FUJI NOTES: Why Taiye Currency hero-worships Alabi Pasuma, By Oladeinde Olawoyin
Taiye Akande Adebisi aka “Taiye Currency”, unarguably Ibadan biggest
Fuji act of the moment, worships three deities: the Almighty God, his
oft-mentioned mother and, well, another little god. The artiste would
not complete a live performance or a recording session in the studio
without offering a decent homage to him, the third god. That god is
Alabi Pasuma––the unrivaled Baa Wasi, Ijaya, Imole, Antenna, Erinlomo,
Lagata, GSM Alhaji… well, you know, and the sobriquets go on and on, ad
infinitum.
Apart from his famed humility, if there was anything Pasuma could brag about outside the studio, it would be his big-brotherly role in the Fuji scene. The most significant evidence of this, frankly, would be Taiye Currency and his impressive career growth in the last decade. But before Taiye Currency, there were others whose relationships with the Orobokibo crooner seem to have gone sour today.
For many a conscious Fuji buff, Pasuma’s known protégée, particularly on the cusp of the millennium, was Alao Malaika. So smooth did their relationship appear that in the late 1990s, Malaika’s attack on Pasuma’s closest rival, Saidi Osupa, was perceived as a defence of his then mentor. They would later cement the relationship in the 2000s with one of the biggest and most fascinating collabo efforts to ever come out of the Fuji genre, the smash hit ‘Fuji Gyration’, marketed by Bayowa Films.
Although ‘Fuji Gyration’ featured Adex Labule of the old Earthquake group and nollywood act Saidi Balogun, its real magic rested on the Fuji duo of Alabi Pasuma and Alao Malaika, with the former taking the lead role. The inclusion of the late ragga act Father-U-Turn in the project, it appeared, was to simply add a ‘gyration’ flavour to the sound.
In any case, Fuji Gyration came with its glitz but things soon went south between the duo.
Then came the insinuation that Remi Aluko was Pasuma’s next annointed protégée. If that theory earned legitimacy because of the fairly good collabo efforts between them––which gave birth to the album “Good Example”––it soon fell flat on its face when Remi moved to Corporate Pictures and remained largely neutral during the Arabambi-Olufimo kerfuffle. Interestingly, the young artiste had had a similar collabo with Pasuma’s fiercest rival Saidi Osupa, thus shattering the plausibility of such mentor-mentee relationship between him and Pasuma.
Between Malaika and Remi Aluko, there were names that popped up on Pasuma’s mentorship list but were simply erased from people’s consciousness partly because of time, geography and, maybe, the artistes’ own poverty of talent and inconsistencies: Koyo-koyo Taofiki, Safejo Amama, Taju Paso Kwara, Oyama Azeez, Wale Tekoma etc.
Then came Taiye Currency and his never-seen-before loyalty, as he evidently showed during the Olufimo chieftaincy crisis. Contrary to the expectation of Fuji buffs who felt he would submit to clannish impulses and support a fellow Ibadan man, he stood firmly behind Pasuma.
Stripped of all pretensions, Taiye Currency may amuse fans and foes with the theatric manner he pays homage to Pasuma, but there are legitimate justifications for his genuflection. For an artiste who came out as “Taiye Paso” almost at the same time with (some would say AFTER) Larondo Waidi, then the rave of the moment in strategic areas of Ibadan, he has come a long way.
He had earlier started off together with Tana, his younger brother, and they were behind their elder brother Commy Jackson, before he gained freedom. He would later struggle with a few others to appropriate the Paso identity in Ibadan until Pasuma himself came around to confirm him his anointed protégée.
Then came albums like “No Story” and “Agbalagbi” and the less popular
collabo with Remi Aluko, “23/24”. And then came the fame and success
and the desire to peel off the Paso identity when he chose to become
“Taiye Currency”. Yet, it is testament to the marketability of the Paso
brand that he NEVER broke out of the confines of Ibadan until Pasuma
brought him, literally almost, to Lagos and he started getting invites,
met former Governor Fashola and, ultimately, Kwam 1. And the rest, as
they say, is history.
I once wrote on this page that Taiye Currency’s successful attempts at breaking away from the confines of Ibadan is a loud testimony to Pasuma’s mentoring prowess. (Curiously too, it throws up questions about Osupa’s, especially if we look at the herd of semi-successful artistes Osupa had mentored, from Saridon 2 Kamoru through Alamu Sherifi, Tope Nautical, Alujo Offa Morufu and the prodigal son himself, Safejo Amama.)
