Bankole Wellington, better known to many as Banky W, needs little introduction to music followers not just in the country, but in Africa as a whole. However, besides music, the R&B star is passionately concerned about the challenges that plague the Nigerian youth and is never one to shy away from speaking out on their behalf when he can. In this revealing interview with De Afro Drum Beat, the RnB singer talks about his activism, music projects, future plans and whether there will be a ‘Mrs W’ anytime soon.
How did you get involved with MTV’s ‘Shuga’ drama series?
When we heard what the drama series was all about, once you talk about helping young people or trying to make Nigeria or Africa a better place, anything along those lines, we will always be willing to throw our weight behind it. So when they gave us a call and explained what it was all about, we were very excited and honoured and privileged to be involved. In the series, Wizkid and I make very small cameos playing ourselves.
Other than that, the production of the theme song was handled by EME, which is our record label, and the song was produced by Masterkraft and I. It features Wizkid, L-Tido and Boni-face, a Kenyan artist from the group P Unit, and me on the vocals. The song is a theme song for the show but it kind of sets up what to expect from the show and the message, you know the fun and entertaining side but also that we are trying to educate people, so that’s really the length and breadth of our involvement. There is going to be a musical video handled by MTV and shot by Clarence Peters in Kenya, we will also be attending the series premiere.
How did you get involved in activism and would you consider yourself an activist?*
I don’t necessarily consider myself an activist as much as I consider myself just a concerned citizen. Anything that makes my country a better place, anything concerning speaking up for young people and standing up against injustice I’m passionate about. I was involved in ‘Light up Nigeria’, ‘Enough is Enough’, ‘Mushin Makeover’, you name it, I’ve been involved because it is important to me as a person. For me because I have a platform for music and I have the spotlight on me, if I can use that platform to play my part and make the country a better place, I’d always want to do that.
Is it a strategy for popularity?
Not so much. When I feel strongly about something, I feel the need to speak up about it. Everybody that knows me or grew up around me knows the kind of person I am. When I was in secondary school, I was in the debate team, I was always someone who was very vocal about what I believed in and always quick to write or speak or do something to play my part in righting a wrong, and that’s always who I have been. It didn’t just start recently, especially with the *Rueben Abati* situation, but that was just one of the high profile ones.
Would you ever consider venturing into politics?
At the moment, no, but I will say that some of us should be thinking along those lines because it’s easy to point accusing fingers and criticize the people in government. You know, if they are doing a terrible job, then people like you and I should be like ‘you know what, I want to make a difference and I can do better than what these people are doing’ and just get involved. So you never say never, but if I find someone who I think can do it, I will encourage them.
Bearing in mind that pop music was, and still is, predominantly the main genre in the industry, how were you able to stick with and make a success of doing R&B in Nigeria?
I think as a musician, it’s very important to know who you are, and the kind of music that you love to do and that you do best. Because I think that on my best day, I can never be D’banj, I can never be P-Square. Conversely, on their best days, they can never be Banky W, so I think that is important. Even before I came to Nigeria, a lot of people were like ‘oh R&B can never work in Nigeria, by a Nigerian or for a Nigerian audience’, when people want to listen to R&B they go listen to some foreign artiste, so if you come in you have to do like this or like that otherwise it’s not going to work. But the truth of the matter is if I had tried to be someone else, it wouldn’t have worked and we wouldn’t be sitting here. So my best bet was to just be who I am and do that to the best of my ability and just hope that somebody, somewhere will appreciate what I’m doing and connect with it.
How true are the rumours that EME is currently scouting for a female act?
Well it’s called EME, that is Empire Mates Entertainment, and the reason we, that is me and my partner named it that ten years ago was that we had always wanted to build an empire that had multiple artistes. It was never the idea to build EME around myself, I mean it’s not much of an empire if it revolves around one person, is it? So the minute we got successful enough to branch out and get other talents and getting in to other areas we started to do that, and as God will have it, we have been able to register a measure of success. The idea, of course, is to grow and be successful, and to help more artistes achieve their dream. So the idea is that while I am successful, Wizkid should be successful and then Skales should be successful and when we find a female artiste, she should be successful and when we get into TV, or movies or fashion, clubs, anything at all, it should be successful.
You were reported to have said you wouldn’t be releasing any album till the situation in the country improves. Why?
I just think there are some things that are bigger than music. At a time this year with everything we were facing as a country it was more important to focus on that than pushing out albums. So I took my foot off the accelerator (musically, that is) and got involved in the occupy Nigeria project, just to try and play my part in making this a better country. But the album is definitely coming out, in fact right now we are working on an EME album which will feature Wizkid, Skales, myself and a couple of other talents that we are currently in the studio with. So by the grace of God that album will come first, around March and then mine should follow shortly thereafter in April or May. We will also be re-releasing Wizkid the international album and we will be with him in the US and the UK. We’re also going to pick up a couple of acts along the way.
The umbrella body for performing musicians in the country, PMAN, doesn’t seem to get much support or participation from a lot of contemporary music artistes. What, in your opinion, is responsible?
There is a serious disconnect between PMAN and the actual musicians who are performing, like night and day. We’re like oil and water, and we have tried on several occasions to bridge that gap, but it didn’t quite work. In something like that you need people who will essentially sacrifice their own time in making it work. So yes there are discussions in that direction, but they are not moving as fast as we want. However, I do foresee that kind of a body actually being formed and being functional, I hope and see that happening soon.
So, with love in the air, Valentine’s Day being around the corner, is there someone Banky W may be leading to the altar soon?
At the moment, it would be nice, but there is no one in the picture now in terms of marriage. It is definitely something I’m looking forward to and hopefully when the time comes I hope to be a very tremendous, successful husband and father. As of now, I’m kind of just business-minded and trying to improve my personal life so that when the right lady comes around, I’m good to go, but for now, I’m single.
So you’re not seeing someone?
I’m single.
What would you like to be remembered as, a musician, a businessman, an activist?
Well because all of these things that I am involved in makes me who I am, I would hope that after all this is said and done, I’d be remembered as someone who made a tremendous difference in everything that he was allowed to touch and I was able to make people’s lives better and I was able to make the world a better place.
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