Fast rising Nigerian reggae singer, song writer, and multi-instrumentalist, Precious Osifo, professionally known as "Precious Stone", has disclosed how he plans to stand out and stay relevant in the highly-competitive and densely populated Nigerian music industry.
Giving credence to his greatest music idol of all time, Bob Marley, Precious Stone who developed interest in singing from childhood says that despite being in a boisterous and talent-filled industry, a musician can easily lose relevance if he/she doesn’t carve a niche for him/herself and stick to it. He explained what drew him to music and how he plans to make a mark in the industry.
"What drew me to the music industry? This I can't really define, because I started much younger as a child, developing interests in singing, seeing people play guitar, though I couldn't get close to them because my humble background didn't give me that privilege and courage to do so.
"I got into the music industry just immediately after secondary school, a friend who had always known me to do music, approached me, saying there is a calabar man who has a guitar close to my school in GRA Benin, and doesn't know how to play. We went to approach him to sell it and he agreed, though I didn't have the money so I went to my mum and told her the good news, In a bid to raise money to buy the guitar she went into the forest, negotiated a piece of land with the owner to be cleared and got paid. She also cut some fire woods and put on my head and I took it to the express for sale. That was how the money was raised in two days to buy my first guitar and that is where my journey into music started professionally.
"People that inspires me are quite many, lol, musicians like Maxi Priest, king Yellow man in my early age, Eric Donaldson, Michael Jackson, and mostly Bob Marley".
Osifo noted that finance is always a stumbling block for upcoming musician with a humble beginning. "Like every other successful musician from humble back grounds, finance is always the major problem. In the next 5 years I want to see my message of One Love, One blood, One World, One God, spread and being practiced by all mankind.
"Nigeria has very great talents in music, no doubt. I love good and strong lyrics, I love to work with Tuface, Tems and Burna Boy, as for foreign musicians I look forward to working with the likes of Damian Marley, Stephen Marley, Jon Bon Jovi, Maxi Priest, Bruce Springsteen".
He opined that the government has obviously not done well for the music industry. "This industry is the least regarded in this country". He however commended the efforts of some successful musicians in the industry who have supported the upcoming musicians to a reasonable extent. "Kudos to the big names in the industry who have done pretty well for upcoming musicians. The likes of Davido, Timaya, Don Jazzy, MI, and the others. I have to give these guys credits, way back in those days, there weren't such opportunity from the big and successful musicians, apart from 'Felix Liberty' who discovered talents like Righteousman and Josy."
Talking about his style he said, "I play Reggae, but sometimes infused with African rhythm, I prefer to call it 'Reggae Rock Steady' That kinda rhythm that keeps you rocking steadily, while the message is been digested."
According to him, "The new project I'm currently working on is a single titled 'Wake Up Call' taking from my forthcoming debut album, titled 'She's So Naked. The song 'Wake Up Call' talks about the injustices, brutality the people suffer in the hands of the government and the system. 'In Memory of the Victims of 20-10-20'.
"I will keep Passing the right message to correct the wrong I see."
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