paying for Brands, products or services I don’t trust and I trust Jovago. How I started using Jovago was when I am on a flight and I check out the in-flight magazines there is always Jovago. So, I’ve always known about them that’s why it was easy to take the deal they brought to the table plus it’s good money is all I can say about that. What made you reveal publicly that Eva was your first girlfriend when you came to Lagos? Ah, I thought that whole thing would have died down (laughs). But what happened was that I had not seen Eva in a long time so I had a show at Intercontinental Hotel in Victoria Island. So when I came out to perform Eva was seated right there in the front with her girls Emma Nyra, Annabeire (Miss Nigeria) and a few of her other friends. It was just like “Ah I have not seen you in a while; it’s good to see you!” I didn’t expect to see her there and I had not seen her in a while so I was happy to see her so I just mentioned it that she was my first girlfriend when I came to Lagos it was a spontaneous act. How long ago was this relationship? Let’s say 2008 I think and she was still in university at that time and she just started rapping and writing raps. She used to send me the raps to read and this was before we started dating. She wrote poems a lot and she’ll send me some to read. Then we started linking up at the Knighthouse Studio with Mo’cheddah back then. It was a long time ago though. So I can remember everything On that note maybe you can tell us about other famous people you’ve dated? No! I don’t want to put them on the spot because they will call me o! But I won’t lie to you I have been in different relationships and I have tried different things. I think maybe a relationship is just not for me right now because I really don’t have the time. I realised that what has broken most of my relationships up is the fact that I don’t have time. I am always too busy. So even when I try to date girls in the same industry hoping that they’ll understand, they end up not understanding. I don’t know if the problem is that girls don’t get it or that I am too busy. For now I am just focused on my music though. So what kind of daddy would you describe yourself as? To be honest with you, I have been sort of an absent dad because I am not able to spend all of the time I wish I could spend with my son. He’s in school and I am always on the road. When I am in Lagos I am trying to make music and he can’t really be around like that so he stays for a bit then he has to go back to his mum. I can say I am a learning dad, learning everyday about how to be a better dad. I love my son so much and every time I see him I stare at him non-stop. When we see, my relationship with him is bliss but he is still just 2 years old What were you like as a teenager? As a teenager I was everybody’s guy. I had a lot of friends; I liked partying and I loved being around a lot of people talking and stuff like that. I was not really into sports but I still like to watch sports with the guys. I used to follow MI to the basketball court and all that. I used to be a people person and very friendly. Amongst friend I was the life of the party Are you still like that? No. I don’t think I am like that anymore because fame has made me a more reserved person. I don’t get to go out like I would want to anymore and I just can’t hangout anywhere I want to. Fame now keeps me at home, sometimes it’s like jail. But of course I am still a turn up guy when I am with my people What part of your job do you dislike the most? I guess it should be travelling very early in the morning and it seems like every time I have to travel its always early in the morning. I hate those very early morning flights. Ironically, the part of my job I love the most is travelling but I just hate those early morning flights. Apart from talent what do you think it takes to be successful as a Nigerian artiste? First of all you have to put God first, put God first then you have to really hustle yourself. In the US and other advanced countries you can have your management or label do the work for you and know all the OAP’s, DJ’s and artistes but in Nigeria you have to know all of them yourself. You need to really push yourself. Then you need to be street-smart as an artiste in Nigeria you need to know who you’re working with very well and look through your contracts thoroughly. Don’t just get excited and sign anything you are given but there is some money involved. At the end of the day as an artiste in Nigeria you have to realise that nobody can make you, it’s you that makes you. I know labels that have come in with so much money they put into artistes with videos and all that and they still didn’t go anywhere. Then some people that didn’t have anything to spend on their artiste but the artiste blew like crazy. Don’t wait for anything or anybody to blow you it’s you Do you have any side business apart from the music? I am into real estate as well. I have my houses in Jos and I am a landlord. So apart from the music I intend to expand that and build estates in Abuja in Lagos by God’s grace we are praying for that life. For now I have tenants in Jos. Then I have the Zamani Foundation which is a charity organisation that looks out for orphans because like I told you before, I am an orphan that went through some difficult times. There is a lot me in the society. So what the foundation is about is to just to give and I am not really the kind of person that will call TV and media to do that. We just do it. Then I have my artistes Stunt and Ruth Cobhams (no relation to the producer) under my outfit the ‘Super Kool Kats’. We are still in the studio brewing their music right now. We know you are not MI’s mouth piece or publicist but as someone who is close to him why is it taking so long for him to put more music because it seems like the public is longing for something from MI? It’s simply because MI is such a perfectionist, that’s really it. MI has up to five albums he can put out if it comes down to that because he records everyday nonstop and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has up to 5,000 songs recorded. He’s always in the studio but some people think because he is collecting glo money he is always sitting down in glo office. MI is just a perfectionist. He is the type of person that can spend six months to make the perfect snare to sound exactly how he wants it sound and that’s the reason you haven’t gotten an MI album yet. It’s not just the fans we on the inside are worrying him to put something out. Even his family and I am always on his case about it. He is a perfectionist and I respect him for that. He will never release mediocre music. What do you think the music industry needs generally to thrive even more than it is in recent times? Personally, I feel what the music industry in Nigeria needs most is unity. I feel like the unity we once had as an industry is kind of cold right now because I don’t think artistes are as close now as they were before. I don’t if this is a secret or inside gist but I think it’s a clear for everyone to see that there isn’t that closeness anymore as artistes. We need to put out more music and videos together. You see in the US what they do all the time. You see a Chris Brown featuring Kendrick Lamar and a Rick Ross featuring DJ Khaled, a Diddy and so and so. But in Nigeria it’s becoming a lot more like there’s this clique, then there is that clique. It’s like there’s too much competition amongst ourselves and I don’t think we need that. I think we need less of competition and more focus on building our industry and making it what it is supposed to be together. Afro beat is just about to blow up in the UK and America. Nigerian artistes are beginning to get booked for some particular weird gigs in different parts of the world. The Jamaicans came in to the industry and they’ve got their spot and they are holding it down. Jamaican music is everywhere you can see artistes like Movado who is big everywhere now, so Nigeria can be the same thing as well. D’banj can be as hot as an Adele worldwide. Wizkid or Naeto C can be as hot as Tinie Tempah but we need to come together a bit more to do more together for each other and share ideas. I think we need more love because divisions kill conversations amongst artistes and it kills friendships. I am also guilty of this because I have had my own fair share with my brothers. You all know what Choc City was before brothers started breaking out. For me I would say that was a big blow to hip hop in Nigeria. At the end of the day we have to see that what we are doing here is bigger than me and is bigger than all of us
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 03:18:18 +0000
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