They’ve worked and warmed their ways up into the hearts of fans worldwide; the pop duo P Square are doing great and winning more hearts.
P Square was in Malawi recently, and the reception was awesome, as they thrilled Malawians with their electrifying stage display.
It was rumoured sometimes ago that P Square’s ‘Alingo’ video was banned, but Peter says the ban was a good promotion for the song.
“We heard about the ban. But when they ban a particular song, they are indeed helping to promote that song. By the way, if they ban a song from being broadcast in Nigerian stations, will they stop MTV, Channel O, Soundcity and other cable networks from playing the same song? It’s not possible.”
“Psquare for the past five years hasn’t done any dance video and our fans expected to see something of that nature from us. So, ‘Alingo’ was just the first song we had even before the ‘Invasion’ album came out. We didn’t take the song seriously until when our fans started loving it. And before we knew what was happening, it caught fire. We had no choice than to give our fans a video,” Peter said.
“When the song started picking up, we thought it is important to give our fans something they have never gotten from P Square in the past five years. The last time we did something similar to this, ‘Roll It’ was over five years ago. It took us a lot of time and energy to produce the album. Our senior brother, Jude who is also our manager shot the video. Interestingly, most people didn’t know that the video was shot in Nigeria. We went to an abandoned warehouse situated some ten minutes away from our Lagos residence to shoot the video.”
Peter also spoke about P Square’s relationship with Akon, on whose Konvict Music they’re also signed, saying they’ve known him for many years.
“Our relationship with Akon is great. We have known Akon for over six year but we were not looking forward to working with him until last two years when he attended our concert in London. After watching us perform on stage, he developed interest in working with us.
Then, he was planning to open a branch of his Konvict Musik record label in Africa and he was in need of business partners who would help him coordinate the business. That was how we teamed up with him to establish Konvict Musik in Nigeria. We are representing Akon in Africa just as he is representing in America. That’s the whole idea.”
There was a time rumours of P Square buying a private jet went viral. As much as fans were happy for them saying they deserve it, Peter says P Square does not own a private jet.
“There was nothing like that. I guess because it was included in our list that whenever we are going for a specific show, the organsiers must provide us with a private jet. We had a deal with a private jet company which always hire their private jet to us whenever we are in need of it. It’s like we have a private jet at our disposal. I remember, I once tweeted that a private jet has been included in our list. That was how people started speculating that Psquare has bought a private jet. But we always travel with the jet all the time.
But the brand is getting bigger and P Square is getting more shows, so it’s not a weird idea to get a private jet.
“To be honest with you, the way things are going, we are planning to buy one,” Peter says. And it’s not because of the cost implication of hiring a private jet, but the fact that we want to meet up with our concerts.”
P Square is proud of the success achieved so far, and think they’ve done virtually everything any singer should do.
“I think we have virtually done everything. But I don’t want our fans to start speculating in respect of when would Psquare break into the European or American market. Africa is the next big thing for Psquare even though Americans are in dire need of our kind of stuff. They have exhausted everything they have to offer. For me, I will rather be a king in my own vicinity than to try to be a king in another man’s land. We have achieved everything except that we have not been able to structure the industry. The problem is that when we try to do so, some greedy fellows always frustrate our efforts. For me, I’m not complaining but I just feel it is important, we structure the industry for a better tomorrow.”
Peter thinks P Square’s largest market in Africa is the East.
“At the moment, it’s East Africa. Anytime Nigerians say, they are through with Psquare, will take our things and relocate to East Africa. But South Africa is a place where we have been working for the past one year building market for our songs. We took a break in January, this year, and between February and March, we have been to Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe. We were in Angola two weeks ago and just last week, we stormed Malawi. So, our potential market at the moment is South Africa. We have built all these markets by ourselves alone.”
But Peter says people’s perception about P Square is wrong; Peter and Paul are not arrogant.
“I think Psquare is very intimidating and we are not arrogant. When you saw me today, did I look arrogant?, Peter asked Njoku who interviewed him. “That’s a wrong impression people have about us. There is Peter and there is Paul. Peter is stubborn, bad and controversial, but they say Paul is quiet, cool headed and all that. But you see, you cannot steal from Peter to pay Paul. If you steal from Peter to pay Paul, you are indeed paying Psquare. I’m a very controversial person and I’m not expecting every news about me to be positive. Psquare is not arrogant; it’s just that the people are scared of approaching them, considering the way we operate. When you see Psquare stepping out, we look very intimidating. But the people who are very close know that we are not arrogant. Beyonce could visit a shopping mall today, and the whole place will be shut down. That does not make her arrogant. It is her management that has made it to be so.”
Many promising and somewhat great musical groups have split in the past, but P Square have something going for them; they are brothers; twin brothers. When asked what can make P Square split, Peter had this to say;
“Each time, people look at Peter and Paul, they conclude that we are perfect. But they don’t know that I fight with Paul the same way he fights with me. We quarrel and fight with each other the same way you quarrel and fight with your siblings. The only thing that matters most is that we don’t bring such quarrel into our business.
“I always tell my friends, the only person who will tell us to split is our mother but she’s no more. Even if she were to be alive, would she allow us to split? The day we are going to make up our minds to split, it will be an open decision. May be, when I say I want to retire or Paul says he wants to continue with his career in music. That does not mean that I wouldn’t give him my support.
Peter noted that being together goes beyond brotherhood…but money which is the root cause of most split has never been a problem between him and Paul.
“It goes beyond brotherhood. The Jacksons split. There was this group that wanted to split some time ago, I intervened and made them see reasons they should remain together no matter the odds. Yes, money might be the cause of the split. But I don’t share money with Paul. That’s the way we have been working because we never had anything from the outset. I’m not saying this because you are interviewing me, between Paul and I, money has never been a problem.
Peter was quick to add that no woman can split Peter and Paul. “Every woman wants to hang out with Peter. This is because everybody knows that Peter is more outgoing than Paul. But I doubt if woman can cause a problem between Paul and myself. Money would have been the devil that will cause a problem between us than woman. Any woman that wants to cause between us is wasting her time.
