Many people know Fliptyce, our Spark B.O.S.S., only as a music producer, but he is a lot more than that. Many don’t know his real name is Folorunso Busayo Phillips; that he hails from Ekiti state and grew up in Akure, Ondo state. Very few people know that he is a graduate of Geology and Applied Geophysics, who relocated to Lagos in 2009 to pursue a career in music production.
In this interview, Vanguard Spark’s Oyindamola Olofinlua speaks with Fliptyce about life as a music producer in Nigeria and a lot more.
Excerpts:
What inspired the name “Fliptyce”?
It is from
my name, Phillips. While in secondary school, my friends called me “Flip Nice” and “Phillips, the nice guy”. Then, someone wrote on the chalkboard, “Fliptyce”, and we thought it was cool. So, that’s how it’s been my cool name since secondary school. Fliptyce is a brand name; no one else in the entire world has it.
How has music production been?
Music production has been very challenging in Nigeria. But I tell people that once you’re sure something is your passion and talent, you will go all the way to make it possible, even if you’re standing against the odds. The Nigerian music production scene is a little bit retarded; producers are not recognized, royalty doesn’t work well. We just do the beats, and that’s the end; artistes make the bulk of the money. But because a few of us stand out and have branded ourselves to be well-respected, we always want to conquer new grounds. That is why many of us strive harder than others.
Some just want to be beat-makers, but not me, Fliptyce. I am a graduate of Geology and Applied Geophysics from the University of Ado-Ekiti. I have friends who make about a million naira per month; that alone challenges one to do better.
You don’t sing yet, you have two singles. What’s the trick?
That is what is called producer’s singles. The producer makes the beat and then invites artistes to sing on it. It is a way of getting one’s name out there, for better branding.
No wonder I heard Igbo lyrics in one of your songs. But then, I thought you could have gone to learn that part of Igbo language for the purpose of the song.
No. Many producers have producer’s singles. For instance, DJ Khaled would make a beat and invite Chris Brown and other artistes on it.
How did you come by music production?
In Sunday school, I was in the band. Even when we were not allowed to perform for morning devotion, we still somehow made sure we did. When I was in secondary school, I remember I used to write poems that I turned them into rap. I used to sing at the social night while in the university. In the university, I started using crude instruments to produce beats in a little place that looked like a cage, and later moved onto producing Danny Young, Faze, P-Square and Akon, and many others. Music production has been a part of me ever since. It is something I have always had a passion for.
I started as a beat maker, rapper and singer. I just know that I loved music. I knew I wanted to be one of those who made music, since as far back as 2004, but professional, the major hitsong I did was in 2009, for Danny Young.
Tell us about your deal with Dr. Dre’s Aftermaths Records.
We signed the deal since last year, we just did not let the news out. My international business manager came out with the plan, and I was able to go to Aftermaths Records where they listened to some of my beats, which they loved and said I could be one of their producers. The signing of the deal took place at the legendary Aftermath studios where stars like Eminem and 50 Cent have recorded. They already took some of my beats, and before the middle of 2015, the first release will come out.
To become a music producer, does one have to be able to play any musical instrument?
It’s an advantage, if you can. The Nigerian kid who recently made a beat for Jay Z, did so completely on a computer. We are in an information age. I met in a kid in America who made everything on his tab. I however advise to-be producers to play one or two musical instruments because it enhances them to do more.
Is there any producer you look up to?
Yes, but not in Nigeria. I want to produce music like those Quincy Jones, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Timberland have done. They are very brilliant and think outside the box.
READ OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ILLRYMZ here. HE GAVE 3 MONTHS paid INTERNSHIP
What is your greatest influence?
My greatest influence is my passion to help people. When artistes come into the studio and I see what they want to achieve, my passion to help them get to the next level drives me.
It doesn’t mean you produce free of charge.
I charge, but I give my best. Behind the charge, I have the mindset of helping.
Of all the musicians you have worked with, who is your favourite?
I like songs that can talk to me, songs that can talk to the soul. My favourite artistes among those I have ever worked with are the R&B musicians like Yemi Alade, P-Square, Faze and Mr MayD. I particularly like sounds I know can stand the test of time.
If any song looks too hard for me to produce or takes my time, it means it is not a good song. I, as a producer, don’t even take too long to make songs. Just as I told some people in Los Angeles last summer, it takes ten thousand hours to become a master in a field, according to Malcom Gladwell’s book, Outliers.
On a light note, two of your singles have to do with “Give me”, what are you collecting?
(Laughs) It is just a coincidence. The first one featuring Yemi Alade is “Gimme some more,” an Electronic Dance Music (EDM). The second one with MayD is “Give me your love.”
What does it take to be Fliptyce?
Well, I don’t tell people to be me. I tell them to be themselves. There’s a way we all have been created. Of the more than seven billion people in the world, nobody does anything exactly the way you do it. It means you are unique. It means you are scarce, and to every scarcity, there is great value. That difference that you have is your selling point. You also need to have somebody you look up to as your mentor.
If you want to be like Fliptyce, you have to be disciplined, believe in yourself and in what you do. A lot of people tried to talk me down and laugh at me when I started, but I knew that was only my beginning, I knew where I was going, so I never gave up. You have to passionate about your dream. A lot of young people start but fall by the way side. I started with a lot of producers in 2009, but today they are nowhere to be found. But for me to still be blazing hot many years after, it is because I am disciplined. Knowing how to make money is different from knowing how to manage it.
If you want to be Fliptyce, you have to be visionary – and God-fearing too.
That’s a lot packed into one.
Yes. People don’t know Fliptyce is a committed person; that he doesn’t smoke or drink. I pay my tithe. I give back to society. I remember when I came to Lagos to buy my studio equipments: My mixer, my piano and my microphone. On my way back to Ado-Ekiti, I was robbed. They took my money and my two phones but they did not take any of my equipments.
Because they didn’t know the value?
They did. God just did not make it happen. Somebody tried to take them but the armed robbers attacked one another because they thought I was the one that wanted to take them. I went through a lot to get the instruments back to Ado. When I got home, a church started to borrow it every Sunday, and at the end of the day, I gave it to them. That was the same piano I saved for a long time to buy. But today, I have made more than enough to buy more than ten pianos. I am writing a book to inspire young people. If I can achieve it, it means they also can.
After I got paid for P-Square’s Chop my Money, a voice told me in my inner mind that the money was not meant for me. I took that money and gave it back to the streets, to some people that lived around me then who I knew were suffering. I remember giving a poor woman, who today is dead anyway; I bless God that I was able to do that while she was alive, because if I had not given her and had later heard that she was passed away, I wouldn’t have been happy. I also gave some kid who slept in the office complex I used to have at Oshodi some money.
So, all my progress, for instance rolling with Dr. Dre, didn’t just happen. You have to be able to give back to society, to be able to sacrifice. To be like Fliptyce, you have to go through all these. People often just see the rosy part, not the sacrificial part.
In 5 years, where do you see yourself?
Whatever one wants to do in five years should start now. I have already started. I hope to have a big music production institute. Currently, I have a music training school. I also hope to run an NGO that would go into the ghetto and spot and empower the best producers. Also, as I won’t be into music production forever, I intend to redefine the Nigerian music production scene.
What is your SPARK—an incentive to encourage creativity and innovation—to one Nigerian youth that wants to make music?
To spark their lives up and to encourage them more, if I see any talented singer who desires quality production, I will do a song—produce the beat and record—for him or her free of charge.
No comments:
Post a Comment