Today, Taiye Currency would easily get a spot in a list of top five artistes making wave in the genre, irrespective of geography. I consider the artiste pretty talented but many a Fuji buff would argue his success is less about the beauty of his art and more about the influence of the god he worships. Perhaps. But then in an industry where genuine loyalty is lacking, Currency’s ways might be quite commendable.
In any case, what’s plausible is that the artiste has succeeded and benefited immensely from hero-worship and it is doubtful he would ever turn toward another god.
Apart from his famed humility, if there was anything Pasuma could brag about outside the studio, it would be his big-brotherly role in the Fuji scene. The most significant evidence of this, frankly, would be Taiye Currency and his impressive career growth in the last decade. But before Taiye Currency, there were others whose relationships with the Orobokibo crooner seem to have gone sour today.
For many a conscious Fuji buff, Pasuma’s known protégée, particularly on the cusp of the millennium, was Alao Malaika. So smooth did their relationship appear that in the late 1990s, Malaika’s attack on Pasuma’s closest rival, Saidi Osupa, was perceived as a defence of his then mentor. They would later cement the relationship in the 2000s with one of the biggest and most fascinating collabo efforts to ever come out of the Fuji genre, the smash hit ‘Fuji Gyration’, marketed by Bayowa Films.
Although ‘Fuji Gyration’ featured Adex Labule of the old Earthquake group and nollywood act Saidi Balogun, its real magic rested on the Fuji duo of Alabi Pasuma and Alao Malaika, with the former taking the lead role. The inclusion of the late ragga act Father-U-Turn in the project, it appeared, was to simply add a ‘gyration’ flavour to the sound.
In any case, Fuji Gyration came with its glitz but things soon went south between the duo.
Then came the insinuation that Remi Aluko was Pasuma’s next annointed protégée. If that theory earned legitimacy because of the fairly good collabo efforts between them––which gave birth to the album “Good Example”––it soon fell flat on its face when Remi moved to Corporate Pictures and remained largely neutral during the Arabambi-Olufimo kerfuffle. Interestingly, the young artiste had had a similar collabo with Pasuma’s fiercest rival Saidi Osupa, thus shattering the plausibility of such mentor-mentee relationship between him and Pasuma.
Between Malaika and Remi Aluko, there were names that popped up on Pasuma’s mentorship list but were simply erased from people’s consciousness partly because of time, geography and, maybe, the artistes’ own poverty of talent and inconsistencies: Koyo-koyo Taofiki, Safejo Amama, Taju Paso Kwara, Oyama Azeez, Wale Tekoma etc.
Then came Taiye Currency and his never-seen-before loyalty, as he evidently showed during the Olufimo chieftaincy crisis. Contrary to the expectation of Fuji buffs who felt he would submit to clannish impulses and support a fellow Ibadan man, he stood firmly behind Pasuma.
Stripped of all pretensions, Taiye Currency may amuse fans and foes with the theatric manner he pays homage to Pasuma, but there are legitimate justifications for his genuflection. For an artiste who came out as “Taiye Paso” almost at the same time with (some would say AFTER) Larondo Waidi, then the rave of the moment in strategic areas of Ibadan, he has come a long way.
He had earlier started off together with Tana, his younger brother, and they were behind their elder brother Commy Jackson, before he gained freedom. He would later struggle with a few others to appropriate the Paso identity in Ibadan until Pasuma himself came around to confirm him his anointed protégée.
I once wrote on this page that Taiye Currency’s successful attempts at breaking away from the confines of Ibadan is a loud testimony to Pasuma’s mentoring prowess. (Curiously too, it throws up questions about Osupa’s, especially if we look at the herd of semi-successful artistes Osupa had mentored, from Saridon 2 Kamoru through Alamu Sherifi, Tope Nautical, Alujo Offa Morufu and the prodigal son himself, Safejo Amama.)
Today, Taiye Currency would easily get a spot in a list of top five artistes making wave in the genre, irrespective of geography. I consider the artiste pretty talented but many a Fuji buff would argue his success is less about the beauty of his art and more about the influence of the god he worships. Perhaps. But then in an industry where genuine loyalty is lacking, Currency’s ways might be quite commendable.
In any case, what’s plausible is that the artiste has succeeded and benefited immensely from hero-worship and it is doubtful he would ever turn toward another god.
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